The tennis season is nearly over with the US Open the only Grand Slam left for players to fight for.
It has been an unusual year so far as none of the top four have dominated tournaments. This has been down to injuries, age and just a bad run of form for some players.
So with not many Masters tournaments and only the US Open left, before the World Tour Finals take place in London; who will finish the season as world number one?
Andy Murray
The British No.1 has not played at his best this season and results have followed suit. He started off the season at the Australian Open with a shock exit in round-16 to German Mischa Zverev. Murray’s bad form continued at Indian Wells losing in the second round followed by an early exit in the last 16 at the Monte-Carlo Masters.
A semi-final appearance in Barcelona seemed to show a turn in Murray’s season, but failed to do so. The two-time Wimbledon winner lost in Round 16 in Madrid to young talent Borna Coric, before Fabio Fognini handed another early exit to Murray in the Rome masters.
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Roland Garros showed the real talent of the 30-year-old as he reached the semi-finals, losing a five set epic to Stanislas Wawrinka.
His grass season wasn’t as fruitful though with a first round exit at Queens followed by a quarter-final loss to Sam Querrey at Wimbledon.
Murray has struggled with injury throughout the year and is now taking time out to recover. He may not make an appearance at the US Open, which will undoubtedly make it unlikely the Scot will finish the year as number one.
Roger Federer
The Swiss has only played in eight tournaments this year, making it a strange season for the 19-time Grand Slam champion.
However, his performances have been the opposite. Federer has excelled once again, winning Wimbledon and the Australian Open.
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The 36-year-old also won Indian Wells, Miami and Halle. Demonstrating age is but a number and that he can push for the number one spot, despite currently being World No.2.
Federer is only 605 points behind Murray, suggesting everything is still to play for going into the last few months of the season. Making it seem that the Swiss is battling with Rafael Nadal for top spot for the rest of the year.
Rafael Nadal
The Spaniard’s year has been mixed so far. In the early stages of the season Nadal reached the final of the Australian Open as well as in Acapulco and Miami. The 15-time Grand Slam winner then won in Monte- Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid.
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A victory in Roland Garros cemented his legendary status on the clay, but it has gone downhill since then. Nadal exited Wimbledon in round-16 after being tipped as a favourite. Followed by a defeat to youngster Denis Shapovalov in Montreal last week.
The 10-time French Open champion has only lost eight times this year and will be number one in the world next week. However, he has to up his game in the hard court season in order to stay at the peak of the tennis rankings come the end of the season.
Novak Djokovic
This year has not been kind to the Serbian. He may have won two titles in Qatar and Eastbourne, but injuries have held him back.
Djokovic exited the Australian Open in round-64, which set the tone for his Grand Slam performances, losing in Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the quarter-finals.
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The 12-time Grand Slam champion did reach the final in Rome and the semi finals in Madrid, but his high standards of last year have not been reached.
As a result of his latest elbow injury he announced he wouldn’t be at the US Open. This certainly confirms he won’t be world number one at the end of the year and may even drop out of the top six soon enough.
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