Federer is in 'three' fall

Slide down rankings to No 4 owes to inactivity and Andy Murray's form.

Roger Federer's durability and consistency have been such that when Andy Murray slipped past him in the ATP rankings yesterday it marked the first time since June 2003 that the Swiss has ranked as low as No 4 in the world.

Federer has not played an ATP match since losing to Novak Djokovic at the US Open in their five-set semi-final epic, yet he would not have budged in the rankings if Murray had not reeled off three championships in the past three weeks.

Citing "nagging injuries", Federer pulled out of both the Tokyo Open and the Shanghai Masters, events Murray subsequently won, with Novak Djokovic also absent.

Federer's descent from the pinnacle of the sport he dominated for most of the past decade cannot be denied, though we are more likely to be filled with admiration at the grudgingly incremental erosion of his place in the game.

From the middle of 2003 through 2010 he was ranked No 1 or No 2 continuously, and he was No 1 for most of that period - 285 weeks, or nearly six years.

He dropped to No 3 in March, behind Djokovic, when he lost to the Serb at Indian Wells.

His current inactivity is thought to be more about the fatigue of a season in which a 30-year-old man had played 61 matches by the middle of September.

No fewer than eight of his matches, encompassing 26 sets, were against Rafael Nadal or Djokovic, and he managed to win one of those, versus Djokovic in the French Open, ending the latter's 2011 unbeaten streak.

For the first time since 2002 Federer will end a year without a major championship, and unless he penetrates to the final of one of the handful of events he may yet enter this year, his championship total (one) will be his lowest since 2000, as will be his finals appearances (three).

Murray paid tribute to Federer after winning the final at Shanghai on Sunday, noting that, "if you finish in front of Federer in a year, then there's not many people the last five, six, seven years that have been able to say that". (Actually there is only one, Nadal.)

Curiously, Federer and Murray have not faced each other this year, so it is difficult to determine whether the Briton, 24, is just better than the Swiss, as well as more durable.

Murray does, however, own a winning record against Federer in his career (8-6), and we may have just witnessed a permanent change of rankings status.

It remains significant that a month of inactivity by Federer and a month of 25 victories from 26 matches by Murray was necessary for the change in the world order.

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