Djok and roll! Novak Djokovic is about to net top spot from Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal could be in trouble. Although he blamed a blister on his foot for he loss to her great Spanish compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round of the Italian Masters, it is the ranking points he will lose for not defending his title in Rome that is more worrying.

Masters Series events are worth a lot of ATP tour points - 500 for a tournament victory - and with Nadal an early-round loser, not only will he lose these points from last year but Novak Djokovic is likely to move ahead of the Spanish world number 2 in the ATP race again after Nadal had overtaken the Serbian with wins in Barcelona and Monte Carlo.

Djokovic, after his third-round win against Igor Andreev in three sets only needs to win one more match to go ahead of Nadal, who currently leads the 2008 standings by 26 points.

The ATP Race is a ranking based solely on the 2008 results starting in January. It basically shows the best player of the season rather than the 52-week rolling ATP Tour ranking.