Andy Murray’s 4th spot in the world was under threat last week, with the Scot needing to reach the final to retain his ranking. He actually went onto win the event and will more than likely be the world number 4 when the US Open comes around.

The 2nd and 3rd placing though are not certain with Federer regaining 2nd in the world this week after reaching the Toronto final beating new world number 3 Djokovic along the way. The difference between these two is just 130 points and with Federer beating Djokovic in last years Cincinnati final both have a lot of points to defend this week. If Federer fails to reach the semi-final this week he will be passed by Djokovic regardless of what the Serb does.

Juan Martin Del Potro continues to fall down the rankings as he continues to struggle with injury. He has not added any points to his 12 month total since the Australian Open in January and will lose a further 2000 points if he does not compete at the US Open. He will likely drop out of the top 20 if he does not reach final at flushing meadows.

Andy Roddick also continues to drop in the rankings, though has just been diagnosed with a virus that may have been affecting his energy levels over the last three months.

Very little change in the ATP world rankings this week, with the only upward movement of Nicolas Almagro climbing two places from 20 to 18 after winning the ATP 250 title in Sweden, beating home favorite Robin Soderling in the final.

Almagro’s climb pushes Americans Sam Queerey and John Isner down to 19th and 20th respectively.

There was no change in the British top 20 this week, Richard Bloomfield was not able to build on Newport success as he was beaten by fellow Brit Alex Bogdanovic in the first round of a challenger event in California.  Despite that win for Bogdanovic he ultimately dropped ranking points after only reaching the quarter-final on the event. He reached the semi finals of the challenger in Manchester a year earlier.

On the whole for the top 20 British players, they gained 17 points to bring the total British top 20 points total to 1619, that’s excluding Andy Murray of course. 1619 points is not even enough points for the top 20 and would place them as a collective at just 24th in the rankings. Adding in Murray’s points would take them to 6774, which would see them as a collective only in 4th the same position Murray holds on his own…….and they have gained points this week!

Players in bold gained points.

Whilst there was no change in the top 20 this week, with most players resting after Wimbledon or in Davis Cup action, there was however a significant climb up the rankings for Britain’s Richard Bloomfield who climbed 260 places in the rankings from 552 to 292 after reaching a tour level ATP event semi final in Newport.

Bloomfield was lucky to even enter the qualifying event, with a ranking in the 500′s that would mean on most ATP events not even be close enough to enter qualifying with. He did get in though and won three qualifying matches and then went on to win three more matches in the main draw before losing to Mardy Fish.

Other good British news was Jamie Baker raising 6 places that takes into the worlds 250, which means we now have 3 British men inside the worlds top 250.

Roger Federer has once again slipped down the rankings after losing in the quarter finals of another grand slam. In the last 4 weeks he has dropped over 4000 points and replaced them with less than 1000 as he failed to defend his two grand slam titles from last year.

His position is not likely to get any better as he has a number of big points to defend in the coming weeks, with 1000 points earned in Cincinnati last August and 1,200 points from reaching the final of the US open. Should he not have a good US hard court season he will be under threat from the likes of Andy Murray, Robin Soderling and Nikolay Davydenko, which could see him drop from the prestigious top 4.

Meanwhile Rafael has all but secured the number 1 spot for the rest of the year, he’s almost 4,000 points ahead of Djokovic in 2nd and only has a handful of points to defend the rest of the year and his more than likely to increase his lead than be caught.

Juan Martin Del Potro continues to drop down the rankings having been injured for most of the year, he will drop out the top 10 for definite if he is not able to compete in the next two months and could well be out the top 20 soon.

Robin Soderling and Tomas Berdych rise to career highs of 5th and 8th respectively after good Wimbledon showings, unlike Andy Roddick who wasn’t able to match his success of last year at the All England club.

Special mention of Sam Querrey who enters the top 20 for the first time in his career. The Americans now have three players in the top 20, which has been done since the days of Pete Samprass.

With just a few days to go, the question on every one’s lips is not who will win the world cup, its…

Who will win Wimbledon 2010?

The 2010 Wimbledon draw has been made and the favorites to lift the title have safely made it through to the second week. Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Robin Soderling and Lleyton Hewitt have now been eliminated and there are just 4 men left.

Rafael Nadal in the last 3 months has returned to his very best, after a 10 month period that seen him lose for the first time at Roland Garros, unable to defend his Wimbledon title and a string of poor results, the Spaniard looks to be back to his best both physically and mentally. He has regained his French Open title and world number 1 spot and now looks to regain his Wimbledon Title. Though he disappointingly went out of Queens Club at the quarter final stage. In his first match he looked good, though was then pushed to 5 sets in next two matches and looked to be suffering from a recurring knee injury. A straight sets win in the 4th and an impressive quarter fianl win over many folks tournament dark horse Robin Soderling pit any injury doubts to bed.

Despite all this Federer was the favourite ahead of Nadal to lift the 2010 title, something that may seem it little strange when you consider that Rafael Nadal now holds a 14-7 record over Federer and has won 6 of their last 7 matches, but he is the favorite now.

Andy Murray is the bookmakers 2nd favourite to win Wimbledon this year and they certainly believe the event winner will come from winner of the Murray Nadal semi final. His odds were 3 or 4 times that of Nadal or Federer, but those odds have been reducing after five very impressive wins., dropping just 1 set all tournament to date. His form since reaching the final at the Australian Open has been woeful and the Scot was looking like he was suffering from the crushing defeat in Melbourne. That form looks to behind him now and he now looks to be in the right frame of mind to claim his first grand slam.

Novak Djokovic’s failure to ever mount a challenge at Wimbledon and recent average form had seen him drop to 6th favourite but after overcoming tough 4th round match against Lleyton Hewitt and cruising past Lu. Djokovic is now favorite to reach the final from his semi final match.

Tomas Berdych – If you placed a bet on Berdych to win Wimbledon this year at the start of the tournament, then you would be in the running for a mighty profit. The big serving check wasn’t really on anyone’s radar, always consider an “under performer” until he reached the semi finals of Roland Garros last month. He eliminated Roger Federer though so does he really deserve the least likely to win tag?

Betfair have been offering the best odds all week on just about all the potential winners and when you sign up, you’ll receive a free £25 bet.

Favorites already Eliminated…

Roger Federer – 2 years ago after losing to Rafael Nadal in that now infamous Wimbledon final, people started to question whether or not the career of Federer was now on a downward spiral – he proved his critics wrong then, coming back to claim his 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th grand slam titles – though most importantly he never had to face Rafael Nadal in any of those events. Those same question have now surfaced again. To add to his woes he lost the final of Halle where he had been unbeaten since 2002. He was just a few points from being eliminated in the first round by Falla and even struggled past Hasse in the 2nd before looking comfortable against Clement in the 3rd round and Melzer in the 4th Round. It would be Tomas Berdych who eliminated the now former champ.

Andy Roddick was last years champion and was the 4th favourite coming into Wimbledon though he had dropped to 5th favourite to win this year. He took out Britain’s great hope last year in the semi finals before losing an epic final to Roger Federer. He has since had a decent 12 months whilst still not really challenging the top players. Early knock out at Queens was not the best preparations, but had looked decent in the first 3 rounds. He was dumped out though on court 2 in the 4th round by journey man Lu.

Roddick dropped the 4th favourite tag to Robin Soderling – The French Open finalist has cemented his place inside the top 10 and has recent wins over Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray – He had been looking mighty impressive until he met Nadal that is.

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We are into the quarter final stages at the 2010 Aegon Championships in London and Rafael Nadal remains the favourite to the lift the title.

We’ve already lost Andy Roddick and Novak Djockovic, they had been 3rd and 4th favourite to lift the trophy this year, but Roddick was conquered by Israel’s Dudi Sela and Djokovic lost to Xavier Malisse

Rafael Nadal is the favourire to lift, he’s undefeated in his 22 matches, which includes 3 masters wins and of course the French Open title. Even though those wins were all in clay, Nadal is actually undefated in hos last 13 grass court matches, having missed last years grass court season the last time enter a grass court event, he won the 2008 Wimbledon title.

2nd favourite to win this week is last years winner and world number 4 Andy Murray, he is drawn in the same half as Nadal and is so far set for a semi final showdown with Nadal. Murray though at the moment is just 3 games away from going out to Mardy Fish and the Scot’s form of late has been poor, with early knockouts in many of recent tournaments, including a loss to the same Mardy Fish in Miami, he’ll be looking to improve on these results.

On the other half of draw with Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick both out big serving American Sam Querrey has emerged as the favourite to reach the final from the bottom half of the draw.

As usual Betfair are currently offering the best odds on all players winning. They will also give you a free £25 for signing up.