Novak Djokovic is in pole position to reclaim his World No.1 ranking by the end of the year, maybe even before. The Serb might not have had a brilliant year like in 2011, he has still accumulated the most number of points in 2012. The Australian Open champion has hit top form of late, and he goes into the final two tournaments as the firm favorite.

All four of the “Big four” have a grand slam title to their name this year, and by ending the year as the No.1 in the world he would go a long way in defining who really was the true king of tennis in 2012.

On Sunday, Djokovic did what seemed virtually impossible at one point. He faced 5 match points at the Shanghai Masters final, before winning the match and overthrowing two time champion Andy Murray.

The Serbian would consider himself to be a tad wee bit unlucky to have lost his No.1 ranking to Roger at Wimbledon. The Serb had played extremely well up until that point of the year, and reached his first Roland Garros final too.

“It’s my biggest objective in this moment. It’s something I’m aiming for,” said Djokovic, when asked what it would mean to finish at the top for two years in a row.

“Obviously this (Shanghai win) is going to be a huge confidence boost and also is going to help me in the race for number one.”

But he warned: “It’s still not done. I still have to play well indoors.”

It would take an unlikely sequence of events for the Serbian to fail in his quest as he has fewer points to defend in the closing weeks than Federer in the rolling 12-month rankings.

Speaking in the after-glow of his thrilling come-from-behind victory over British third seed Murray, Djokovic, who won the Australian Open at the start of the year, said he had had an “unbelievable season”.

“Comparing to 2011, results-wise maybe wasn’t at the top, because I had three Grand Slam titles. This year I have only one. But I’ve had an incredible year.

“We have to pay a little bit of respect to the other players. They’ve had an amazing year also. At this level you cannot expect to win all the matches.”

Murray was dignified in defeat. Speaking about Djokovic, he said: “He’s been at the top of the game now, likely to finish number one, that will be two years in a row. Of course, the number one player in the world is what you want to get to.”

Irrespective of who finishes top of the ATP rankings, Djokovic will continue to face a stiff competition in the form of the trio of Murray, Federer and the injury plagued Rafael Nadal.