Apologies for not posting anything for a while, had a hectic few weeks.
I won't go through all of the potential changes, because with the first two rounds already completed we've already got quite a bit of change going on in the top 10.
Most notably, we've had a drop-out - with qualifier Zverev beating defending champion Davydenko in the second round, that's a big 990 points he's dropping next week, leaving him down at #11 at best. That's pushed Roddick back into the top 10, despite his own early exit, retiring in the second round. Fortunately for him he's got a big enough gap that he should still be relatively safe in that top 10 spot.
A couple more early casualties, Youzhny and Verdasco. Fortunately for Verdasco he didn't do any better last year, so he doesn't lose anything, but nor does he gain any. Youzhny will be dropping down behind both Verdasco and Ferrer after this loss though. Speaking of Ferrer, he has moved within 5 points of Verdasco, so one more win and he'll be up to #7. He'll have to go through Soderling to get there though. That said, he isn't defending anything for the rest of the year while Verdasco has 270 points left to drop off, so his chances of moving up are looking pretty decent.
The rest of the field looks pretty similar to how it has looked in the past few months to be honest. There's a fair gap between Ferrer and Berdych, so even if he does get past Soderling his chances of moving up further are pretty slim. The gap from Berdych to Soderling is too big for any change to be possible there. There's a slight danger to Murray - if he loses in the next round and Soderling reaches the final he'll move down. If Soderling takes the title Murray will have to meet him in the final to keep his place, but other than that he's pretty safe. And the gap from Murray to #3 is still to big to be considered at this point.
As per usual, the most interesting part of rankings is the #2/#3 spot. It's just 50 points this time, so as was the case with New York, one round further is all it will take for the rankings to change. And again they're on the same side of the draw, so once again we could be seeing them face of for the #2 ranking if they both reach the semis.
And... do I really need to point out Nadal's situation. With the extra points picked up in Tokyo he's now over 5000 points ahead, and with a grand total of 360 points to defend to the end of the year who knows when we'll see a change in that top spot. It's gonna be a while.
Sorry again for the late, rushed post. Hopefully I should be able to do it properly for Paris
