Young American tennis star Andy Roddick is now officially the number-one ranked men's player in the world.
While the weekly ATP rankings are issued on Mondays, Roddick knew last week that he would take over the top spot from Juan Carlos Ferrero after the Spaniard was ousted in an early round of the Paris Masters tournament. The 21-year-old Roddick reached the semifinals in Paris, where he lost to eventual champion Tim Henman of Britain.
Roddick was ranked 10th at the end of last year, but he has won six titles this year, including the U.S. Open. However, he leads Ferrero by only 26 points in the rankings, meaning every match at the season-ending Masters Cup in Houston will be key.
Players will get 20 points for winning each of their three round-robin matches, 40 for a semifinal win and a further 50 for the title.
Wimbledon champion Roger Federer of Switzerland still has an outside chance of overtaking Roddick but it's a longshot, as his deficit is 142 points.
The man who ended both 2001 and 2002 as the men's top tennis player, Australian Lleyton Hewitt, has had a poor year and has fallen all the way to a world ranking of 18th. American Andre Agassi, who was number one for much of this year, is now fifth.