Murray overtakes Federer, the king drops to #4

October 18, 2011 at 6:19 pm Leave a comment

Roger Federer has dropped out of the top three places in the ATP world rankings for the first time since just before he won the first of his 16 Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon in July, 2003.

Federer falls to fourth due to Andy Murray’s win Sunday in the Shanghai Masters, his third straight ATP title triumph in Asia during the last month.

Murray has few points to defend before the end of the season and with Federer sidelined with an injury, the Scot is well-placed to end the season as world number three for the first time.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, who has won the Australian and US Opens as well as Wimbledon this year remains comfortably ahead despite taking time off to rest a back injury. French Open winner Rafael Nadal of Spain stays in second.