Sunday, June 7, 2015

Stan #2 and Serena # 20 - the 2015 French Open in Short

Men's tournament:

Stan #2
Ozeki (=champion) Stanislas Wawrinka wins his second slam, denying Yokozuna (=grand champion) Novak Djokovic his first title at Roland Garros and his 9th grand slam title. Whether Djokovic will make it to 10 slams - the hurdle to be considered a Dai-Yokozuna (=great grand champion) looks again more questionable. Djokovic finally beat Dai-Yokozuna Rafael Nadal at the French Open - in the quarterfinals - only to find out that there is a new dominator. Wawrinka defeated compatriot and Dai-Yokozuna Roger Federer in the quarterfinals.

Andy Murray holds Ozeki for the 17th (!) time with another strong tournament. By contrast, Marin Cilic loses Ozeki rank almost as rapidly as he attained it.

Sekiwake (=junior champion I) Kei Nishikori misses out on an Ozeki promotion by one match. He would now have to reach the final at Wimbledon - looks unlikely. Semi-finalist and ex-Sekiwake Jo-Wilfried Tsonga returns to the sanykau (championship) ranks as a Komusubi (=junior champion II).

Women's tournament:

Serena #20
Dai-Yokozuna Serena Williams won her 20st slam title - on her least favorite surface and seemingly ill during the course of the tournament. Nothing seems to be able to stop her, she may soon overtake Margaret Court and Steffi Graf as regards the number of slams won.

Finalist Lucie Safarova played a courageous tournament and gets promoted to Sekiwake - she was Komusubi after last year's semifinal at Wimbledon. If Safarova can repeat this feat she will be Ozeki. Swiss semifinalist Timea Bacsinszky earns a first ever promotion into the sanyaku ranks as Komusubi. She will be joined at this rank by former Ozeki Ana Ivanovic, who reached her first grand slam semifinal in 7 years.

The sanyaku ranks going into the 2015 Wimbledon tournament are as follows:

Men
Career rank 1/ East Current Rank West Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y Novak Djokovic Y1 Rafael NadalDai-Y
Dai-Y Roger Federer Y2 --
O Stanislas Wawrinka O Andy MurrayO
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S Kei Nishikori S Marin CilicO
O Tomas Berdych K1 David FerrerO
S Jo-Wilfried Tsonga K2 --
 
Women
Career rank 1/ East Current Rank West Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y Serena Williams Y Maria SharapovaY
O Eugenie Bouchard* O Simona Halep*O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S Lucie Safarova S --
O Petra Kvitova K1 Ekaterina MakarovaS
O Ana Ivanovic K2 Timea BacsinszkyK

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

Promotions and demotions:

Sanyaku Rank Changes
Player (career rank if different) To From
Promotions
Lucie Safarova Sekiwake* Maegashira
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (ex-Sekiwake) Komusubi Maegashira
Ana Ivanovic (ex-Ozeki) Komusubi Maegashira
Timea Bacsinzky Komusubi* Maegashira
Demotions
Marin CilicSekiwake Ozeki
Tomas Berdych (ex-Ozeki)Komusubi Sekiwake
Petra Kvitova (ex-Ozeki)Komusubi Sekiwake
Ekaterina MakarovaKomusubi Sekiwake
Milos Raonic (ex-Sekiwake)Maegashira Komusubi
Nick KyrgiosMaegashira Komusubi
Viktoria Azarenka (ex-Ozeki)Maegashira Komusubi
Caroline Wozniacki (ex-Sekiwake)Maegashira Komusubi
Madison KeysMaegashira Komusubi

* New career high