How does Roger Federer's Australian Open win affect the ATP Rankings?
We’ve just witnessed the most exciting fortnight of tennis in recent history. Roger Federer won a historic 18th Grand Slam title, while his longtime friend and rival Nadal fell just short of his 15th one.
The events that unfolded at Melbourne Park over the last couple of weeks have had a significant effect on the latest Emirates ATP Rankings released on Monday. Let us take a deeper look at what it means for the players going ahead in the season.
Roger Federer jumps into the top 10 from 17th
Federer came into the Australian Open as the 17th seed. The reason for his low ranking was the fact that he had missed the last six months of the previous season due to injury. He would have fallen further in the rankings, had he lost in the early stages, since he was defending points from his semi-final run in Melbourne last year.
For instance, had Federer lost to Berdych in the 3rd round, he would have fallen out of the top 30 in the rankings for the first time since October 2000. It looked quite possible that Federer would lose to Berdych, given the dodgy form he had shown in his first couple of matches. But all of it changed when he took the court against Berdych.
He went on to beat not only Berdych, but all further opponents that came in his way. As a result, he managed to sneak into the top 10, being ranked exactly 10th in the latest ATP Rankings.
Also Read: Roger Federer’s win is a triumph of the human spirit
This is going to help Roger significantly with regards to seeding in his upcoming tournaments, especially in Grand Slams. Not that he’ll among the top 16 seeds. he cannot play a top 16 player until the 4th round, which would save him the trouble of playing against the likes of Berdych as early as the 3rd round.
Rafael Nadal jumps four spots to 6th
Nadal was the 9th seed in Melbourne. But his run to the finals did him a world of good as he moved up in the rankings. The fact that he had lost to Fernando Verdasco last year in the first round itself, helped his cause further.
The 1200 points that he earned were enough to push him to the 6th spot as he moved above the likes of Cilic, Monfils, and Thiem. Thanks to this, he would not face top 8 players until the quarter-finals now, which will act as quite a relief to the matador from Spain.
With Nadal appearing to be in his old and devastating form, big things will be expected from him in the clay season. And an entry into the top 8 will only help him in his quest.
Djokovic & Murray still on top
Murray and Djokovic still sit pretty at the top. But these two were defending 1200 and 2000 points, as they had finished 2nd and 1st last year, respectively.
Their losses in the early rounds this year meant that they dropped a healthy chunk of those points. They now have 11,540 and 9,825 points respectively, as opposed to their kitty of 12,560 and 11,780 points that they had just two weeks back.
They'd be really wary of the renewed competition they face from Federer and Rafa and will be on their toes for the rest of the season.
Stan back to career high rank of 3
Thanks to his semi-final run and Raonic's ouster in the quarter-finals, Wawrinka has managed to displace Raonic from the 3rd position. Raonic was actually defending semi-final points from last year, but was beaten by Nadal in the quarter-finals itself this year.
Interestingly, Wawrinka was beaten by Raonic in the Round of 16 last year.
Other big movers
Mischa Zverev, the serve-volleyer who beat Murray in the 4th Round, jumped 15 spots, to be ranked at a career high ranking of 35.
Andreas Seppi, the player who beat Nick Kyrgios in a thrilling 2nd round match at the Hisense Arena, made a jump of 21 spots, to be now ranked at 68. Seppi had lost in the 4th round to Stan Wawrinka in three tiebreakers this year. Lastly, Djokovic slayer, Denis Istomin, re-entered the top 100, climbing 37 spots to be ranked at 80 in the latest rankings.