THE ROAD AHEAD

Roger Federer is likely to stay No. 1 this month, but there's still a slight chance Rafael Nadal can take over the top spot. At the same time, Nadal has to keep an eye on his rear view mirror as Novak Djokovic tries to close in on No. 2.

        Ranking points available at Indian Wells and Miami

W 500 | F 350 | SF 225 | QF 125 | Round of16 - 75 | Round of 32 - 35 | Round of 64 - 20 | Round of 96 - 5

ROGER FEDERER

GOAL THIS MONTH    Try to secure No. 1 till Monte Carlo.

NEEDS TO GAIN    105 points. One quarterfinal will do it.

POSITION    Good. Federer lost his opening match at Indian Wells last year while Nadal won the event and Djokovic reached the final, so there's much to gain and not much to lose.

FORM    Unclear. He lost in the first round of Dubai to Andy Murray last week and revealed that he was suffering from mononucleosis earlier this year. He was cleared to resume normal training two weeks ago.

RAFAEL NADAL

GOAL THIS MONTH    A chance to become No. 1 at Miami.

NEEDS TO GAIN   895 points. That means winning both Indian Wells and Miami while Federer wins fewer than four matches overall.

POSITION    Tough. Nadal cannot gain ground in the next two weeks because he is defending the Indian Wells title while Federer lost in the first round last year. He also did better than Federer in Miami, but could improve on his quarterfinal there.

FORM   Mediocre. Nadal lost to a resurgent Andy Roddick in the Dubai quarterfinal last week, squandering an opportunity to take advantage of Federer's early loss. He's far from his aggressive hardcourt best, and he'll have to hope he can suddenly find his form in the California desert like he did last year.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC

GOAL THIS MONTH  Get close to No. 2

NEEDS TO GAIN    1075 points. That means winning both Indian Wells and Miami for 1000 points and hoping Nadal doesn't win a match (10 points for two opening-match losses). That will leave him within 85 points of No. 2.

POSITION  Tough. Djokovic reached the Indian Wells final and won Miami last year - not much room for improvement.

FORM   Good but fragile. Djokovic started off the year with his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, but has been playing tired since. He lost to Andy Roddick in the semifinals of Dubai, but looked better than either Federer or Nadal.