French Open seeding at stake: Roger Federer overtakes Andy Murray as world number two

Andy Murray has lost the world number two spot to Roger Federer in the latest ATP rankings released on Monday, after his defeat to Novak Djokovic in the Madrid Masters final. The Scot played well in Spain, but by failing to successfully defend his title, he drops below Federer ahead of the Italian Open this week. Both Federer and Murray have 7,525 points each but Federer ranks higher as more of his points were gained at the bigger tournaments, according to the ATP Rulebook. [caption id=“attachment_2772942” align=“alignleft” width=“381”] File photo of Roger Federer from Monte Carlo. AFP[/caption] However, Federer has 600 ranking points to defend in this week’s Rome Masters as he reached the finals last year. Meanwhile, Murray, who made only the third round in 2015, has to defend just 90 points. This makes Murray the favourite to take back the second position in time for the French Open. Djokovic, an 11-time major champion, retains his massive lead on his closest challengers at the top of the rankings after claiming a record 29th Masters title. In the latest rankings, Stan Wawrinka stays fourth and Rafael Nadal fifth. The Spaniard made the Madrid semi-finals and moved to 5,675 points, behind the Swiss’ 6,380. Their respective results in Rome will determine who gets the coveted number four seeding at Roland Garros. Last year, Wawrinka had beaten Nadal to make the semi-finals. So, the former has 360 points to defend while Nadal has only 180. An early exit for Wawrinka will greatly boost the Spaniard’s chances. Australian youngster Nick Kyrgios moves back into the top 20 thanks to his run to the quarter-finals in Madrid. In the men’s doubles rankings, India’s Rohan Bopanna dropped two places to the 13th spot after losing the Madrid Open final with his partner Florin Mergea on Sunday. Bopanna needs to be in top-10 before the June 6 cut off date to get a direct entry into the Rio Olympics Games. He will then have the luxury of choosing a partner of his choice to compete in the elite tournament. Among other Indians, Leander Paes moved up to 54 with a gain of three places. He won a Challenger in Busan with Sam Groth in the last week. The next best Indian the doubles was Purav Raja (106), who gained one place and was followed by Saketh Myneni (116). In the singles, out of action Yuki Bhambri slipped to 129, a loss of seven places. Myneni also dropped on the singles ladder as he is now 141 after loss of three places. Ramkumar Ramanathan was 240 and struggling Somdev Devvarman was now 316, a loss of two places. (With inputs from agencies)