Roger Federer, Serena Williams hold on to number one rankings

This year’s Australian Open singles champions, Roger Federer (men) and Serena Williams (women), held on to their number one rankings as the updated ATP and WTA rankings were released on February 1, 2010, Monday.

Federer defeated Andy Murray of Great Britain in three sets in the men’s final on Sunday. The Swiss star begins his 268th week as the world number one and is in third place for total number of weeks as the world’s top-ranked player. The overall leader is Pete Sampras at 286 weeks followed by Ivan Lendl with 270.

For failing to defend the title this year, Spain’s Rafael Nadal drops two places to number four. Taking his place as the world’s second-best player is Novak Djokovic of Serbia followed by Murray at number three.

“It is not important for me, the ranking issue and losing a few spots— that’s normal when you are not able to compete,” Nadal said. The Spaniard was reportedly relieved after medical experts cleared him of the knee tendinitis which led him to skip Wimbledon last year. He will be out of competition for the next four weeks.
In the women’s side, Serena Williams stayed firmly on top with 9195 points. Last year’s finalist Dinara Safina remains in number two but lost significant points for losing in the earlier rounds this year.

Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark occupies the third spot, her career-best. Venus Williams returns to the world’s top five after her quarterfinal effort in the singles event. Elena Dementieva loses four spots to start this week at number seven. China’s Li Na barges in the top ten after reaching the women’s semifinal.

Australian Open 2010 finalist Justine Henin remains unranked since the Melbourne event is still her second tournament since her comeback. She will need to play another WTA event to get a ranking.