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The week behind us offered no ATP tournaments and we will remember it as one of the quietest ones in the entire season regarding of ranking, with no changes in the top-50. Novak Djokovic is spending the 237th week on the ATP throne, 2635 points clear of Rafael Nadal after beating the Spaniard in the final of the Australian Open.
Djokovic is not scheduled to play any tournament before Indian Wells and he is in the commanding position before the start of the grass season, scoring just 695 points before Roland Garros in 2018. Rafael Nadal should return to action in Acapulco in three weeks, training at home in Manacor and preparing for next challenges after a great display in Melbourne that carried him towards the title match.
Alexander Zverev played for Germany in Davis Cup on Friday and Saturday and he will join Nadal in Acapulco, chasing 500 points and the opportunity to reduce the gap behind Djokovic and Nadal in front of him. Juan Martin del Potro will be on the court again in two weeks in Delray Beach where he took a wild card, fighting against Kevin Anderson who will defend the title in New York in the following week.
The South African is just 215 points behind the Argentinian and it should be interesting who will travel to Indian Wells as the fourth seed. After the fourth round exit in Melbourne, Roger Federer trails 245 points to Anderson and he will lose 500 points for the title he won in Rotterdam last year, setting the return date for the end of February and his beloved Dubai event.
Kei Nishikori is 500 points behind Roger, entering both Rotterdam and Acapulco after a solid start of the season, playing in much better form than a year ago when he struggled with an injury. Dominic Thiem is the only player from the top-10 who will compete on clay in February, skipping Cordoba before seeking titles in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, seeded first at both tournaments.
Thiem has a big lead over John Isner and Marin Cilic who complete the top-10 group ahead of the young guns Karen Khachanov, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Borna Coric. Karen and Stefanos have an identical schedule, competing in Sofia this week as the highest-ranked player in action and heading to Rotterdam, Marseille and Dubai in the following weeks.
