Roger Federer Still Unsure On Plans To Return As World No. 1

Roger Federer recently climbed back to the world no. 2 ranking after beating Giles Simon 7-6, (6), 7-6 (2) in the Shanghai Masters, but he insists that he will not go out of his way to achieve the year-end world no. 1 ranking.

The Swiss Maestro is just 990 points behind the current world no. 1 Novak Djokovic in the Emirates ATP Race to London Rankings and 2430 points behind in the ATP Singles World Ranking, after winning his fourth title this year. However, he revealed that getting back to the world no. 1 rank that he last held two years ago had not crossed his mind.

"I'm not even going to change my schedule because of it. I haven't thought about it, to be quite honest," Federer said according to Sports Fan. "What does it need for world No.1? I'm not quite sure. I need to look into that, how realistic it is or not. I mean, it's in Novak's racquet. He dictates. But nevertheless, I'm still going to be playing and hopefully playing well again."

The 17-time Grand Slam champion is expected to play next at Paris, Basel and culminate the season at the ATP World Tour Finals in London, which is a total of 3000 points available for him. Apparently, the Swiss has done enough to displace his Spaniard rival Rafael Nadal, who is currently suffering from appendicitis after he has been absent for a couple of months due to a wrist injury.

On the other hand, Djokovic is set to play two more tournaments this year, the BNP Paribas in Paris and the season-ender ATP World Tour Finals. In the event that Federer will be able to advance in all his tournaments and outlast the Serb at Paris and in London, finishing as the world no. 1 this year is a possibility, but the chances are slim according to USA Today.

In an extreme but possible circumstance, where Federer will be able to advance in all his tournaments while Djokovic does not add anything to his schedule, the Swiss can earn free ATP points. If history would be an indicator, it would be at least a good 300 points for Federer, as he has not been ousted in a final since 2003, not to mention that Nadal is out of his way. If Federer takes home the Basel, Paris and the ATP World Tour Finals titles, he can finish as the world no. 1 by 55 points ahead of Djokovic but then again, given Djokovic's strong play it is not reasonable to assume that Federer will outlast the Serb at every tournament.

Roger Federer claimed that he will think and discuss his schedule with his team when he comes back to Switzerland. He reiterated, however, that nothing will change in his schedule.