Can Roger Federer achieve World No. 1 ranking in the coming days?

Roger Federer successfully defended his Australian Open title earlier this weekend. His rival and current World No. 1 Rafael Nadal dropped 840 ranking points when he lost in the quarter-finals. This puts Federer just 155 points short of him who is due to play in next month’s Acapulco in the same week as Dubai.

Will Federer get the Wildcard? He hasn't ruled himself out of Dubai Tennis - a tournament he has won 7 times.

Current ATP Rankings - Top 5

"We were in talks with them (Dubai organisers) but when the (Australian Open) tournament started, I just said 'look, if it's okay, I'd like to decide after the tournament'," Federer on playing at Dubai

If Nadal plays Acapulco and Federer plays at Dubai

For Nadal to retain the No. 1 spot, he has to outperform Federer in that particular week. The Spaniard has to defend 300 points as last year’s runner-up, while Federer would have only 45 points to defend in Dubai. This makes things tougher for Nadal - even if he repeats last year's runner-up performance, Federer needs to reach just the semi-finals in Dubai to overtake his great rival.

If Nadal skips Acapulco

Nadal, for now, has entered Acapulco and is expected to compete despite the brutal hip injury that forced him to retire during his quarter-final match at the Australian Open last week. If he does not reappear until Indian Wells, Federer would automatically overtake him as he loses the 300 points and Federer only loses 10 points.

If Nadal and Federer both win their respective tournaments

The dream scenario - Nadal captures his Acapulco title and Federer goes on to win Dubai. Nadal adds 200 points to his current tally. Federer adds 490 points to his current tally. This would put Nadal at 9960 and Federer at 10,095. Federer would just about edge Nadal by 135 points to take the World. No 1, at least until Indian Wells.

The Dubai decision

Federer has not officially entered the Dubai field yet, but would likely be given a wildcard if he requested one. Last time he was World. No 1 was six years back when he won the Wimbledon title in 2012.

The Swiss star has a base in Dubai where he practises and has been a regular competitor there over the years winning the title seven times. If Federer decides to play in Dubai, he will be gunning for that number one ranking. He will also become the oldest man to achieve this feat which is currently held by Nadal.

The latest news is, he is considering entering next month’s Dubai Open but we will have to wait until next week for the official decision.