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.