Farewell, Great Grand Champion

Roger Federer

One of the greatest of the sport has announced his retirement: Roger Federer, the 14th male Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) of the Open Era, and one of only seven male Dai-Yokozuna (Great Grand Champions - the others are Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic). 

When Federer's rise began, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi were near the end of their illustrious careers, and at first he battled for succession rights with the likes of Lleyton Hewitt, Marat Safin or Andy Roddick - all career-high Ozeki (=Champions). It soon transpired though that Federer was the best of the class, and in 2004 he ascended to the highest rank of Yokozuna - the first Grand Champion promotion in almost 10 years (after Agassi in 1995). Dai-Yokozuna followed in 2007. By that time, Federer's three-way rivalry with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic (who would both become Dai-Yokozuna as well) was well under way; it would see all three achieve career records that had been unheard of previously. Together Federer, Nadal and Djokovic established a golden era of men's tennis - that is now nearing its end.

Nadal and Djokovic may have won even a little more than Federer, but Federer was the first who reached hitherto unimaginable heights: he cleared the path that his younger competitors followed, gave them a target to aim for. The elegance of Federer's game is unrivalled: the quick feet that made it seem as if he was hovering over the court; the vision that allowed him to find angles nobody else saw; the wrist flexibility that sometimes made him resemble a squash or badminton player; the fluency, accuracy and effortless power of his serve; the stylish single-handed backhand (even though it lacked a tad reliability and was arguably also his main weakness). Even at age 38, Federer was still competitive in Grand Slam finals - it seemed as if age would never catch up with him. 

Well, age has finally caught up: at the biblical tennis player age of 41, Federer has announced his retirement. Farewell, Great Grand Champion. You will be missed.

P.S.: in the ladies' game, another great has half-announced her withdrawal from the sport: Serena Williams. Different from Federer, Serena has left a back door open though - hence maybe it is still too early for good-byes.

The 2022 US Open: Promotions, Demotions, and Other Stats

2022 US Open Champions:

• Carlos Alcaraz (Maegashira, ex-Komusubi)

• Iga Swiatek (Ozeki)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• Casper Ruud, the 37th Male Ozeki of the Open Era

• Ons Jabeur, the 44th Female Ozeki of the Open Era

• Carlos Alcaraz, the 78th Male Sekiwake of the Open Era

• Karen Khachanov, the 94th Male Komusubi of the Open Era

• Frances Tiafoe, the 95th Male Komusubi of the Open Era

• Alja Tomljanovic, the 72nd Female Komusubi of the Open Era

• Caroline Garcia, the 73rd Female Komusubi of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Ons Jabeur	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Casper Ruud	Ozeki	Komusubi
Carlos Alcaraz	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Karen Khachanov	Komusubi	Maegashira
Frances Tiafoe	Komusubi	Maegashira
Andrey Rublev	Komusubi	Maegashira
Jessica Pegula	Komusubi	Maegashira
Alja Tomljanovic	Komusubi	Maegashira
Aryna Sabalenka (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Caroline Garcia	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
Alexander Zverev	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Stefanos Tsitsipas	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Ashleigh Barty (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Elena Rybakina	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Cameron Norrie	Maegashira	Komusubi
Leylah Fernandez (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Simona Halep (ex-Ozeki)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Tatjana Maria	Maegashira	Komusubi

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

• Frances Tiafoe for beating Dai-Yokozuna Rafael Nadal in Round 4

Other noteworthy developments:

• For the first time since the 2020 US Open, and for the second time only since the 2004 French Open (!), none of the three Dai-Yokozuna (= Great Grand Champion) Novak Djokovic , Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer reached the Grand Slam semifinals. Djokovic and Federer did not participate, Nadal went out in Round 4.

• There is still no active Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) in the ladies' game, although US Open Champion Iga Swiatek is inching closer. She needs to win the 2023 Australian Open or reach the seminfals down under and win the 2023 French Open to get promoted to the highest rank. Two lost finals at the Australian and French open would also do.

• The injured Alexander Zverev lost Ozeki (=Champion) status and got demoted to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) as he missed the second consecutive grand slam tournament. He needs to reach the semifinals at the 2023 Australian Open to be re-promoted immediately.

• Nick Kyrgios, ex-Ozeki Matteo Berrettini, and Cori Gauff all held Sekiwake rank with a quarterfinal participatoin. Kyrgios was one win away from an Ozeki promotion. Jannik Sinner held Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) rank.

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2022 US Open

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Rafael Nadal	Y	Novak Djokovic	Dai-Y
O	Casper Ruud	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Alexander Zverev (o)	S1	Matteo Berrettini	O
S	Nick Kyrgios	S2	Carlos Alcaraz	S
O	Daniil Medvedev	K1	Stefanos Tsitsipas	O
K	Jannik Sinner	K2	Karen Khachanov	K
K	Frances Tiafoe	K3	Andrey Rublev	K

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
-	-	Y	-	-
O	Iga Swiatek	O	Ons Jabeur	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	Cori Gauff	S	-
O	Ashleigh Barty	K1	Elena Rybakina	S
K	Jessica Pegula	K2	Alja Tomljanovic	K
S	Aryna Sabalenka	K3	Caroline Garcia	K

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
Inactive Yokozuna: Roger Federer (Dai), Serena Williams (Dai), Andy Murray, Venus Williams, Naomi Osaka
(k): kadoban
(o): Sekiwake-Ozeki

Casper Ruud, Ozeki

Casper Ruud

The men's game has a new Ozkei too: Casper Ruud became the 37th male Ozeki (=Champion) of the Open Era by reaching the final at both the 2022 French and US Open. Together these results suffice to clear the 'great hurdle' - the literal meaning of 'Ozeki' in Japanese. 

Ruud's promotion occurs as several "new generation" Ozeki have lost rank in the last couple of tournaments: the injured Alexander Zverev; Daniil Medvedev, who was not allow to play at Wimbledon and underperformed (relative to rank) at the French and US Open; Stefanos Tsitsipas, who had a series of disappointing results, and Matteo Berrettini, who missed Wimbledon with Covid and fell in the US Open quarterfinals to Ruud. 

All these will be Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) or Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) after the  tournament, sharing these ranks with players who did well at the US Open, namely finalist Carlos Alcaraz (first-time Sekiwake), semifinalists Frances Tiafoe and Karen Khachanov (both first-time Komusubi), and quarterfinalists Nick Kyrgios and Jannik Sinner. 

A full update of the Sanyaku rankings lists will be published once  2022 US Open finals have been played.

Ons Jabeur, Ozeki

Ons Jabeur became the 

Ons Jabeur

44rd female Ozeki (=Champion) of the Open Era by reaching the semi-finals of the 2022 US Open, following her final participation at Wimbledon. Together these results suffice to clear the 'great hurdle' - the literal meaning of 'Ozeki' in Japanese. By now Jabeur has advanced even further and qualified for the US Open final, where she will play fellow Ozeki Iga Swiatek. 

French Open finalist Caspar Ruud also sports a chance for an Ozeki promotion, provided he beats Karen Khachanov in tonight's semifinal. Khachanov has earned a first time promotion to at least Komusubi (=Junior Champion II). Nick Kyrgios and Cori Gauff were also on Ozeki runs, but exited the tournament too early for completing it. Both will be Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) after the tournament.

A full update of the Sanyaku rankings lists will be published once the 2022 US Open have ended.