RAFAEL Nadal stands on the verge of becoming the world's top player - even if the latest rankings show that he is still No2.
Regardless of the computer reading which was updated on Monday, Nadal stamped his supremacy over Roger Federer when he ended his Swiss rival's five-year Wimbledon reign in a heart-stopping five-set thriller.
The razor-thin margin between the pair is the equivalent of the points difference between winning an ATP Masters Series title (500 points) and finishing runner-up (350).
So the performances of Nadal and Federer at the Masters Series tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati in the coming weeks are likely to determine who holds the No 1 ranking during the Olympic Games next month, which will award points, and heading into the US Open a week later.
Nadal's win has reinvigorated interest in the men's singles event at the Olympics.
The pair is favoured to meet in the final where an Olympic gold medal awaits the winner.
Federer has never won an Olympic medal despite competing in Sydney in 2000 and Athens four years later.
Played on the same surface as Flushing Meadows, Beijing will act as an important form guide for the US Open where Federer will again be the defending champion.
However, the unusual format for the Games, which sees early round matches played as best-of-three sets before the finals are expanded to best-of-five, and the ever present threat of Beijing's pollution problems, makes it an open event.
In addition to snatching the All England Club crown, the Spaniard also snapped Federer's record streak of 65 wins on grass.
"Whoever wins the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year for me is the No 1 in the world," three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker said. "The computer just didn't get it yet."
Lest anyone should doubt just how difficult it is to achieve the French Open-Wimbledon double in the same year, only four men have done it and Nadal became the first to pull off the feat since Bjorn Borg in 1980.
With the All England Club defeat coming quickly on the back of his humiliating loss in the French Open final, where a rampaging Nadal allowed Federer to pocket just four games, the Swiss's hold on the top ranking is looking extremely precarious.
Federer has led the rankings for a record 232 consecutive weeks, and Nadal has been second for a record 155.
If the computer does not reflect what everyone else can see, its authenticity could soon be questioned, especially since Nadal's haul of six titles in 2008 includes two Grand Slams and two Masters Series events.
Federer in comparison has won two low-key events but still leads his Spanish tormentor by 545 points in the ATP standings.
He will now be looking to salvage his season with victory at the Beijing Olympics and at the US Open next month.
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