Roger Federer plays the best tennis of his entire career at 36. In Shanghai he dominated the current number one, Rafael Nadal, almost at will. Is there even a chance for the Swiss to finish the tennis year as number one?
With his final victory at the Shanghai Rolex Masters last Sunday, Federer was able to keep his hopes up for the top of the world rankings. Nadal’s lead to Nadal is currently 1,960 points, but the Swiss is hoping to repeat his good performances from Shanghai in the remaining tournaments.
While Nadal cancelled for the tournament in Basel because of minor knee problems, Federer is number one at his home tournament. A victory in the coming week would bring Federer, who, like Nadal from last year, has no more points to defend, 500 points for the world ranking – it would be his seventh tournament success at the Swiss Indoors.
Afterwards, Paris-Bercy will be the final ATP Masters 1000 tournament, which both players have scheduled. Logically, a victory will be worth 1000 points and a 600 points in the final.
The ATP finals could be a showdown for the world’s number one tennis player. Each of the three group games would earn 200 points for a win. An additional 400 points are awarded for a final move, in case of a triumph another 500 points would be added.
If a player manages to win the tournament without losing in the group stage, he would earn a total of 1,500 points.
It is clear that Nadal still has all the advantages in her own hands. In the event of two final defeats in Paris and London, the Maestro would not have a chance of becoming number one, even if he were to win an additional victory in Basel. Federer must therefore hope that the bull from Manacor will collapse in order to finish the year at the top of the world rankings for the first time since 2009.