Roger Federer Feels Pressure as Novak Djokovic 85 Points Away from No. 2

Get the latest tennis news from www.TennisNow.com

There wasn't a tremendous amount of change in the Top 10 of the ATP rankings after the Australian Open except for a familiar sensation of hot breath on the back of Roger Federer's neck. Novak Djokovic is after him again for the No. 2 spot in the world.

Federer said of Djokovic after his loss in semifinals, "Honestly, I thought he played a great end to the season as well. Played well at the US Open; played well before that, a little bit after that. His game doesn't go away overnight either. I was able to sort of get the better of him on a few occasions in a couple of close ones...Doesn't mean the guy that doesn't win the tournament can't play tennis. That's sometimes how things are portrayed. I had a great season last year, and I think I'll have another one this year."

With his victory in the Aussie Open's final over Andy Murray this past Sunday, Djokovic closed within 85 points of Federer (7,965-7,880) for the No. 2 spot in the world. No. 1 Rafael Nadal, an Australian Open quarterfinalist, still has a lead of more than 4,000 points overall with 12,390 points in all.

The moves inside the Top 10 were Spain's David Ferrer, an Australian Open semifinalist, moving up to sixth and surpassing Tomas Berdych. Likewise, Jurgen Melzer moved up to 10th, a career best, knocking Mikhail Youzhny to 11th.

Quarterfinalist Stanislas Wawrinka had the biggest move inside the Top 25, leaping five spots to 14th. The biggest falls were five spots by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (13th to 18th), five spots by Marin Cilic (15th to 20th) and four spots by John Isner (20th to 24th).

Not surprisingly, the biggest jump in the Top 50 was by quarterfinalist Alexandr Dolgopolov, who upset Tsonga and Robin Soderling, to leap from 46th to 32nd.

He passed Nikolay Davydenko on the way up as the Russian fell 10 spots to 35th. It's a stunning descent for a man ranked fifth last Jun. 21.

The other darling of the Australian Open, Canada's Milos Raonic, exploded up the charts 58 spots to enter the Top 100 at No. 94. After going through three rounds of qualifying, Raonic upset No. 24 Michael Llodra and Youzhny in the main draw, eventually losing to semifinalist Ferrer in four sets in the fourth round.

Raonic said after his loss, "I'm going to play a few weeks now consecutively. I'm going to try to maintain this level. These next upcoming tournaments I feel like I can go in and do a lot of damage and keep improving my ranking a lot. So I'm going to go out there and be prepared and prepare myself for each week accordingly and do as much as I can to win."

A first-round loss dropped former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt from 54th to 68th, his lowest ranking since Jun. 2009.

Get the latest tennis news from www.TennisNow.com