Rafael Nadal could be in trouble. Although he blamed a blister on his foot for he loss to her great Spanish compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round of the Italian Masters, it is the ranking points he will lose for not defending his title in Rome that is more worrying.

Masters Series events are worth a lot of ATP tour points - 500 for a tournament victory - and with Nadal an early-round loser, not only will he lose these points from last year but Novak Djokovic is likely to move ahead of the Spanish world number 2 in the ATP race again after Nadal had overtaken the Serbian with wins in Barcelona and Monte Carlo.

Djokovic, after his third-round win against Igor Andreev in three sets only needs to win one more match to go ahead of Nadal, who currently leads the 2008 standings by 26 points.

'Djokovic is super-consistent and, although it is only one defeat that Nadal has suffered on clay, it could indeed mean a big deal in the rankings'


The ATP Race is a ranking based solely on the 2008 results starting in January. It basically shows the best player of the season rather than the 52-week rolling ATP Tour ranking.

With Djokovic in the number one spot again, it would signal to Nadal and Federer - plus the many tennis fans who keep up to date with the rankings - that the young Serb can indeed split the dominance of of the world number one and two over the past three years.

He is super-consistent and, although it is only one defeat that Nadal has suffered on clay, it could indeed mean a big deal in the rankings. The top players cannot afford to go out in the early rounds of majors and Masters Series events. It is so close at the top that even a couple of bad results can see the rankings swing one way or the other.

It's true Federer is ahead of his rivals at the moment, but all three of the top players have massive points to defend in the next three Grand Slam events and a slip-up by any one of them could cause movement in the rankings. For fans it is a brilliant scenario - watching the matches you know how much each win means to each player in their quest for the number one spot.

I feel Djokovic will fare better than Nadal in the grass court and US hardcourt season this year and so it will be a battle between him and the now veteran Roger Federer, though he is still only 26.

I can't wait for the action to unfold over the next few months to see who will come out on top at the end of a gruelling season. My money is on the young Serb to prevail, barring any injuries, but mainly I just hope the second half of the year will be as fascinating as the first.

The men's tour has so much depth at the moment that surprises are happening everywhere which is great to see and keeps the fans guessing who will win each tournament week in, week out. Tennis hasn't been this good for a long while. Let's hope it stays this way!