World No. 3 Roger Federer believes he still has a chance to jump ahead of No. 2 Rafael Nadal and No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the rankings and break Pete Sampras' record of 286 weeks at the top. Federer stood for 285 weeks at No. 1 until Nadal surpassed him on June 7, 2010.
The Swiss said he was in a "pretty good position" to achieve it over the coming months. He is currently 1,290 points behind Nadal and 3,040 points behind Djokovic. In the next two months, Nadal is defending finals at Madrid, Rome, and Wimbledon, along with his title at Roland Garros, worth a total of 4,600 points. Djokovic is defending titles at Madrid, Rome, and Wimbledon, as well as the semifinals of Roland Garros, for a total of 4,720 points. Federer is defending a semifinal finish at Madrid, a fourth-round finish at Rome, the Roland Garros final and the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for a total of 2,010 points.
"All of a sudden if you do win a Grand Slam again you have a shot and if I do I'll probably be extremely close to world No. 1," he told reporters in Madrid. "Then again—easier said than done. I know what it takes to win a Grand Slam. It's hard, it's always been hard. It's still far away for me and my focus is on my next match here on Wednesday. But it is a dream for me this year try to achieve that again. I'll try to chase that as hard as I can and see if it's possible. If not it's no problem and I'll just try to win tournaments which is a thrill in itself."
Nadal, who is coming off title runs at Monte Carlo and Barcelona, also believes he has a shot at the top spot. "I am in a good position thanks to a good start to the year," Nadal said "But right now I am closer to No. 3 than No. 1."
Federer added that he feels rested after more than a month off. His last tournament was in Miami during the second half of March.
"I feel good about my chances of playing well in the next few months,” he said. "But then again I am coming back on clay and Rafa has been so dominant on this surface for so many years so I know the task ahead of me."