Cash: Federer the player to beat in 2018

Rafael Nadal may have won the US Open and consolidated his position at the top of the tennis ladder, but Pat Cash thinks that Roger Federer will be the man to beat in 2018. Speaking to BBC Radio, the Australian legend described Federer as the ‘best all-round player’, but with the caveat that he needed to stay fit.

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“Take away the French Open and Federer is the best all-round player in the world,” Cash opined on BBC Radio 5. “There’s no doubts about that. He’s my favourite for everything apart from the French.

“As long as he’s fit, he’s favourite for the Australian, Wimbledon and the US Open.”

Nadal is almost 2,000 points ahead of Federer in the latest ATP rankings, released on Monday. After his victory at Flushing Meadows the Spaniard jumped up to 9,465 points, with Federer moving up to world No.2 with 7,505 points. Andy Murray is No.3 (6,790 points) with Alexander Zverev (4,470 points) and Marin Cilic (4,155 points) rounding out the Top Five.

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Nadal and Federer have shared the spoils at Grand Slams this year. Federer won his 18th and 19th titles at Australian Open and Wimbledon respectively. Meanwhile, Nadal picked up his 15th and 16th Major titles at Roland Garros and the US Open – the latter his first hard court title since 2014.

While Nadal seemed to get stronger during the tournament, Federer was visibly hindered in his movement. While the Swiss star refused to blame injury for his quarterfinal defeat to Juan Martin del Potro, it has been widely acknowledged that he is struggling with a back problem that originated in Montreal.