Tough at the top

Van over at Tennis Talk, Anyone has a great post on the significance of Miami for Federer. Check it out here.

As Van rightly says, Federer needs to get back on track ASAP. At the moment his aura of invincibility - which used to intimidate opponents - is starting to ebb way. Roger needs to send a message.

Irrespective of the outcome in Miami, I still expect Federer will end the year No 1 - but it’s unlikely he'll dominate the sport as totally as he did between 2004 and 2007.

As I’ve said before, the simple fact is the chasing pack have closed the gap. Federer will overhaul Sampras but the next 3 years will be much harder than the last 3.

But the guy at the top who is under the most pressure at the moment is Nadal. Federer's slump seems to have masked the fact that Rafa has not won a tournament on any surface apart from clay for over 12 months.

I predit he'll lose the No 2 spot to Djokovic by Christmas. And like Guerry Smith over at the Dysfunctional Tennis Blog I don’t think Nadal will ever make it to No 1.