London invites focus of men's tennis

LONDON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Roger Federer retains the No. 1 ranking, for now, but attention is on the other end of the Top 10 where the ATP World Tour Finals field will be decided.

Federer ended up runner-up to Juan Martin del Potro at the Swiss Indoors. It was the second time in seven years Federer was second in the event, which is played in his hometown of Basel. The other five times he won.

He was also the defending champion at the Paris Masters, which begins Monday, but he's withdrawn from that event because of "niggling stuff" and said he wants to get healthy for the Tour Finals the following week. Federer is also defending champion there, but his absence will mean he will lose his No. 1 world ranking to Novak Djokovic because of points the Swiss star will be unable to protect inn the ranking system.

The bulk of the field for the finals is decided, Federer, Djokovic, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal all wrapped up invitations early. David Ferrer will also be invited and Tomas Berdych and del Potro learned last week they will be in London for the tournament.

However, Nadal formally withdrew due to a knee injury and that leaves two spots open. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Janko Tipsarevic have the inside track with Richard Gasquet and Nicolas Almagro next in the finals standings, which are computed differently than the world rankings.

All of the Top 20 players except for Federer and Nadal are in Paris for the Masters event.

Federer now tops the rankings with 12,315 points, with Djokovic second at 11,970. Murray (7,690) is third, with Nadal (6,905) fourth and Ferrer (5,610) in fifth.

Berdych has 4,985 points for sixth place in the rankings, with Tsonga (4,710) in seventh and del Potro eighth with 3,990. Tipsarevic is ninth at 3,100 and Juan Monaco, 12th in the Finals standings, comes in 10th with 2,775 points.