Andy Roddick's Road back into the Top Four

Andy Roddick has been playing much better this season. But being a top four player is an added bonus, as you don't face a player better than you until the semifinals of most tournaments.

With the form Roddick has showed, he can easily find his way back into the top four. But leaves a question: who does he replace? Not Rafa or Fed. Andy Murray isn't going away either. So the victim in this scenario will have to be Djokovic.

Some of you will point out that even after the French Open, Roddick is still 3,500 points behind. Here is how the calculations can work out though. (As for Del Potro, Roddick will be banking on the fact Del Potro has 1,700 points to defend during the Summer hard court season, which he got due to lack of competition before the Olympics).

So far into the season, here are the point totals for Roddick, Djokovic, and Del Potro. I've added 600 points to Del Potro, assuming he makes French Open semis. I have added the French Open to Roddick and Djokovic.

Roddick: 2,270 points

Djokovic: 3,440

Del Potro: 2,500

Here is how the rest of the season must play out:

Queens Club: Roddick wants to match the performance of Djokovic and Del Potro at Queens, but this will only add 100 points.

Wimbledon: This is HUGE. Roddick must make the semis his first priority and I do believe he can beat Djokovic, Murray on grass, and possibly Nadal too. (He may be bumped up to fifth seed because Wimbledon takes into account grass court points from a year ago and 75 percent from two years ago and adds them on to your points. So Roddick may have just enough to overtake Del Potro).

Del Potro and Djokovic have never enjoyed the grass much, so Roddick's goal is to come out of Wimbledon very close to Del Potro and having made up some ground on Djokovic. Here is how rankings should look post-Wimbledon:

Roddick: 2,990

Djokovic: 3,800

Del Potro: 2,860

Summer hard court season: Roddick wants to win two of the pre-Masters warm ups and do well in the third. Washington is important because it is a ATP 500. Of course, it will only count for 350 because only the best five performances of the season are taken for ATP events. By doing this, he will take away points from Del Potro and Djokovic doesn't play anyway.

Roddick: 3,300

Djokovic: 3,800

Del Potro: 3,200

The Two Masters: Roddick wants to do a bit better than both his competitors by making the semis of both, maybe even the finals if he has favorable draw (because Nadal's track record isn't so good at Cincy). After this point Roddick, wants to be very close to Djokovic and ahead Del Potro in the ATP Race.

Remember this isn't rankings, which will still have Djokovic's Masters performance which will make the gap in points seem larger than in reality. Here are points assuming that he makes both semis. Djokovic makes one semi and one quarter. Same with Del Potro.

Roddick: 4,020

Djokovic: 4,240

Del Potro: 3,740

The US Open: This is also really, really big. Even if Roddick makes only one semi at the Masters, doing better than Djokovic and Del Potro will give Roddick a huge boost in points. I am once again assuming that Roddick makes the semis while Djokovic and Del Potro make the quarters.

Roddick: 4,740

Djokovic: 4,600

Del Potro: 4,100

Post-US Open: The Two Masters Tournaments are important in this case. Roddick must match Djokovic in Paris and Shanghai (This years it is just a masters event). If Roddick matches Djokovic at Shanghai, many pros consider Paris a blow off which means an easy semi for Roddick if he puts in full effort. I say quarters at both for Roddick and a semi and a R16 for Djokovic.(Del Potro is out of Roddick's way by now).

Roddick: 5,100

Djokovic: 5,050

Masters Cup: At this point, Roddick and Djokovic are five and four, respectively, and in the same group at London for Masters Cup. Assuming Nadal is healthy, the winner of Roddick vs. Djokovic will win the No. 4 spot as they will advance to the Masters semis along with Nadal. And at this point of the season, I take Roddick over Djokovic.

Roddick: 5,400

Djokovic: 5,250

As we all know, this is just a prediction, which in my opinion will show the true No. 4 in the world. A lot will depend on luck of the draw as if Roddick keeps ending up in Fed's quarter, he won't get to the No. 4 spot.

There is also margin of error because Djokovic hasn't been playing as well as he could have this year and he struggled during the spring hard court season with two bad losses to Roddick and one to Murray. The only top player Djokovic has beaten this year happens to be Federer and he's been humiliated by the others on HARD courts.

I did this on the basis of ATP Race but at the end of the year rankings and ATP races are no different for the top eight.

Thanks for reading.