Fare Well, Champion

A great Ozeki (=Champion) has retired from the sport of tennis: two-time grand slam winner Na Li.


Na Li, the 29th female Ozeki of the open era

Fare well, champion. You will be missed.
 

Promotions and Demotions Following the 2014 US Open

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Marin Cilic	Ozeki*	Maegashira
Kei Nishikori	Sekiwake*	Maegashira
Caroline Wozniacki	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Elena Makarova	Sekiwake*	Maegashira
Gael Monfils	Komusubi	Maegashira
Shuai Peng	Komusubi*	Maegashira
Sara Errani (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
David Ferrer	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Milos Raonic	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Na Li (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Grigor Dimitrov	Maegashira	Komusubi
Lucie Safarova	Maegashira	Komusubi

* New career high

Winds of Change

For the first time in almost 10 years, there was no Roger Federer, no Rafael Nadal, and also no Novak Djokovic. The three reigning Yokozuna (=Grand Champions), who had sent at least one of them to the last 38 grand slam finals - winning 34 of them - were all absent. Also missing was long-standing Ozeki (=Champion) Andy Murray.

Instead two relative nobodies played the mens' 2014 US Open final: Marin Cilic, whose best slam performance thus far had been a single semifinal participation at the 2010 Australian Open. And Kei Nishikori, who had never made a grand slam quarterfinal. In the event, the hard-hitting Croatian, measuring almost 2 meters, outgunned the nimble Japanese counterpuncher 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

The win was surely well deserved. Cilic had crushed Roger Federer in straight sets in the semifinals, after doing the same in the quarterfinals to ex-Ozeki Tomas Berdych. Together with his quarterfinal participation at Wimbledon - where Cilic lost a tight fivesetter to Djokovic - this grants Cilic a promotion to Ozeki; he is the 32nd male Ozeki of the open era (a rank that Cilic's coach and compatriot Goran Ivanisevic never attained, by the way).

Nishikori had an arguably even tougher route to the final, having to overcome Sekiwake Milos Raonic, Ozeki Stanislas Wawrinka, and Yokozuna Novak Djokovic in long, grueling matches. With this final, Nishikori earns a promotion to Sekiwake, which makes him the first Asian born, sanyaku (champion) ranked player of the open era. Given that the Yokozuna-tennis ranking system takes its inspiration from Ozumo - Japan's national sport - a circle comes to completion.

Many observers have declared this year's US Open would mark the end of the "big 4". After all, Federer has lost consistency - at the biblical tennis age of 33 - Nadal and Murray are increasingly prone to injury, and Djokovic has not quite returned to his dominance of 2011. And yet - for much of the second week of the US Open, conditions were plain irregular, with temperatures of 95F (35C) and humidity levels around 70 pecent. Success had as much to do with being able to cope with tropical conditions as with the tennis playing capacity. The next few slams will show what these Open's outcome is worth.

 

As regards the remainder of the banzuke (=-ranking list), Ozeki Andy Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka both reached the quarterfinals and therefore hold rank - in the case of Murray for the 15th straight time. David Ferrer, by contrast, missed the quarterfinals for the second consecutive slam and thus gets demoted to Sekiwake, after six tournaments at Ozeki. Ferrer will share that rank with Nikishori. Raonic drops one rank to Komusubi (=Junior Champion 2), where he will be joined by Berdych and colorful Gael Monfils, who returns to Komusubi for the third time in his career, after giving Federer a stiff five-set challenge in the quarterfinals. Grigor Dimitrov, who lost to Monfils in round 4, drops out of the sanykau ranks.

 

5 players in lower sanyaku is something the male banzuke has not seen in some time: the dominant "big 4" had not given many other players a chance to earn ranking points. This - at least for now - has changed.   

  

The mens' sanyaku ranks at the end of the 2014 grand slam season are therefore as follows:
 

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Novak Djokovic	Y1	Roger Federer	Dai-Y
Dai-Y	Rafael Nadal	Y2	-	-
O	Andy Murray	O1	Stanislas Wawrinka	O
O	Marin Cilic	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	David Ferrer	S	Kei Nishikori	S
S	Milos Raonic	K1	Tomas Berdych	O
K	Gael Monfils	K2	-	-

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career

Serena Joins the Legends amid an Ozeki Massacre

Dai-Yokozuna (great Grand Champion) Serena Williams added an 18th grand slam title to her career by dispatching Caroline Wozniacki without much ado in the final of the 2014 US Open. Serena - who had failed to reach the grand slam quarterfinal at the last three occasions, and thus had to make at least the seminfinal at Flushing Meadow to remain an active Yokozuna - cruised through the field, with no opponent winning more than 3 games in any set Serena played.

With 18 major titles, Serena has pulled even with Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. We keep her behind these legends in the open era ranking for now, as Navratilova and, especially, Evert did not always play the Australian Open, in line with the standard at their time. But a couple more titles and Serena will be #3. Next in sight is Steffi Graf with 22 titles.

The other high sanyaku ranked players (senior champions) experienced a debacle. Serena's co-Yokozuna (Grand Champion) Maria Sharapova lost in round 4 to Wozniacki. Sharapova hasn't played Yokozuna type tennis since her promotion at this year's French Open, and will need to reach the semis at the 2015 Australian or French Open to remain an active Yokozuna. And the three players who had been promoted to Ozeki (Champion) at Wimbledon - up-and-coming Eugenie Bouchard and Simona Halep, as well as double-Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova - also lost in rounds 3 or 4, and therefore go immediately kadoban, i.e. they need a quarterfinal at the 2015 Australian Open to avoid demotion. Ex-Ozeki Viktoria Azarenka, coming back from injury, made a courageous effort to win back her erstwhile rank - a semifinal would have been nough - but fell one win short.

Finalist Wozniacki - who played a fine tournament until falling to Serena - returns to Sekiwake (Junior Champion I); a rank she has already held 5 times - last after the 2012 Australian Open. A semifinal in January in Melbourne and she would finally make it to Ozeki; a rank that her career record starts suggesting. Wozniacki shares Sekiwake rank with Azarenka and semi-finalist Ekaterina Makarova, who made her sanyaku breakthrough after having been close several times before. Makarova is the 42nd female Sekiwake of the open era.

Another first-time sanyaku promotion, in this case to Komusubi (=Junior Champion 2), earned Shuai Peng. Peng is the third Chinese sanyaku-ranked player of the open era, after Na Li (career high Ozeki) and Jie Zheng (another Komusubi), and the 59th female Komusubi of the open era. The dramatic scenes of the semi-final - when Peng collapsed on a brutally hot and humid court, and was consolated by her opponent Wozniacki - will not be forgotten that quickly. Peng shares Komusubi rank with her compatriot Li, who had to sit the US Open out with an injury, and ex-Sekiwake and quarterfinalist Sara Errani.

The ladies' sanyaku ranks at the end of the 2014 grand slam season are therefore as follows:

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Serena Williams	Y	Maria Sharapova	Y
O	Eugenie Bouchard*	O1	Simona Halep*	O
O	Petra Kvitova*	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Viktoria Azarenka	S1	Caroline Wozniacki	S
S	Ekaterina Makarova	S2	-	-
O	Na Li	K1	Shuai Peng	K
S	Sara Errani	K2	-	-

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
* kadoban
Venus Williams is an 'inactive' Yokozuna

 

Promotions and demotions following Wimbledon 2014

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Eugenie Bouchard	Ozeki*	Sekiwake
Simona Halep	Ozeki*	Sekiwake
Petra Kvitova	Ozeki	Maegashira
Milos Raonic	Sekiwake*	Maegashira
Grigor Dimitrov	Komusubi*	Maegashira
Lucie Safarova	Komusubi*	Maegashira
Demotions
Viktoria Azarenka	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Li Na	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Tomas Berdych (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Ernests Gulbis	Maegashira	Komusubi
Agnieszka Radwanska (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Flavia Pennetta (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Dominika Cibulkova (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Andrea Petkovic	Maegashira	Komusubi
Carla Suarez Navarro	Maegashira	Komusubi

* New career high

Djokovic edges Federer in an all-Yokozuna final

For the second time this year, Novak Djokovic faced a fellow Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) in a grand slam final, but this time he had the better end for himself. In an intense, classy and entertaining 5-setter Djokovic defeated Dai-Yokozuna (=great Grand Champion) and living legend Roger Federer - who hence just failed, at an age of almost 33 years, to add an 18th grand slam title to his record.

Djokovic seemed to have won the match in the 4th set when he was up 5-2, but Federer fought back with verve and forced a decider. In the 5th set, both players remained on serve until 5-4 Djokovic, when the Serb tilted the match in his favor for good.

Outlandish as it sounds, but by the extremely high standards that Djokovic had set in 2011/12 - when he won four out of five consecutive slams - his career had stalled a little recently. Between the 2012 Australian Open and this year's Wimbledon tournament, Djokovic had been in six more grand finals and lost five of them; three times against Dai-Yokozuna Rafael Nadal (among them the 2014 French open) and twice against long-standing Ozeki (=Champion) Andy Murray. This 7th grand slam title makes Djokovic move up one notch to #11 in this page's open era ranking; he is also edging closer to Dai-Yokozuna status (three more titles would be needed for this).

Among the Ozeki, Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka both held rank with a quarterfinal participation, losing to Dimitrov and Federer, respectively. By contrast, David Ferrer lost early and goes kadoban - i.e. he has to reach the quarterfinals at the US Open to avoid demotion to Sekiwake.

Encouragingly, Wimbledon 2014 brought more signs of younger players breaking through and challenging the established lot. At Roland Garros, flashy Ernests Gulbis had reached the sanyaku (=championship) ranks for the first time. At Wimbledon, big server Milos Raonic and no less flashy alrounder Grigor Dimitrov followed in Gulbis' path, reaching the first grand slam semifinals of their careers. Raonic gets promoted to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I, in conjunction with his quarterfinal at the French Open) as a result, and Dimitrov to Komusubi (Junior Champion II). Dimitrov will share the rank with veteran and ex-Ozeki Tomas Berdych, who failed to hold Sekiwake rank.

Going into the 2014 US Open, the mens' sanyaku ranks are as follows:

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Novak Djokovic	Y1	Roger Federer	Dai-Y
Dai-Y	Rafael Nadal	Y2	-	-
O	Andy Murray	O1	Stanislas Wawrinka	O
O	David Ferrer*	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	Milos Raonic	S	-	-
O	Tomas Berdych	K	Grigor Dimitrov	K

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
*kadoban

A superb Kvitova wins her second Wimbledon title, while two new female Ozeki emerge

The ladies' competition at Wimbledon 2014 seemed to have a logical endpoint. 20-year old "tennis princess" Eugenie Bouchard, semi-finalist at both the 2014 Australian and French Open, had come through the tougher half of the field - that included inter alia the Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova - without dropping a set. She had outclassed the 2013-finalist and ex-Sekiwake Sabine Lisicki in the quarterfinals. Then, in the semifinals, she had beaten Roland Garros finalist Simona Halep, with a dominating performance in the second set.

Surely Petra Kvitova (picture) - who had not been in a grand slam semifinal for more than two years and had come through significantly weaker competition en route to the final - would prove no obstacle?

But Kvitova - a former Ozeki (=Champion) and 2011 Wimbledon winner - refused to succumb to this logic. She started strong, continued stronger, and, from the middle of the first set, played irresistible grass court tennis, based on a strong serve, and complemented by powerful, accurate groundstrokes, as well as much nimble movement and touch at and around the net. Bouchard, who had looked so sturdy in her first 6 matches at 2014 Wimbledon, had no serious chance in the 7th, losing 3-6, 0-6.

Based on this performance, the question is why Kvitova has stayed away for so long from the very top of the game - she clearly belongs.

At the same time, signs of a generational shift in ladies' tennis intensify. 24-year old Kvitova comes roaring back to Ozeki rank, where she will be joined by first-time promotees Bouchard (pictured on the right) and Halep - both players in their early 20s. Bouchard and Halep are the 33rd and 34th female Ozeki of the open era, respectively. By contrast, the veteran Ozeki Li Na and Viktoria Azarenka, who were kadoban before the tournament (= they missed the quarterfinal at the preceding French Open), failed to make the last 8 and get demoted to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I). Further, the Yokozuna Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova also left Wimbledon empty-handed. Dai-Yokozuna (=great Grand Champion) Serena has now missed the quarterfinals for three consecutive slams, and needs to reach the semifinals at the US Open lest to lose active Yokozuna status.

Finally, Kvitova's Czech compatriot Lucie Safarova earned a career-first promotion to Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) by reaching the semifinals. The ladies' sanyaku ranks going into the 2014 US Open are therefore as follows:

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Serena Williams	Y	Maria Sharapova	Y
O	Eugenie Bouchard	O1	Simona Halep	O
O	Petra Kvitova	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Na Li	S	Viktoria Azarenka	O
K	Lucie Safarova	K	-	-

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
* kadoban
Venus Williams is an inactive Yokozuna

Dai-Yokozuna Rafael Nadal remains the Gold Standard at Roland Garros

Rafael Nadal confirmed his status as the arguably greatest clay court player in the history of tennis by defeating fellow Yokozuna (= Grand Champion) Novak Djokovic in the 2014 French open final.

Djokovic was really the only player given a realistic chance of troubling the Spaniard at this favorite slam, and he gave Nadal a tight match over four sets. But in the end, even his gutsy display couldn't stop the unstoppable. With now 14 grand slam titles, Nadal has caught up with the great Pete Sampras.

In other developments, Ernests Gulbis burst on the scene, making it to his first grand slam semifinal. The flashy Latvian beat Dai-Yokozuna Roger Federer and ex-Ozeki (=Champion) Tomas Berdych on the way, and gets promoted to Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) for the first time in his career. Quarterfinalist Berdych moves up one step to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I), as this result came on the back of a seminfinal participation at the Australian Open.

Among the Ozeki, Andy Murray and David Ferrer held rank with semi-/quarterfinal participations, respectively, both falling to, well, Nadal. By contrast, newly baked Ozeki and Australian Open champion Stanislas Warwinka crashed out spectacularly in the first round and goes kadoban right away - meaning he has to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon to defend rank.

Overall, there is just one Sekiwake (Berdych) and one Komusubi (Gulbis) in the mens' game at this juncture. Compare this to two Sekiwake and five Komusubi in the ladies' game. The top dogs at Yokozuna and Ozeki don't leave too many other players a chance.

Going into Wimbledon 2014, the mens' sanyaku ranks are as follows:

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Rafael Nadal	Y1	Novak Djokovic	Y
Dai-Y	Roger Federer	Y2	-	-
O	Andy Murray	O1	David Ferrer	O
O	Stanislas Wawrinka*	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Tomas Berdych	S	-	-
K	Ernests Gulbis	K	-	-

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
*kadoban

Maria Sharapova, Yokozuna

Maria Sharapova became the 17th female Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) of the open era today, thus securing her place as one of the greatest players in the modern history of tennis. She joins Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Evonne Goolagoing, Chris Evert, Hana Mandlikova, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams, Jennifer Capriati, Serena Williams, Justine Henin, and Kim Clijsters at the highest career sanyaku (=championship) rank.

Sharapova gets promoted under the 5-career-grand-slam-titles rule rather than under the more standard 2-grand-slam-titles-in-sequence rule - the first lady to obtain Yokozuna rank this way (in the mens' game, John Newcombe and Stefan Edberg became Yokozuna under the 5-slam rule). Too great was arguably Dai-Yokozuna (=great grand champion) Serena Williams' dominance in recent years, and too often was Sharapova plagued by injury, to put back-to-back slam titles together. Promotion under the career rule tends to take longer, and hence it Sharapova required almost ten years since her Ozeki (=champion) promotion at Wimbledon in 2004 - where she won her first grand slam title - and 24(!) tournaments as Ozeki before the finally acceeded to Yokozuna. But there can be little doubt that this is where the Russian with the powerful baseline game and genuine star power belongs. Before this tournament, Sharapova had the by far strongest career statistics of any Ozeki, male or female, and stronger statistics than now-fellow Yokozuna Jennifer Capriati or Lindsay Davenport.

It sure took a hard fight. To win 2014 Roland Garros, Sharapova had to beat the future of ladies' tennis: 20 year old Garbine Muguruza in the quarterfinals, then another 20 year old in Eugenie Bouchard in the semis, and finally 22 year old Simona Halep (pictured on the right) in the final. Each match turned into a strenuous and exciting three-setter, with Sharapova getting stretched further in each round, until Halep demanded every ounce of the new Yokozuna's effort and concentration in a final that over wide stretches produced top class, delightful ladies' tennis.

Halep and Bouchard get promoted to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) for their efforts, together with strong showings at the preceding Australian Open. Few would be surprised to see both soon at Ozeki.

Former Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) Andrea Petkovic, just back from injury, made an impressive run to the semifinals and restores her old rank. She will be joined at that rank by quarterfinalist Carla Suarez Navarro in a first-time Komusubi promotion.

A less successful tournament had defending champion Dai-Yokozuna Serena Williams - who got creamed in the second round by Muguruza - and Ozeki and Australian Open Champion Na Li, who went crashing out in the first round. Li goes kadoban - i.e., has to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon to defend Ozeki rank - as does long-time Ozeki Viktoria Azarenka, who missed the tournament injured. Agnieszka Radwanska, Dominika Cibulkova, and Flavia Penetta all lost early and get demoted from Sekiwake to Komusubi. The ladies' sanyaku ranks going into the 2014 Wimbledon Championship are therefore as follows:

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Serena Williams	Y	Maria Sharapova	Y
O	Viktoria Azarenka*	O	Na Li*	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	Eugenie Bouchard	S	Simona Halep	S
S	Agnieszka Radwanska	K1	Flavia Pennetta	S
S	Dominika Cibulkova	K2	Andrea Petkovic	K
K	Carla Suarez Navarro	K3	-	-

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
* kadoban
Venus Williams is an 'inactive' Yokozuna

Stan the Man wins a Slam - and Becomes an Ozeki

Stanislas Wawrinka is the 31st Ozeki (=Champion) of the open era. Wawrinka had the rank already secured before the Australian Open final, owing to his strong showing back-to-back at the US and down under. Thus, while for some the unfortunate back injury of final opponent and Dai-Yokozuna (=great Grand Champion) Rafael Nadal may taint somewhat Wawrinka's Australian Open title, it had no impact on his rise to Ozeki.

The promotion comes fairly late in Wawrinka's career. He had always been a competitive, tough opponent, but seemed to lack the game and nerves to persitently challenge the top echelon of mens' tennis - the occasional flash victory notwithstanding. However, in the past 24 months or so, Wawrinka developed superb consistency and accuracy with his thunderous serve, massive forehand, and flashy single-handed backhand, while adding variability to his game, making him less predictable. The development became visible to everyoneat last year's Australian Open, when Wawrinka forced Yokozuna and the eventual tournament winner Novak Djokovic into a grinding five-setter that could have gone either way. Yesterday's triumph - that included a win over Djokovic in the quarterfinals - marks the development's preliminary endpoint.

It was interesting to see how in the final's first set - when Nadal seemed still close to his best - Wawrinka coped with Nadal's unreal top-spin, a well-known killer for single-handed backhands (fellow Dai-Yokozuna Roger Federer knows a story to tell about this). Wawrinka's quick feet and anticipation allowed him to often take the ball close to the baseline, early, and on the rise - before it could rise above Wawrinka's shoulder. This neutralized Nadal's spin and allowed Wawrinka to rip the ball back with a vengenace. It would have been interesting to see Nadal adapt to this had the final proceeded as normal.

Other than Wawrinka's stunner, there is little news in the mens' game. The three Yokozuna - Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic - and (existing) Ozeki - Andy Murray and David Ferrer - occupied 5 of the 8 quarterfinal spots. The other three spots were taken by Wawrinka, ex-Ozeki Tomas Berdych , and flashy up-and-comer Gregor Dimitrov in his first grand slam quarterfinal. Berdych returns to Komusubi (=Junior Champion II). Other than him, the sanyaku ranks have a gaping hole after the Yokozuna and Ozeki. The top guns don't give too many other players a chance.

The mens' sanyaku ranks going into the 2014 French Open look therefore as follows:

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Rafael Nadal	Y1	Roger Federer	Dai-Y
Y	Novak Djokovic	Y2	-	-
O	Andy Murray	O1	David Ferrer	O
O	Stanislas Wawrinka	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
-	-	S	-	-
O	Tomas Berdych	K	-	-

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career

Na Li Wins Her Second Slam and Surges back to Ozeki

It was third time, but Na Li did not leave it to luck. In a commanding performance, Li won the ladies' 2014 Australian Open final against Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets, winning the championship in her third final [in 2011 Li lost the final to former Yokozuna (=grand champion) Kim Clijsters, in 2013 to Ozeki (=Champion) Viktoria Azarenka].

This is Li's second grand slam title, following her surprise win at the 2011 French Open. Li had some tight moments in her third-round match against Lucie Safarova, but then never looked back, not dropping another set on the way to the title.

At the age of almost 32, Li moves up to Ozeki for the second time in her career. This is good news for the game. The entertaining Chinese with the athletic game and the fine sense of humor has star power, and is one of a bunch of strong and attractive players lining up behind still dominant Dai-Yokozuna Serena Williams (although Serena went out in the third round this time, hampered by a back injury).

With players like Li, Azarenka, Sharapova or Radwanska, ladies' tennis has become interesting again [I also count ex-Ozeki and grand slam champions Samantha Stosur and Petra Kvitova to this group, although they seem out of form]. Gone are the days where consistent but limited players like Caroline Wozniacki or Jelena Jankovic could get the a #1 WTA ranking without doing much at the slams (as a result, both are no more than career-high Sekiwake).

Li joins Victoria Azarenka at Ozeki, who this time exited in the quarterfinals. Surprise finalist Cibulkova (pictured on the right) - who held Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) rank already once in 2009 - earns a first-time promotion to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I). She will share the rank with semi-finalist Agnieszka Radwanska and quarter-finalist Flavia Pennetta. For Pennetta, this is also a first-time promotion to the third highest sanyaku rank, earned by strong slams back-to-back at the US Open - where she reached the semi-final - and now down under.

The Komusubi rank will be filled with ex-Ozeki Maria Sharapova - who forwent her chance of a quick return to Ozeki by losing to Cibulkova in round 4 (she would have needed a semi-final) - and teenager Eugenie Bouchard. Bouchard made a courageous run to the semifinals before losing to Li. Few would be surprised to see her at higher ranks in the years ahead.

The ladies' sanyaku ranks going into the 2014 French Open look therefore as follows:

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Serena Williams	Y	-	-
O	Viktoria Azarenka	O	Na Li	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	Agnieszka Radwanska	S1	Flavia Pennetta	S
S	Dominika Cibulkova	S2	-	-
O	Maria Sharapova	K	Eugenie Bouchard	K

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
Venus Williams is an 'inactive' Yokozuna