Federer In 3-Way Battle For No. 1 At Wimbledon

© Getty ImagesBy winning the Wimbledon title, Roger Federer could reclaim the No. 1 ranking.

Wimbledon is shaping as a battleground for the World No. 1 ranking, with Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer all in contention to hold top spot after The Championships.

Djokovic, who has held the No. 1 South African Airways ATP Ranking since July 4, 2011 after winning his first Wimbledon title, must reach the final to ensure that he remains ahead of his rivals. Because of his stunning start to the 2011 season, when Djokovic headed into Wimbledon with a 41-1 match record, the Serb has had a mountain of points to defend during the first half of this year. Although he defended his Australian Open and Sony Open Tennis titles, those have been Djokovic’s only triumphs of the season; in 2011 he won seven crowns during the same period.

Federer can retake No. 1 if he wins the Wimbledon title and Djokovic does not advance beyond the semi-finals. It has been more than two years (Roland Garros 2009) since Federer last held top dog status on the ATP World Tour. He enjoyed a 48-week run at World No. 1 the last time, taking the top ranking back from Nadal following his 2009 Wimbledon triumph. He first ascended to No. 1 on February 2004 and held the position for a record 237 consecutive weeks. All up, the Swiss has held the No. 1 ranking for 285 weeks during his career, just one week shy of Pete Sampras’ all-time record of 286 weeks.

Nadal, who ceded the No. 1 ranking to Djokovic when he lost the Wimbledon final last year, can reclaim top spot if he wins The Championships for a third time and the Serb does not go beyond the quarter-finals.

Federer has vaulted back into contention for No. 1 after a strong finish to last season and an impressive 2012 campaign. Last year Federer lost to Djokovic in the semi-finals of US Open (after holding two match points) and won his last three tournaments of the year: Basel, The ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Paris and the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. In his nine tournaments this year Federer has failed to reach the semi-finals or better only once (Miami) and has won four events: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles in Indian Wells and Madrid, and ATP World Tour 500 titles in Rotterdam and Dubai.

The table below shows how many South African Airways ATP Rankings points each player will have after Wimbledon 2012 based on which round he reaches.