Clay season points to be defended - #1 perspectives

[Sudacafan]

It will be interesting to evaluate the quantity of points the top players are defending, if they choose/are able to participate in the 2018 spring clay season, with regards of competing for the #1 spot.

- Nadal: We all know that Nadal is going to be the player defending the most clay points, and they are really a lot: Monte Carlo, Madrid, Barcelona and Roland Garros titles and a Rome quarterfinal. All this sums up 4,680 points which is approximately half of his current 9,370 points (as of today March 19), and we know that he is losing 600 points from Miami on top of those, as he is not playing there this week (=total: 5,280 points until the end of RG!)
- Federer is defending zero points in the clay season, (but important to mention the 1,000 from Miami before we start talking clay).
- Del Potro is defending only 180 clay points from his Rome quarterfinals. But, important to mention here, is that Delpo is thinking about skipping clay season à la Roger.
Other contenders:
- Cilic defends 730 points (RG semi, Monte-Carlo and Rome quarters, and Madrid R32)
- Dimitrov defends 190 points (RG R32, Madrid R16 and Rome R64)
- A. Zverev defends 1,190 points (Rome title, Madrid QF and RG R128)
- Thiem defends 2,070 points (RG SF, Madrid final, Rome SF, Monte-Carlo R16, Barcelona final)
I believe that with Federer's age and Nadal's health concerns the 2018 #1 or year#1 ranking perspectives are opening a bit.

 

[Zhilady]

Federer leads Nadal by 2740 points right now (in the race, not the rankings). If he can stretch that lead to 3000 points at Miami and Nadal manages only 4000 points or the whereabouts during claycourt season, he’ll be leading Federer by 1000 points heading into grasscourt season. Not peanuts, but you’d expect Federer to make that back by the time Wimbledon ends.

We could have another race on our hands if Nadal can recover his form to play a good claycourt season. Otherwise, all Federer would have to do is stay healthy and retain his form to remain the #1 until the end of the year.