Roger Federer Moves In On Novak Djokovic In ATP Race To London Rankings

Roger Federer of Switzerland returns a shot to Gilles Simon of France during the men's singles final match at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai October 12, 2014. Reuters

After Roger Federer secured his most recent victory at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, he is only 990 points behind the world no. 1 Novak Djokovic in the ATP Race To London rankings. Although 990 points appear to be a lot, the Swiss Maestro still has over 3000 points left on his schedule to displace the Serb.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion is expected to play next at Paris (1000 points), Basel (500 points) and culminate the season at the ATP World Tour Finals in London (1500 points), which is a total of 3000 points available for him. Additionally, playing in the Davis Cup finals also earns him more points.

In the ATP World Tour Finals Race, Stan Wawrinka recently qualified for the top eight spot, but he can only secure his place if he maintains his ranking. On the other hand, Marin Cilic appears to have secured a spot in the season finale already, as the Grand Slam wildcard rule dictates that the next highest ranked Grand Slam winner who is not in the top eight automatically qualifies in the London event.

British no. 1 Andy Murray and David Ferrer, who are both at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, are also vying for a spot in the ATP World Tour Finals. "I haven't been in this position for a while, so in some ways it's kind of new," said Murray according to Tennis X. "But I'm enjoying it so far. Just giving me a little bit of extra focus and direction for the last few tournaments."

Thus far, regardless of who wins at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, Kei Nishikori has already secured his spot and is in excellent shape to qualify for the season finale, according to Tennis X. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Ernests Gulbis and Feliciano Lopez are the only players who are "mathematically in the hunt" to reach the ATP World Tour Finals in London.

ATP Race to London Standings as of October 20, 2014

1 Novak Djokovic - 9,010

2 Roger Federer - 8,020

3 Rafael Nadal - 6,745

4 Stan Wawrinka - 4,805

5 Kei Nishikori - 4,265

6 Marin Cilic - 4,150

7 Tomas Berdych - 4,105

8 Andy Murray - 3,885

9 David Ferrer - 3,775

10 Milos Raonic - 3,750

11 Grigor Dimitrov - 3,555