2008 in Review

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The top players are currently fighting out the end-year tennis championship, but this year's Grand Slam tennis--and therefore the tournaments relevant for the Yokozuna Tennis--ended with the U.S. Open in September. Here is the resumee for 2008.

11 male and 13 female players held Sanyaku rank over the course of 2008. 4 male and 5 female players were High Sanyakuy (active Yokozuna or Ozeki).

7 male and 8 female players got promoted. 3 male and 3 female players climbed to to a new career-high rank: Rafael Nadal (Yokozuna), Andy Murray (Sekiwake), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Sekiwake), Dinara Safina (Sekiwake), Agnieszka Radwanska (Komosubi), and Jie Zheng (Komosubi). There was no new Ozeki promotion.

The title player of 2008 is shared between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on the mens' side. On the womens' side it goes to Serena Williams. Federer and Nadal reached all four grand slam semi-finals; Nadal's two titles contrast with Federer's one title and two lost finals. Serena Williams had a relatively weak first half of the season, but restablished herself as the women to beat with a victory at the U.S. Open and a narrowly lost final (against her sister Venus) at Wimbledon.

The retirement of 2008 was Justine Henin's surprising withdrawal from professional tennis before the French Open, leaving the Williams sisters as the only active female Yokozuna. The Williamses promptly re-took control of the scene in the second half of the year.

The promotion of 2008 was undoubtedly Rafael Nadal's elevation to Yokozuna, as a result of winning back-to-back titles at the French Open and Wimbledon. Nadal is the 15th male Yokozuna of the open era. He had been Ozeki since 2006.

The rising stars of 2008 .... click here for the full article (with complete 2008 performance statistics)

Tournament-Specific Yokozuna and Ozeki

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The Yokozuna tennis ranking criteria can be applied not only to a player's overall Grand Slam tennis career, but also to individual Grand Slam tournaments--a player winning two consecutive Wimbledon tournaments is a "Wimbledon Yokozuna", a player reaching and losing back-to-back French Open finals is a "French Open Ozeki", and so on.

Such ratings yield two insights 1/:

• the identify the open era greats of specific tournaments, and
• they allow to distinguish "generalists" from "specialists". A "generalist" obtained high Sanyaku ranks at all or most Grand Slam events, a "specialist" did well only at selected tournaments.

As the table below shows (much more extensive tables are linked up at the bottom), in the history of open era tennis only two players managed to become tournament specific (TS) Yokozuna at all four Grand Slams: Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf. Six others obtained three TS Yokozuna ranks. Roger Federer, Ivan Lendl, Margaret Court and Chris Evert added a TS Ozeki rank to this tally, Stefan Edberg and Monical Seles a TS Sekiwake rank. By contrast, the Dai-Yokozuna Pete Sampras and Billie Jean King are missing from the very top of the list, as most of their triumphs came at just two tourmaments: Wimbledon and the US Open (Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg are also missing, but this owes to special factors--Laver because of his short career during the open era, Borg because he skipped the Australian Open in most years).

Top Generalists of the Open Era

	Overall Career Rank	# of specific Y-O-S-K	Australian  Open	French Open	Wimbledon	US Open
Men
Roger Federer	Dai-Yokozuna	3-1-0-0	Yokozuna	Ozeki	Yokozuna	Yokozuna
Ivan Lendl	Yokozuna	3-1-0-0	Yokozuna	Yokozuna	Ozeki	Yokozuna
Stefan Edberg	Yokozuna	3-0-1-0	Yokozuna	Sekiwake	Yokozuna	Yokozuna
Women
Martina Navratilova	Dai-Yokozuna	4-0-0-0	Yokozuna	Yokozuna	Yokozuna	Yokozuna
Steffi Graf	Dai-Yokozuna	4-0-0-0	Yokozuna	Yokozuna	Yokozuna	Yokozuna
Margaret Court	Dai-Yokozuna	3-1-0-0	Yokozuna	Yokozuna	Ozeki	Yokozuna
Chris Evert	Dai-Yokozuna	3-1-0-0	Ozeki	Yokozuna	Yokozuna	Yokozuna
Monica Seles	Dai-Yokozuna	3-0-1-0	Yokozuna	Yokozuna	Sekiwake	Yokozuna

For complete statistics--and a discussion of them--see:

1) TS ranks by slam: a list of all TS Yokozuna and Ozeki by Grand Slam tournament

2) TS ranks by player: tournament-specific ranks of all players who attained TS Yokozuna or Ozeki status at one or more Grand Slams

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1/ I owe the idea to "fast clay", a poster on http://www.menstennisforums.com/.

US Open 2008--The Summary

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Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) Roger Federer won the 13th Grand Slam title of his career, celebrating a spectacular comeback after a (for his standards) shaky year 2008. His surprise opponent in the final was the 21 year old Scotsman Andy Murray, Maegashira 1 before the tournament, who jumps all the way up to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I), the first Sanyaku (= Championship) rank of his career. A semifinal at the Australian Open 2009 would get Murray even up to Ozeki (= Champion) level. Recently crowned Yokozuna Rafael Nadal reached the semifinals, as did Ozeki Novak Djokovic, who therefore overcame the kadoban demotion risk and will retain the Ozeki rank for at least another two tournaments. Former Ozeki Andy Roddick made it to the quarterfinals for the first time in a year and defended his Komosubi (=Junior Champion II) rank. However, all other pre-U.S. open Komosubi -- David Ferrer, Marat Safin, and Rainer Schuettler -- exited early and lose Championship rank. As a consequence, only 5 players will enter the 2009 Australian Open as Sanyaku, the lowest number since 1981.

In the ladies' tournament, Serena Williams topped her Wimbledon final with the 9th Grand Slam title of her career. Serena is therefore only one Slam away from Dai-Yokozuna status (= Distinguished Grand Champion). In the quarterfinal she overcame her sister Venus -- the other active Yokozuna -- in a close encounter, and went on to beat Jelena Jankovic, who regained Sekiwake status. Semifinalists Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva (a former Ozeki and current Olympic champion) will also enter the Australian Open as Sekiwake, as will Ana Ivanovic, who lost Ozeki rank with another early exit -- for the first time since 2001, there is no female Ozeki. Maria Sharapova, who used to hold this rank until recently, withdrew from the tournament and slips to Komosubi. She shares the rank with veteran Patty Schnyder, who returns to the Sanyaku for the first time since 2004.

The Men's Tournament

Result	Name	Old Rank	New Rank	Highest Rank	Career points
Winner	Roger Federer	Y(a)	Y(a)	Y	72
Finalist	Andy Murray	-	S	S	4
Semifinalist	Rafael Nadal	Y(a)	Y(a)	Y	32
Semifinalist	Novak Djokovic	O(k)	O	O	16
Quarterfinalist	Andy Roddick	K	K	O	28
Quarterfinalist	Mardy Fish	-	-	-	2
Quarterfinalist	Juan Martin del Potro	-	-	-	1
Quarterfinalist	Gilles Muller	-	-	-	1
-	Marat Safin	K	-	O	22
-	David Ferrer	K	-	S	5
-	Rainer Schuttler	K	-	S	5

The Women's Tournament

Result	Name	Old Rank	New Rank	Highest Rank	Career points
Winner	Serena Williams	Y(a)	Y(a)	Y	59
Finalist	Jelena Jankovic	K	S	S	12
Semifinalist	Elena Dementieva	S	S	O	17
Semifinalist	Dinara Safina	K	S	S	7
Quarterfinalist	Venus Williams	Y(a)	Y(a)	Y	66
Quarterfinalist	Patty Schnyder	-	K	K	8
Quarterfinalist	Flavia Pennetta	-	-	-	1
Quarterfinalist	Sybille Bammer	-	-	-	1
-	Ana Ivanovic	O(k)	S	O	13
-	Maria Sharapova	S	K	O	29
-	Svetlana Kuznetsova	K	-	O	17
-	Agnieszka Radwanska	K	-	K	2
-	Jie Zheng	K	-	K	2
-	Lindsay Davenport	Y(ia)	Y(ia)	Y	59

Y(a)=Active Yokozuna
Y(ia)=Inactive Yokozuna
O=Ozeki
O(k)=Kadoban Ozeki
S=Sekiwake
K=Komosubi

Final and Seminfinal Results

Men's Final
Federer (Y, seeded 2)	vs.	Murray (-, 2)	6-2, 7-5, 6-2
Women's Final
S. Williams (Y, 4)	vs.	Jankovic (K, former S, 2)	6-4, 7-5
Men's Semifinal
Nadal (Y, 1)	vs.	Murray (-, 6)	2-6, 6-7, 6-4, 4-6
Federer (Y, 2)	vs.	Djokovic (O, 3)	6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2
Women's Semifinal
S. Williams (Y, 4)	vs.	Safina (K, former S, 6)	6-3, 6-2
Jankovic (K, former S, 2)	vs.	Dementieva (K, former O, 5)	6-4, 6-4

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Serena Closing in on the Dai-Yokozuna

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With her 9th Grand Slam title, Serena Williams is only one title away from joining the illustre group of Dai-Yokozuna, i.e. Yokozuna (Grand Champions) who have distinguised themselves even within this elite group by typically winning 10 or more titles.

In the open era only six female players have attained Dai-Yokozuna status. These are:

Female Dai-Yokozuna

			Promotion to…				GS	Grand slam achievements 1/
			Y	O	S	K	debut	Titles	Finals	Sfinals	Qfinals
1	Margaret Court	Dai-Y	F69	A69	A69	U68	(A59)	11	1	4	4
2	Billie Jean King	Dai-Y	W72	W68	W68	F68	(W 61)	8	4	5	11
3	Chris Evert	Dai-Y	W74	W73	U72	U71	U71	18	16	18	2
4	Martina Navratilova	Dai-Y	F82	F75	A75	A75	F73	18	14	12	9
5	Steffi Graf	Dai-Y	A88	W87	F87	U85	F83	22	9	6	5
6	Monica Seles	Dai-Y	F91	W90	F90	F89	F89	9	4	5	13
7 (?)	Serena Williams	Y	W02	F02	U99	U99	A98	9	3	2	10

1/ Since the beginning of the Open era.

Billie Jean King is considered a Dai-Yokozuna because of her combined pre-open era and open era career. Monica Seles is on the list as only a career-interrupting attack by a deranged man prevented her from reaching the double-digit title threshold.

As flipside of Serena's hard fought tournament victory (6-4, 7-5), runner-up Jelena Jankovic fell once again short of Ozeki promotion -- she was one win short of Ozeki level already at the 2008 French Open. Jankovic now needs to reach the semifinal at the 2009 Australian Open to attain Yokozuna tennis' second highest rank. She obtained back the Sekiwake rank, however, that she had lost after exiting early at Wimbledon. With Ana Ivanovic being demoted from Ozeki to Sekiwake, there is no female Ozeki at the current juncture.
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Will the 2008 U.S. Open Produce a New Ozeki?

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Ana Ivanovic lost her Ozeki rank during the U.S. Open while Novak Djokovic defended his--but there are no less than 5 players left with a chance to get promoted to Ozeki themselves.

• The best chances has arguably Elena Dementieva (S, former O), who was Ozeki already in 2004 but was unable to keep the title for more than two tournaments. A win over Jelena Jankovic in the semifinal would get the Russian back up to the second-highest rank, given that Dementieva carries over a semifinal participation from Wimbledon.
• Participation in the U.S. Open final would also trigger an Ozeki promotion for French Open finalist Dinara Safina (K, former S). With this, the Russian would attain the same career-high rank as her brother, Marat Safin. But in her semifinal Serena Williams and therefore an active Yokozuna will be waiting--a big hurdle.
• French Open semifinalist Jelena Jankovic (K, former S) can also become an Ozeki, but she would have to win the tournament.
• In the mens' field, Andy Murray secured a first-time Sekiwake promotion today with his quarterfinal victory over Juan Martin del Potro. The tournament title would propel him all the way up to Ozeki, given that he carries over a quarterfinal participation from Wimbledon. He will have to beat Rafael Nadal (Y) and possibly Roger Federer (Y) or Novak Djokovic (O) to this end, however.
• Finally, if Andy Roddick (K, former O) wins the tournament he would re-gain Ozeki rank for a third-time, owing to the two-GS-title rule.
  

Andy Murray Secures First-Time Sanyaku Promotion

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By reaching back-to-back quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, Scotsman Andy Murray has secured his career's first promotion to Sanyaku rank. The 3-set sweep of Stanislaw Wawrinka of Switzerland in the round of 16 secures that Murray will enter the Australian Open at least as Komosubi. Should he beat Argentine Del Potro in the quarterfinals, he would even be promoted to Sekiwake.

Other ranking decisions already taken include:

• After two disappointing Grand Slam tournaments, Ana Ivanovic will lose Ozeki rank and be demoted to Sekiwake,
• Maria Sharapova -- a former Ozeki who withdrew injured -- will be demoted from Sekiwake to Komosubi,
• Marat Safin (former O), Rainer Schuettler (former S), David Ferrer (former S), Svetlana Kuznetsova (former K), Jie Zheng, and Agniezka Radwanska will all lose Komosubi rank and enter the Australian Open unranked.

On the positive side,

• veteran Patty Schnyder will regain her Komosubi rank (first obtained in 1998, last held in 2004), as a result of her second grand slam quarterfinal participation this year after Roland Garros,
• Elena Dementieva (S, former O), Jelena Jankovic (K, former S), and Dinara Safina (K, former S) have already defended their ranks and may well get promoted up further if they continue to win,
• Novak Djokvic (O, kadoban) and Andy Roddick (K, former O) can defend their ranks tomorrow by winning their round of 16 matches, against Tommy Robredo (former K) and Fernando Gonzalez (former S), repectively.

Finally, the Yokozuna -- Nadal, Federer, and the Williams sisters -- need not defend their rank (as it is for life), but all four continue to go strong.

U.S. Open 2008--Pre-Tournament Sanyaku Ranks

Men

Name	Current Rank (place on seeding list)	Career-High Rank	Career points
Yokozuna and Ozeki
Rafael Nadal	Y(a, 1)	Y	30
Roger Federer	Y(a, 2)	Y	68
Novak Djokovic	O(k, 3)	O	14
Lower Sanyaku
David Ferrer	K (4)	S	5
Andy Roddick	K (8)	O	27
Marat Safin	K (-)	O	22
Rainer Schuettler	K (-)	S	5

Women

Name	Current Rank (place on seeding list)	Career-High Rank	Career points
Yokozuna and Ozeki
Serena Williams	Y(a, 4)	Y	55
Venus Williams	Y(a, 7)	Y	65
Ana Ivanovic	O(k, 1)	O	13
Lower Sanyaku
Elena Dementieva	S (5)	O	15
Maria Sharapova	S (withdrew)	O	29
Jelena Jankovic	K (2)	S	9
Svetlana Kuznetsova	K (3)	O	17
Dinara Safina	K (6)	S	5
Agnieszka Radwanska	K (9)	K	2
Jie Zheng	K (-)	K	2
Lindsay Davenport	Y(ia, 23)	Y	59

Highest places non-ranked players ("meatgrinder"):

Men:
M1: Andy Murray (6), David Nalbandian (7, former S)
M2: James Blake (9), Stanislaw Wawrinka (10)
M3: Fernando Gonzalez (11, former S), Richard Gasquet (12, former K)

Women:
M1: Vera Zvonareva (8), Anna Chakvetadze (10, former K)
M2: Daniela Hantuchova (11, former K), Marion Bartoli (12, former S)
M3: Agnes Szavay (13), Victoria Azarenka (14)

The Top 101 Male and Female Tennis Players of the Open Era

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This site already has various top 20 lists, but to extend the mania (and because there isn't much else to do between Slams ), I have created top 101 lists for male and female tennis players of the open era. The lists are based on Grand Slam results, but make various adjustments, for example:

• players who excelled at the poorly attended Australian Open 1975-82 are ranked lower than they would otherwise be (e.g., Kriek, Denton, O'Neill, Barbara Jordan),
• players who suceeded almost exlusively on one surface only also get downgraded (e.g., Kuerten, Bruguera),
• and for players who had a substantial part of their careers before the open era, I tried to assess their entire careers (e.g., Laver, Rosewall, Court, Haydon-Jones).

Ray Emerson, Pancho Gonzales, Fred Stolle, Maria Bueno and Leslie Bowrey are not listed, as they had basically all their major successes before the open era.

Admittedly, the difference between, say, the #78 and #80 may be hard to tell -- but overall I believe these are pretty consistent rankings.

Wimbledon 2008--the Summary

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Rafael Nadal won a stunning five-set final over Dai-Yokozuna Roger Federer and finally took the hurdle to Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) promotion himself, becoming the 15th tennis player of the open era to attain the highest rank. Former Ozeki (= Champion) Marat Safin and ex-Sekiwake (= Junior Champion I) Rainer Schuettler gave a strong showing and return to the Sanyaku ranks as Komosubi (= Junior Champion II). By contrast, Novak Djokovic--who was on a Yokozuna run entering this tournament--exited early and will go as kadoban Ozeki to the U.S Open, implying that he needs to reach the quarterfinal there to defend the rank. The Sekiwake David Ferrer and Andy Roddick also failed to reach the quarterfinals and will be demoted to Komosubi, while Komosubi Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils drop out of the Sanyaku ranks. Both withdrew from the tournament with injuries.

In the ladies' tournament, the Williams sisters--both long-established Yokozuna--defied the seeding list (there were seeded 6 and 7 only) and played an all-familiy final, with Venus having the better end for herself this time. Former Ozeki Elena Dementieva reached the semifinals, which gets her back to Sekiwake rank following her quarterfinal participation at the French Open. Semifinalist Jie Zheng and quarterfinalist Angieszka Radwanska earned a Komosubi promotion, which marks the first time for either player in the Sankyaku ranks. Ozeki Ana Ivanovic exited in the fourth round and therefore goes kadoban, while kadobon Ozeki Maria Sharapova will be demoted to Sekiwake. All three players at Sekiwake rank at the beginning of the tournamnet -- Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova (former O) and Dinara Safina -- failed to reach the quarterfinals, triggering a mass demotion to Komosubi.

The Men's Tournament

Result	Name	Old Rank	New Rank	Highest Rank	Career points
Winner	Rafael Nadal	O	Y(a)	Y	30
Finalist	Roger Federer	Y(a)	Y(a)	Y	68
Semifinalist	Marat Safin	-	K	O	22
Semifinalist	Rainer Schuettler	-	K	S	5
Quarterfinalist	Mario Ancic	-	-	K	5
Quarterfinalist	Feliciano Lopez	-	-	-	2
Quarterfinalist	Arnaud Clement	-	-	S	5
Quarterfinalist	Andy Murray	-	-	-	1
-	Novak Djokovic	O	O(k)	O	14
-	Andy Roddick	S	K	O	27
-	David Ferrer	S	K	S	5
-	Jo Wilfried Tsonga	K	-	S	3
-	Gael Monfils	K	-	K	2

The Women's Tournament

Result	Name	Old Rank	New Rank	Highest Rank	Career points
Winner	Venus Williams	Y(a)	Y(a)	Y	65
Finalist	Serena Williams	Y(a)	Y(a)	Y	55
Semifinalist	Elena Dementieva	-	S	O	15
Semifinalist	Jie Zheng	-	K	K	2
Quarterfinalist	Agnieszka Radwanska	-	K	K	2
Quarterfinalist	Nadia Petrova	-	-	S	9
Quarterfinalist	Nicole Vaidisova	-	-	S	7
Quarterfinalist	Tamarine Tanasugarn	-	-	-	1
-	Ana Ivanovic	O	O(k)	O	13
-	Maria Sharapova	O(k)	S	O	29
-	Svetlana Kuznetsova	S	K	O	17
-	Jelena Jankovic	S	K	S	9
-	Dinara Safina	S	K	S	5
-	Lindsay Davenport	Y(ia)	Y(ia)	Y	59

Y(a)=Active Yokozuna
Y(ia)=Inactive Yokozuna
O=Ozeki
O(k)=Kadoban Ozeki
S=Sekiwake
K=Komosubi

Final and Semifinal Results

Men's Final
Federer (Y, seeded 1)	vs.	Nadal (O, 2)	4-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 7-9
Women's Final
S. Williams (Y, 6)	vs.	V. Williams (Y, 7)	5-7, 4-6
Men's Semifinals
Federer (Y, 1)	vs.	Safin (former O)	6-3, 7-6, 6-4
Schuettler (former S)	vs.	Nadal (O, 2)	1-6, 6-7, 4-6
Women's Semifinals
Zheng	vs.	S. Williams (Y, 6)	2-6, 6-7
Dementieva (former O, 5)	vs.	V. Williams (Y, 7)	1-6, 6-7

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Rafael Nadal, Yokozuna

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Rafael Nadal beat five-time Wimbledon champion and Dai-Yokozuna Roger Federer in five thrilling and classy sets for the championship and, therefore becomes tennis' 15th male Yokozuna since the beginning of the open era.

Nadal joins an elite club that prior to this tournament consisted of Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Jimmy Connors, John Newcombe, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Mats Wilander, Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, and the very Roger Federer he defeated.

This is the first Yokozuna promotion in men's tennis since 2003 (Federer) and only the second since 1995 (Agassi). It is also the first time since Andre Agassi's retirement that there are two active male Yokozuna--Federer and Nadal.

Nadal jumped both Yokozuna promotion hurdles at the same time: Wimbledon 2008 marked the 5th grand slam victory of his career, and he also produced back-to-back grand slam titles following his win at the French Open in June.

Wimbledon 2008--Semifinal Summary

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Rainer Schuettler completed the semifinal field after an epic five-setter with fellow former Sekiwake Arnaud Clement. For Schuettler this implies the return to the Sankyaku ranks after 5 years of absence. He will meet Rafael Nadal next who has played a superb tournament thus far, keeping his Yokozuna run on track--a win at Wimbledon and Nadal will be the 15th male tennis player in the open era to make it to Yokozuna tennis' higest rank.

Also back is in the Sanyaku ranks is former Ozeki and world No. 1 Marat Safin, who will play the grand Roger Federer in the semis.

Williams vs. Williams

In the ladies' tournament the semis are already completed. For the third time after 2002 and 2003, Venus and Serena Williams will play the Wimbledon final. To some degree this confirms the Yokozuna tennis ranking system--the Williams sisters were ranked as the only active Yokozuna before the tournament, even though they occupied only the #6 and #7 spots on the seeding list. Venus beat former Ozeki Elena Dementieva in two sets, who will therefore make a return to Sekiwake. Serena won her seminfal by an almost identical result over the surprise of the tournament, Jie Zheng of China, who earned a promotion to Komosubi for the first time in her career.

Thus far Serena is 5-1 in Grand Slams finals over Venus...

Men's Semifinals

Federer (Y, seeded 1)	vs.	Safin (former O)
Schuettler (former S)	vs.	Nadal (O, 2)

Women's Semifinals

Zheng	vs.	S. Williams (Y, 6)		2-6, 6-7
Dementieva (former O, 5)	vs.	V. Williams (Y, 7)		1-6, 6-7

Promotions (already secured)
Dementieva from non-ranked to Sekiwake
Safin, Schuettler, Zheng, Radwanska from non-ranked to Komosubi

Demotions
[Djokovic, Ivanovic from Ozeki to kadoban Ozeki]
Sharapova from kadoban Ozeki to Sekiwake
Ferrer, Roddick, Jankovic, Kuznetsova, Safina from Sekiwake to Komosubi
Monfils, Tsonga from Komosubi to non-ranked
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Wimbledon 2008--the Pre-Quarterfinal Summary (updated)

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Wimbledon is at the first decisive threshold: the quarterfinals. Reaching the quarterfinal is a precondition for defending Sanyaku ranks that do not enjoy rank protecion. The Sanyaku rank demotions post Wimbledon are therefore determined. Possible promotions will be decided in the remaining five tournament days.

The first Wimbledon week had its more than fair share of upsets: all Sanyaku ranked players except the active Yokozuna (Federer and the Williams sisters) and Ozeki Rafael Nadal failed to make the quarterfinals. The last ones to crash out were the female Sekiwake trio Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina, triggering a mass demotion to Komosubi.

Some promotions are also already secured: Elena Dementieva (former O) and Agniezska Radwanska will be promoted at least to Komosubi, as they came into the tournament with quarterfinals reached at the French/the Austrialian Open, respectively. For Radwanska this will be the first time she holds Sanyaku rank. Many old hands are giving a strong showing at these championships, including former Ozeki Marat Safin (the older brother of Dinara Safina) and the former Sekiwake Rainer Schuettler, Arnaud Clement, Nicole Vaidisova and Nadia Petrova.

Men's Quarterfinals

Federer (Y, seeded 1)	vs.	Ancic (former K)	6-1, 7-5, 6-4
Safin (former O)	vs.	Lopez (-, 31)	3-6, 7-5, 7-6, 6-3
Schuettler (former S)	vs.	Clement (former S)	6-3, 5-7, 7-6, 6-7, 8-6
Murray (-, 12)	vs.	Nadal (O, 2)	3-6, 2-6, 4-6

Women's Quarterfinals

Zheng	vs.	Vaidisova (former S, 18)	6-2, 5-7, 6-1
Radwanska (-,14)	vs.	S. Williams (Y, 6)	4-6, 0-6
Dementieva (former O, 5)	vs.	Petrova (former S, 21)	6-1, 6-7, 6-3
V. Williams (Y, 7)	vs.	Tanasugarn	6-4, 6-3

Promotions (already secured)
Dementieva from non-ranked to Sekiwake
Safin, Schuettler, Zheng, Radwanska from non-ranked to Komosubi

Demotions
[Djokovic, Ivanovic from Ozeki to kadoban Ozeki]
Sharapova from kadoban Ozeki to Sekiwake
Ferrer, Roddick, Jankovic, Kuznetsova, Safina from Sekiwake to Komosubi
Monfils, Tsonga from Komosubi to non-ranked

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Out Goes Ana

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The third of four Ozekis left the tournament today--world #1 Ana Ivanovic lost to Jie Zheng of China 1-6 4-6, which, or course, ends her Yokozuna run. Instead she will go as kadoban Ozeki to the U.S. Open. The only remaining Ozeki is Rafael Nadal.

The female field seems wide open now. The always dangerous Williams sisters--both accomplished Yokozunas--ought to be tournament favorites now, even though the have been less dominant recently as they used to. Serena had little difficulties to dispose of ex-Wimbledon champion and former Ozeki Amelie Mauresmo today. But watch out for the Sekiwake Dinara Safina, Jelena Jankovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova (former O), all of which have been playing fine tennis thus far. A good result in Wimbledon would get them to Ozeki--a semifinal in the case of up-and-coming Safina and Jankovic, a final for veteran Kuznetsova.

Also out is Sekiwake David Ferrer who lost in fours sets to big serving Croat Mario Ancic, a former Komosubi. Ferrer will therefore follow Andy Roddick down to Komosubi. Unless there is a surprise finalist there will be no male Sekiwake at the U.S. Open.

Farewell to Maria Sharapova and Andy Roddick

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The exit of favorites (and Sanyaku-ranked players) continues -- Maria Sharapova (O) and Andy Roddick (S, former O) failed to advance beyond the second round. Sharapova lost without much fanfare to her little-known compatriot Alla Kudryavtseva 2-6, 4-6, Roddick stumbled over word No,. 40 Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, losing 7-6, 5-7, 4-6, 6-7.

Sharapova--an former Wimbledon champion who has several times been close to Yokozuna promotion in her career--is kadoban Ozeki and will therefore be demoted to Sekiwake after this tournament. Roddick will fall to the bottom of the Sanyaku ranks at Komosubi.

Inactive Yokozuna Lindsay Davenport withdrew from the tournament with a knee injury.

Novak Djokovic out of Wimbledon

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This is how fast dreams can burst: a few days back Bjorn Borg identified Djokovic as the #2 favorite to win Wimbledon, and now Djokovic has already exited the tournament, losing his second-round match in straight sets to ex-world #1, two-times Grand Slam winner and former Ozeki Marat Safin, 4-6, 6-7, 2-6.

This aborts Djokovic's Yokozuna run; instead he goes as kadoban Ozeki to the U.S. Open where he will need to reach the quarterfinals to defend the rank. But given how the young Serb has shaken the tennis world in the past 15 months, it would be a surprise if he would not bounce back from this defeat.

Djokovic's compatriot and fellow Yokozuna candidate Ana Ivanovic had to fight tooth and nail to keep her chances alive, edging out Natalie Dechy of France, a former Komosubi, by the smallest of margins, 6-7, 7-6, 10-8.

Pre-Wimbledon 2008 Summary

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Wimbledon has started, and from a "tennis sumo" perspective this is a particularly interesting tournament: no less than three players are on Yokozuna runs and would be promoted to the highest rank if they win the title.

• The Wimbledon title would get long-standing Ozeki Rafael Nadal to Y for two reasons: back-to-back wins after his triumph at the French Open, and the 5th Grand Slam title of his career,
• Ana Invanovic (back-to-back wins), and
• Novak Djokovic--a win would produce a series W-SF-W that also suffices to get promoted to Y.

Yokozuna promotions are rare--after all there have been only 14 male and 15 female Yokozuna since the beginning of the open era in 1968. The most recent promotions were as far back as 2004 (Roger Federer) and 2003 (Justine Henin). However, with Federer's dominance under attack, the chance for a male Yokozuna promotion seems to have increased, and the women's field is wide open after the retirement of Justine Henin and the recent weaker performances of the Williams sisters.

The Wimbledon basho (line-up):

MEN:

Roger Federer (Yokozuna, seeded 1)
Rafael Nadal (Ozeki, 2)
Novak Djokovic (Ozeki, 3)

David Ferrer (Sekiwake, 5)
Andy Roddick (Sekiwake, former O, 6)
[Gael Monfils (Komosubi), withdrew]
[Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Komosubi), withdrew]

WOMEN:

Serena Williams (Yokozuna, 6)
Venus Williams (Yokozuna, 7)
Lindsay Davenport (inactive Yokozuna, 25)
Ana Ivanovic (Ozeki, 1)
Maria Sharapova (Ozeki, 3)

Jelenea Jankovic (Sekiwake, 2)
Svetlana Kuznetsova (Sekiwake, former O, 4)
Dinara Safina (Sekiwake, 9)

No female Komosubi

Maria Sharapova is kadoban Ozeki and needs to reach the quarterfinals to defend her rank. Andy Roddick just got demoted from Ozeki and needs to reach the seminfals to return to Ozeki--a rank he fist obtained in 2003.

The following players are on Yokozuna/Ozeki runs:

Yokozuna runs:

• Ozekis Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic. As written above, each player needs to win Wimbledon to get promoted to Yokozuna.
• Lindsay Davenport can reactivate her Yokozuna status by reaching the semi-finals.

Ozeki runs:

• S Andy Roddick, S Jelena Jankovic and S Dinara Safina get promoted to O if they reach the semifinals,
• S Svetlana Kuznetsova (former O) if she reaches the final,
• S David Ferrer and the non-ranked players Ernests Gulbris, Nicolas Almagro, Fernando Gonzales (formner S), Elena Dementieva (former O), Daniela Hantuchova (former K), Patty Schnyder (former K), Kaia Kanepi and Carloa Suarez Navarro if the win the tournament.