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