The ATP World Tour rankings for the week beginning August 19, 2013 have been released and one notable development in the list is the decline of Roger Federer‘s ranking from number 5 to 7, something that is unheard of in the past decade. However, his mixed results ever since Wimbledon had contributed to this decline and the Swiss star stressed that he’s not overly concerned about this development.
“Rankings at this point are not what leads me. It’s about getting my game back on track, and that’s what I’m doing well. That’s what’s exciting right now, not the rankings,” he said.
Federer was seeded third at Wimbledon where he entered the grasscourt Slam as the defending champion. However, his second round loss to Sergiy Stakhovsky saw his ranking drop to number 5, the lowest ranking he had in the past decade. His sudden participation to two claycourt events after Wimbledon event produced mixed results and added a mediocre amount of ranking points. He then skipped the Montreal Masters which would have provided him an opportunity to recoup loss ranking points.
At the Cincinnati Masters 2013, Federer has no points to gain as he’s the defending champion. His loss in the quarterfinals to rival Rafael Nadal once again saw his ranking tumble, this time to number seven. Tomas Berdych and Juan Martin Del Potro reached the semifinals of this ATP Masters 1000 event which elevated their rankings to five and six respectively.
“I’m happy with my progress,” Federer said. “I know that my body’s fine and my mind’s OK, and I can definitely take more from this week than I could for the last three months.”
Despite his projected number 7 seeding at the US Open, Federer will still be a heavy favorite to win his 18th Grand Slam title in New York. He reached the quarterfinals last year before losing to Tomas Berdych. If he moves further than the quarterfinals then he can certainly make his way back to the world’s top five.
