The Top 20 Players of the Open Era - Update

Serena Williams, #2

The end-2018 update, which also marks the completion of the first half century of open era tennis. Active players are in bold.

Compared to the last update - made after the 2018 Australian Open, when Roger Federer won his 20st grand slam title and took the #1 spot from Rod Laver - Rafael Nadal moves from #4 to #3, Novak Djokovic from #7 to #5.

Nadal's promotion is mostly due to equivalence: when Federer hat 17 titles, we ranked him above Ken Rosewall - but below Rod Laver - too. But cross-era comparisons are necessarily fishy, especially when they involve players who had a significant chunk of their career before the open era. One could also argue for Rosewall as #3 (or #2, or, in fact, #1) who, in the early 1960s, dominated the ProTour in ways Nadal did not.

More straightforward is the comparison between Djokovic and Sampras. While both hold the same number of slams (14), Djokovic has been in more finals and semifinals, and he also won all grand slam tournaments while Sampras never won the French Open. There are solid grounds to rank Djokovic above Borg - although in Borg's era, there were de facto only three slams.

The three active Dai-Yokozuna now occupy 3 of the first 5 places, documenting the uniqueness of this era. Among other active players, Yokozuna Andy Murray is #16, career-high Ozeki Stan Wawrinka #20.

In the ladies' ranking, Ozeki Angelique Kerber enters the top 20 after winning her third grand slam title. Gabriela Sabatini has to make way. Dai-Yokozuna Serena Williams remains one grand slam title away from taking the top spot from Margaret Court. Her sister Venus Williams occupies the #9 spot, fellow Yokozuna Maria Sharapova is #13.

The Top 20 of the Open Era

	Male Players	Highest Rank			Female Players	Highest Rank
1	Roger Federer	Dai-Y		1	Margaret Court	Dai-Y
2	Rod Laver	Dai-Y		2	Serena Williams	Dai-Y
3	Rafael Nadal	Dai-Y		3	Steffi Graf	Dai-Y
4	Ken Rosewall	Dai-Y		4	Chris Evert	Dai-Y
5	Novak Djokovic	Dai-Y		5	Martina Navratilova	Dai-Y
6	Pete Sampras	Dai-Y		6	Billie Jean King	Dai-Y
7	Bjorn Borg	Dai-Y		7	Monica Seles	Dai-Y
8	Ivan Lendl	Y		8	Evonne Goolagong	Y
9	Jimmy Connors	Y		9	Venus Williams	Y
10	Andre Agassi	Y		10	Justine Henin	Y
11	John McEnroe	Y		11	Martina Hingis	Y
12	Mats Wilander	Y		12	Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario	Y
13	Stefan Edberg	Y		13	Maria Sharapova	Y
14	Boris Becker	Y		14	Hana Mandlikova	Y
15	John Newcombe	Y		15	Kim Clijsters	Y
16	Andy Murray	Y		16	Lindsay Davenport	Y
17	Jim Courier	Y		17	Jennifer Capriati	Y
18	Guillermo Vilas	O		18	Ann Haydon-Jones	O
19	Arthur Ashe	O		19	Virginia Wade	O
20	Stan Wawrinka	O		20	Angelique Kerber	O

Ray Emerson, Maria Bueno not included as most of their successes were before the open era.

Updated: September 11, 2018

The 2018 US Open: Promotions, Demotions, and Other Stats

2018 US Open Champions:

• Novak Djokovic (Dai-Yokozuna)

• Naomi Osaka (Maegashira)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• John Isner, the 75th Male Sekiwake of the Open Era

• Naomi Osaka, the 46th Female Sekiwake of the Open Era

• Anastasija Sevastova, the 65th Female Komusubi of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Juan Martin del Potro	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Dominic Thiem	Sekiwake	Komusubi
John Isner	Sekiwake	Komusubi
Kei Nishikori	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Naomi Osaka	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Anastasija Sevastova	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
Simona Halep	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Garbine Muguruza	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Kevin Anderson	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Jelena Ostapenko (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Daria Kasatkina	Maegashira	Komusubi
Julia Görges	Maegashira	Komusubi


Kinboshi:
("gold star" - prize awarded to a non-sanyaku ranked competitor for beating an active Yokozuna):

• John Milman - for beating Dai-Yokozuna Roger Federer in round 4

Other noteworthy developments:

• Venus Wiliams loses active Yokozuna status, after not reaching a semifinal/two quarterfinals in the last four slams. She joins Maria Sharapova and Andy Murray as inactive Yokozuna.
• Juan Martin del Potro returns to Ozeki rank after almost 9 years, the consequence of three strong consecutive grand slam tournaments culminating in his final participation at the US Open.
• Ozeki Marin Cilic, Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys all escape demotion with quarter-/semifinal participations. By contrast, Garbine Muguruza, and Simona Halep exit early for the second consecutive Grand Slam and get demoted to Sekiwake. They need a semifinal participation at the 2019 Australian Open to return to Ozeki rank. Angelique Kerber goes kadoban (needs a quarterfinal at the Australian Open to defend Ozeki rank).
• Karolina Pliskova held rank with a quarterfinal participation, but fell one win short of restoring her erstwhile Ozeki rank

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2018 US Open

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Novak Djokovic	Y1	Rafael Nadal	Dai-Y
Dai-Y	Roger Federer	Y2	-	-
O	Marin Cilic	O	Juan Martin del Potro	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	Dominic Thiem	S1	John Isner	S
S	Kei Nishikori	S2	-	-
S	Kevin Anderson	K	-	-

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Serena Williams	Y	-	-
O	Madison Keys	O1	Sloane Stephens	O
O	Angelique Kerber (k)	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Karolina Pliskova	S1	Simona Halep (o)	O
O	Garbine Muguruza (o)	S2	Naomi Osaka	S
O	Jelena Ostapenko	K	Anastasija Sevastova	K

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
Inactive Yokozuna: Andy Murray, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova
(k): kadoban Ozeki
(o): Sekiwake-Ozeki

Fare Well, Champion

A career Ozeki (=Champion) has announced his retirement from grand slam tennis: David Ferrer.

Ferrer never won a slam, but between 2012-14 was an example of outstanding consistency at a very high level. In 2013, he easily cleared the "great hurdle" to Ozeki, after semifinals at the US and Australian Open and a (lost) final at Roland Garros. He held on to the rank for five more tournaments.

David Ferrer, Ozeki

Fare well, champion. You will be missed.
 

The 2018 Wimbledon Tournament: Promotions, Demotions, and Other Stats

2018 Wimbledon Winners:

• Novak Djokovic (Dai-Yokozuna)

• Angelique Kerber (Sekiwake, ex-Ozeki)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• John Isner, the 89th Male Komusubi of the Open Era

• Daria Kasatkina, the 63rd Female Komusubi of the Open Era

• Julia Görges, the 64th Female Komusubi of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Angelique Kerber	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Jelena Ostapenko (ex-Ozeki)	Sekiwake	Komusubi
Kevin Anderson	Sekiwake	Maegashira
John Isner	Komusubi	Maegashira
Daria Kasatkina	Komusubi	Maegashira
Julia Görges	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
Karolina Pliskova	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Dominik Thiem	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Marco Cecchinato	Maegashira	Komusubi
Diego Schwartzman	Maegashira	Komusubi
Caroline Wozniacki (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi


Kinboshi:
("gold star" - prize awarded to a non-sanyaku ranked competitor for beating an active Yokozuna):

• Kevin Anderson - for beating Dai-Yokozuna Roger Federer in the quarterfinals.
• Kiki Bertens - for beating Yokozuna Venus Williams in round 3.

Other noteworthy developments:

Ozeki Marin Cilic, Simona Halep, Sloane Stephens, Garbine Muruguza and Madison Keys all exit early and go kadoban - an Ozeki massacre. They need to reach the quarterfinals at the US Open to preserve Ozeki rank.
• Karolina Pliskova also lost early and gets demoted to Sekiwake. She still enjoys limited rank protection: a semifinal at the US Open would bring her back to Ozeki.
• Ex-Ozeki Juan Martin del Potro holds Sekiwake rank with a quarterfinal participation.

Sanyaku ranks Following the 2018 Wimbledon Tournament

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Novak Djokovic	Y1	Rafael Nadal	Dai-Y
Dai-Y	Roger Federer	Y2	-	-
O	Marin Cilic (k)	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Juan Martin del Potro	S	Kevin Anderson	S
S	Dominic Thiem	K	John Isner	K

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Serena Williams	Y	Venus Williams	Y
O	Angelique Kerber	O1	Simona Halep (k)	O
O	Sloane Stephens (k)	O2	Garbine Muguruza (k)	O
O	Madison Keys (k)	O3	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Karolina Pliskova (o)	S	Jelena Ostapenko	O
K	Daria Kasatkina	K	Julia Görges	K

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
Inactive Yokozuna: Andy Murray, Maria Sharapova
(k): kadoban Ozeki
(o): Sekiwake-Ozeki

The 2018 French Open: Promotions, Demotions, and Other Stats

2018 French Open Winners:

• Rafael Nadal (Dai-Yokozuna)

• Simona Halep (Sekiwake, ex-Ozeki)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• Sloane Stephens, the 39th Female Ozeki of the Open Era

• Madison Keys, the 40st Female Ozeki of the Open Era

• Dominic Thiem, the 74th Male Sekiwake of the Open Era

• Diego Schwartzman, the 87th Male Komusubi of the Open Era

• Marco Cecchinato, the 88th Male Komusubi of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Simona Halep	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Garbine Muguruza	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Madison Keys	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Sloane Stephens (ex-Sekiwake)	Ozeki	Komusubi
Angelique Kerber (ex-Ozeki)	Sekiwake	Komusubi
Juan Martin del Potro (ex-Ozeki)	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Dominic Thiem	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Diego Schwartzman	Komusubi	Maegashira
Marco Cecchinato	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
Jelena Ostapenko	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Caroline Wozniacki	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Stan Wawrikna (ex-Ozeki)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Sam Querrey (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Kevin Anderson (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Tomas Berdych (ex-Ozeki)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Kyle Edmund	Maegashira	Komusubi
Chung Hyeon	Maegashira	Komusubi
Coco Vandeweghe (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Elise Mertens	Maegashira	Komusubi


Kinboshi:
("gold star" - prize awarded to a non-sanyaku ranked competitor for beating an active Yokozuna):

• Marco Cecchinato - for beating Dai-Yokozuna Novak Djkokovic in the quarterfinals.

Other noteworthy developments:

• Andy Murray loses active Yokozuna status after less then 2 years due to injury that forced him to sit out the last three Grand Slam tournaments. He is scheduled to be back for Wimbledon; a semifinal or two quarterfinals in the next four slams would restore Murray to an active Yokozuna.
• Dai-Yokozuna Novak Djokokovic preserved active Yokozuna status by reaching the quarterfinals, he will need to repeat this feat at Wimbledon to remain active.
• In the ladies' game, Dai-Yokozuna Serena Williams and Yokozuna Maria Sharapova both fell short of restoring active Yokozuna status, Sharapova by just one match. This makes Serena's sister Venus Williams the only active female Yokozuna at this stage.
• Ozeki Marin Cilic held rank with a quarterfinal participation.
• Sekiwake and Australian Open Champion Caroline Wozniacki exited in the fourth round and missed a first-time Ozeki promotion by just one win. Instead of Ozeki it is Komusubi now for Wozinacki. A semifinal participation at Wimbledon would still elevate Wozniacki to the second highest rank, however.
• Also demoted to Komusubi gets last year's French Open champion and ex-Ozeki Jelena Ostapenko, who loses rank protection as a result.

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2018 French Open

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Rafael Nadal	Y1	Novak Djokovic	Dai-Y
Dai-Y	Roger Federer	Y2	-	-
O	Marin Cilic	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	Dominic Thiem	S	Juan Martin del Potro	O
K	Marco Cecchinato	K	Diego Schwartzman	K

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Venus Williams	Y	-	-
O	Simona Halep	O1	Sloane Stephens	O
O	Garbine Muguruza	O2	Madison Keys	O
O	Karolina Pliskova (k)	O3	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Angelique Kerber	S	-	-
O	Jelena Ostapenko	K	Caroline Wozniacki	S

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

Inactive Yokozuna: Serena Williams (Dai-Y), Andy Murray, Maria Sharapova
(k): kadoban Ozeki

Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens, Ozeki

Keys

Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens became the 39th and 40st female Ozeki (=Champion) of the open era today by reaching the semifinals at the 2018 French open, following on their successes at the 2017 US Open (Stephens: Title, Keys: final) and the 2018 Australian Open (Keys: quarterfinals) - a rare double promotion at the same tournament (the Ozeki list will be updated once the tournament has been completed). Keys and Stephens will meet in tomorrow's semifinal, as they did in the final of the 2017 US Open.

Stephens

In other developments, both Garbine Muguruza and Simona Halep will return to Ozeki after also reaching the semifinals - hence four active female Ozeki will enter the 2018 Wimbledon tournament. By contrast, Caroline Wozniacki - by career stats already one of the most accomplished female Sekiwake (= Junior champion I) of the open era - failed again more to put an Ozeki run together by exiting in round 4 - a quarterfinal would have sufficed, after her triumph at the 2018 Australian Open. Maria Sharapova fell one win short of re-activating Yokozuna status, after losing in the quarterfinals to Halep.

In the mens' game, Andy Murray missed the third consecutive slam and will lose active Yokozuna status after this tournament.

The Top 20 Players of the Open Era - Update

All-Time #1 Roger Federer

By virtue of Roger Federer winning his 20th slam and becoming a "Double-Dai-Yokozuna", it is time to move him up to first spot in our all-time ranking (more precisely: the ranking of players who played all or part of their careers in the open era).

The comparisons with the older greats Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall are necessarily murky, and one still could make arguments for either of these (Laver: calendar year open era slam, Rosewall: 22 majors (pro and amateur) in a period when among the pros there were only 3 majors a year). But long ago we drew the line for Federer at either winning a calendar year slam himself or at piling up 20 grand slam titles, and the latter line has now been crossed.

Just in case you wonder, Serena Williams will move to the #1 spot once she wins her 24th slam.

Note: active players are in bold .

The Top 20 of the Open Era

	Male Players	Highest Rank			Female Players	Highest Rank
1	Roger Federer	Dai-Y		1	Margaret Court	Dai-Y
2	Rod Laver	Dai-Y		2	Serena Williams	Dai-Y
3	Ken Rosewall	Dai-Y		3	Steffi Graf	Dai-Y
4	Rafael Nadal	Dai-Y		4	Chris Evert	Dai-Y
5	Pete Sampras	Dai-Y		5	Martina Navratilova	Dai-Y
6	Bjorn Borg	Dai-Y		6	Billie Jean King	Dai-Y
7	Novak Djokovic	Dai-Y		7	Monica Seles	Dai-Y
8	Ivan Lendl	Y		8	Evonne Goolagong	Y
9	Jimmy Connors	Y		9	Venus Williams	Y
10	Andre Agassi	Y		10	Justine Henin	Y
11	John McEnroe	Y		11	Martina Hingis	Y
12	Mats Wilander	Y		12	Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario	Y
13	Stefan Edberg	Y		13	Maria Sharapova	Y
14	Boris Becker	Y		14	Hana Mandlikova	Y
15	John Newcombe	Y		15	Kim Clijsters	Y
16	Andy Murray	Y		16	Lindsay Davenport	Y
17	Jim Courier	Y		17	Jennifer Capriati	Y
18	Guillermo Vilas	O		18	Ann Haydon-Jones	O
19	Arthur Ashe	O		19	Virginia Wade	O
20	Stan Wawrinka	O		20	Gabriela Sabatini	O

Ray Emerson, Maria Bueno not included as most of their successes were before the open era.

Updated: January 29, 2018

The 2018 Australian Open: Promotions, Demotions, and Other Stats

2018 Australian Open Winners:

• Roger Federer (Dai-Yokozuna)

• Caroline Wozniacki (Maegashira, ex-Sekiwake)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• Kyle Edmund, the 86th Male Komusubi of the Open Era

• Chung Hyeon, the 87th Male Komusubi of the Open Era

• Elise Mertens, the 62nd Female Komusubi of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Marin Cilic	Ozeki	Komusubi
Simona Halep (ex-Ozeki)	Sekiwake	Komusubi
Caroline Wozniacki	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Tomas Berdych (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Angelique Kerber (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Kyle Edmund	Komusubi	Maegashira
Chung Hyeon	Komusubi	Maegashira
Elise Mertens	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
Jelena Ostapenko	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Garbine Muguruza	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Stan Wawrinka (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Sam Querrey	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Kevin Anderson	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Coco Vandeweghe	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Sloane Stephens	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Juan Martin del Potro (ex-Ozeki)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Pablo Carreno Busta	Maegashira	Komusubi


Kinboshi:
("gold star" - prize awarded to a non-sanyaku ranked competitor for beating an active Yokozuna):

• Chung Hyeon - for beating Dai-Yokozuna Novak Djkokovic in round 4.
• Belinda Bencic - for beating Yokozuna Venus Williams in round 2.

Other noteworthy developments:

• Dai-Yokozuna Serena Williams becomes inactive after missing her fourth grand slam tournament. A seminal or two quarterfinals within the next four slams suffice to reactivate Yokozuna status
• Jelena Ostapenko and Garbine Muguruza lost Ozeki rank. As Sekiwake-Ozeki, they still enjoy limited rank protection for one more tournament: a semifinal at the 2018 French Open would suffice for a return to Ozeki.
• Sekiwake and ex-Ozeki Stan Wawrinka lost in round 2 and loses rank protection, meaning that there is no longer a quick return path to Ozeki (other than winning the French Open)
• Ozeki Karolina Pliskova and Sekiwake Madison Keys hold rank with quarterfinal participations. Keys was one win away from an Ozeki promotion, but lost to Kerber in the quarterfinals.
• Marin Cilic moves up to Ozeki for the second time in his career, as a result of the final participations at Wimbledon 2017 and these Australian Open. His first spell, which followed the slam victory at the 2014 US Open, lasted only two tournaments.
• Carline Wozniacki's first slam victory brings her back to Sekiwake for the 7th time in her career, equaling Wendy Turnbulls' and Zina Garrison's record. Moreover, with one title, two (lost) finals and four additional semifinal participations, she is arguably the strongest career-high Sekiwake of the open era now - her stats would be befitting for an Ozeki were it not for the lack of consistency at the slams. Wozniacki earned another shot at an Ozeki promotion though, with a quarterfinal at the French Open or a seminal at Wimbledon enough to make the leap over the "Great hurdle" (this is what "Ozeki" means literally in Japanese).
• Finally, Dai-Yokozuna Roger Federer won his 20th grand slam, therefore double-earning the title "Dai" (Great) in front of his rank category "Yokozuna" (Grand Champion). A unique achievement, at least in mens' tennis. We won't call Federerer "Dai-Dai-Yokozuna", but he becomes the #1 in our open era player ranking, ahead of Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall (we know these rankings are murky and we held out for a long time, but it's time to elevate Federer).

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2018 Australian Open

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Roger Federer	Y1	Rafael Nadal	Dai-Y
Dai-Y	Novak Djokovic	Y2	Andy Murray	Y
O	Marin Cilic	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
-	-	S	-	-
O	Stan Wawrinka	K1	Sam Querrey	S
S	Kevin Anderson	K2	Tomas Berdych	O
K	Kyle Edmund	K3	Chung Hyeon	K

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Venus Williams	Y	-	-
O	Karolina Pliskova	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Jelena Ostapenko (o)	S1	Garbine Muguruza (o)	O
S	Madison Keys	S2	Simona Halep	O
S	Caroline Wozniacki	S3	-	-
S	Coco Vandeweghe	K1	Sloane Stephens	S
O	Angelique Kerber	K2	Elise Mertens	K

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

Inactive Yokozuna: Serena Williams (Dai-Y), Maria Sharapova
(k): kadoban Ozeki
(o): Sekiwake-Ozeki