30 January,2009 09:50 AM IST | | A Correspondent
Oz Open title will help Federer get closer to Nadal
Tennis and cricket are seeing highly competitive times as the race to be No 1 heats up
Cricket and tennis are witnessing a keen contest for occupation of top positions. And the intense competition to be world leaders is bringing out the best from individuals as well as teams like the just-concluded Australia South Africa Test series Down Under or the re-emergence of Serena Williams.
With top positions up for grabs in both the sport, we take a look at who's going down and more importantly, who's going up.
Test cricket
Australia still rule the roost, but only by a slim margin and experts are certain they will be dethroned as soon as next month when they travel to South Africa. Statistically, it is possible if the hosts manage to win the series by any margin. If it does happen, Australia will be dethroned after almost six years. They have been the top team since June 2003. Currently, Australia are on 126 points followed by South Africa on 121. Three points behind them are India. For India, the result in South Africa and how they fare against New Zealand in March will decided their fate.
ODI cricket
Australia are again the leaders but that could change as early as today. Ricky Ponting's men have 126 points and are closely followed by South Africa, who are just three points behind. India round up the top three with 120 points. If South Africa beat Australia in the final match of the five-match series today, they will share the top spot with Australia.
For India to emerge at the top, they will have to whitewash Sri Lanka in the on-going series, win the first three matches against New Zealand, and hope that Australia continue their losing streak against New Zealand in all five games at home.
Women's tennis
By tomorrow, women's tennis will have a new number one. Jelena Jankovic is the current number one with 9200 points followed by Serena Williams (7932) and Dinara Safina (7754). Jankovic is already out and the other two are to contest the Australian Open final.
The winner will be number one and the runner-up will take the second spot in the rankings.
Men's tennis
Unlike the women's, Rafael Nadal's reign will not end on Sunday when the men's final will be contested. But with Roger Federer already in the final, chances are that he will get very close to the Spaniard if Nadal does not make the final or loses to Federer in the final.
Nadal became No 1 in August last year replacing Federer and consolidated his position with 13160 points as against Federer's tally of 10700 and Novak Djokovic's 10650.
