Federer climbs in tennis rankings

Federer in action during the Rotterdam ATP final Keystone Archive

Switzerland's number one men's tennis player, Roger Federer, has risen in the ATP Tour world rankings after playing some of the best tennis of his career. Federer was listed 20th in the rankings on Monday, up from 23rd position last week.

Federer is even higher up the ATP’s Champions Race standings, which reflect a player’s performance since the start of the new season. Having won the Milan Indoors tournament as well as reaching the quarter-finals of the Sydney Open and the semi-finals in Marseille, Federer is now up to fifth in the Champions Race.

But there was disappointment for the 19-year-old Swiss in Sunday’s final of the ATP tournament in Rotterdam. Although he came into the match the strong favourite, Federer suffered a three set defeat against the French qualifier, Nicolas Escudé, going out on a tiebreak.

“It’s a shame that I couldn’t end this fantastic week with another title,” Federer said after the match. He said he had been tired all through the tournament, but still felt he was in good condition.

Meanwhile, Federer’s compatriot, world number one Martina Hingis, is taking a break after her busy schedule of the past few weeks. Hingis, who clinched her 38th singles title at the Dubai tournament on Saturday, has played in five finals so far this season, winning three of them.

“These have been two extremely intensive weeks,” she admitted. “But at the same time it has also been the most exciting time of my career to date.”

Hingis is now planning two weeks off before returning to action for the Indian Wells and Key Biscayne tournaments in March.

swissinfo with agencies