The 50 Most Accomplished Players of the Open Era: a Data-Based Approach

This is an attempt to devise a ranking of player accomplishments without resorting to judgement. The scoring system is explained below. The ranking captures only achievements at the Grand Slams, and only for players with significant successes during the open era. Active players - whose score can still improve - are bolded. The permanent link is here.

The 50 Most Accomplished Players of the Open Era

	Men	Career Rank	Score			Women	Career Rank	Score
1	Novak Djokovic	Dai-Y	824		1	Serena Williams	Dai-Y	745
2	Rafael Nadal	Dai-Y	699		2	Margaret Court	Dai-Y	721
3	Roger Federer	Dai-Y	696		3	Steffi Graf	Dai-Y	698
4	Ken Rosewall	Dai-Y	551		4	Chris Evert	Dai-Y	686
5	Pete Sampras	Dai-Y	435		5	Martina Navratilova	Dai-Y	657
6	Rod Laver	Dai-Y	431		6	Billie Jean King	Dai-Y	416
7	Bjorn Borg	Dai-Y	349		7	Monica Seles	Dai-Y	307
8	Ivan Lendl	Y	348		8	Venus Williams	Y	307
9	Jimmy Connors	Y	337		9	Evonne Goolagong	Y	304
10	Andre Agassi	Y	322		10	Justine Henin	Y	251
11	John McEnroe	Y	256		11	Martina Hingis	Y	224
12	Mats Wilander	Y	240		12	Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario	Y	223
13	Stefan Edberg	Y	238		13	Maria Sharapova	Y	214
14	Boris Becker	Y	227		14	Anne Haydon-Jones	O	180
15	John Newcombe	Y	208		15	Iga Swiatek	Y	175
16	Andy Murray	Y	192		16	Hana Mandlikova	Y	171
17	Carlos Alcaraz	Y	181		17	Kim Clijsters	Y	171
18	Guillermo Vilas	O	163		18	Lindsay Davenport	Y	163
19	Jim Courier	Y	151		19	Aryna Sabalenka	Y	154
20	Jannik Sinner	Y	137		20	Jennifer Capriati	Y	121
21	Arthur Ashe	O	127		21	Nancy Richey	O	116
22	Stan Wawrinka	O	114		22	Virginia Wade	O	113
23	Jan Kodes	O	106		23	Naomi Osaka	Y	111
24	Lleyton Hewitt	O	91		24	Angelique Kerber	O	105
25	Ilie Nastase	O	90		25	Viktoria Azarenka	O	102
26	Andy Roddick	O	87		26	Simona Halep	O	100
27	Gustavo Kuerten	O	86		27	Gabriela Sabatini	O	100
28	Marat Safin	O	83		28	Mary Pierce	O	98
29	Daniil Medvedev	O	83		29	Amelie Mauresmo	O	87
30	Pat Rafter	O	81		30	Ashleigh Barty	O	86
31	Yevgeni Kafelnikov	O	79		31	Svetlana Kuznetsova	O	86
32	Stan Smith	O	74		32	Kerry Melville Reed	O	85
33	Tony Roche	O	74		33	Conchita Martinez	O	84
34	Michael Chang	O	71		34	Na Li	O	82
35	Goran Ivanisevic	S	70		35	Jana Novotna	O	82
36	Johan Kriek	O	69		36	Petra Kvitova	O	81
37	Sergi Bruguera	O	66		37	Garbine Murguruza	O	78
38	Vitas Gerulaitis	O	63		38	Coco Gauff	O	73
39	Dominic Thiem	O	62		39	Tracy Austin	O	71
40	Marin Cilic	O	62		40	Caroline Wozniacki	S	60
41	Michael Stich	O	58		41	Barbora Krejcikova	O	58
42	Juan Carlos Ferrero	O	57		42	Mima Jausovec	O	56
43	Pat Cash	O	55		43	Madison Keys	O	56
44	Juan Martin del Potro	O	55		44	Helena Sukova	O	56
45	Roscoe Tanner	O	53		45	Ana Ivanovic	O	54
46	Alexander Zverev	O	51		46	Mary Joe Fernandez	O	53
47	Manuel Orantes	S	47		47	Rosemary Casals	O	50
48	Carlos Moya	O	44		48	Samantha Stosur	O	47
49	Richard Krajicek	O	41		49	Virginia Ruzici	O	47
50	Thomas Muster	S	41		50	Wendy Turnbull	S	46

For players whose careers fall entirely into the open era - the vast majority - the score is computed as follows: one point for a grand slam quarter-final participation, 3 points for a semifinal, 9 points for a final, and 27 points for a title. Hence every win in the later stages of a slam triples the score. 

For players who split their careers between the pre-open era and the open era - including Margaret Court, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Billie Jean King, John Newcombe Anne Haydon-Jones - adjustments are made to give credit to achievements during both periods. In the men's ranking, points accumulated on the pro tour have a weight of 2/3 per tournament (note: there were only three pro slams), points accumulated on the amateur tour have a weight of 1/2. This ensures that the total points per year remain the same as in the open era. In the ladies' game, there was only the amateur tour, hence pre-open era points count fully. 

In case of points equality, the number of tournament victories/finals/semifinals (in this order) serve as tiebreakers, followed by the sanyaku rank.  Players who had most their success  before the open era are not included, specifically: players who would have obtained a higher sanyaku rank pre-open era than they did during the open era. This applies, among others, to Andres Gimeno, Mal Anderson, Dennis Ralston, Butch Buchholz, Fred Stolle, Ray Emerson, Bob Lutz, Maria Bueno, Lesley Turner Bowrey, and Francoise Durr.

The 2025 US Open: Promotions, Demotions, and Other Stats

2025 US Open Champions:

• Carlos Alcaraz (Yokozuna)

• Aryna Sabalenka (Yokozuna)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• Amanda Anisimova, the 49th Female Ozeki of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Amanda Anisimova	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Taylor Fritz	Sekiwake	Komusubi
Felix Auger-Aliassime (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Lorenzo Musetti	Komusubi	Maegashira
Jessica Pegula	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
Alexander Zverev	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Cori Gauff	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Madison Keys	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Daniil Medvedev (ex-Ozeki)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Ben Shelton	Maegashira	Komusubi
Belinda Bencic	Maegashira	Komusubi
Mirra Andreeva	Maegashira	Komusubi
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi

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

• none

Other noteworthy developments:

• Naomi Osaka reached the seminfals and therefore rectivated her Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) status after more than three years as an inactive Yokozuna.
• All three Ozeki (= Champions) rank holder - Alexander Zverev, Cori Gauff and Madison Keys - went again out early. They were already kadoban, and hence get demoted to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I). They have one chance to regain Ozeki rank by reaching the seminfinals at the 2026 Australian Open, thereafter, rank protection extinguishes.
• For the second consecurive slam, there are more demotions than promotions, making the sanyaku ranks thinly populated. This reflects the dominance of the Yokozuna - pkus of the newly elevated Ozeki Amanda Anisimova - on both the men's and the ladies' side.

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2025 US Open

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Carlos Alcaraz	Y1	Jannik Sinner	Y
Dai-Y	Novak Djokovic	Y2	-	-
-	-	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Alexander Zverev (o)	S	Taylor Fritz	S
S	Felix Auger-Aliassime	K	Lorenzo Musetti	K

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Aryna Sabalenka	Y1	Iga Swiatek	Y
Y	Naomi Osaka	Y2	-	-
O	Amanda Anisimova	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Cori Gauff (o)	S	Madison Keys (o)	O
S	Jessica Pegula	K	-	-

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

Amanda Anisimova, Ozeki

Amanda Anisimova

Amanda Anisimova became the 49th female Ozeki (=Champion) of the open era by reaching the semifinals of the 2025 US Open. Together with her final participation at the 2025 Wimbledon tournament, this suffices to cross the "great hurdle" - the literal meaning of "Ozeki"  in Japanese. The  quarterfinal victory was over Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) Iga Swiatek, hence Anisimova took revenge for a brutal loss only 7 weeks earlier in the Wimbledon final.

Anisimova was one of the strongest juniors of her cohort and also had early success as a pro, reaching, among other things, the semifinal at the 2019 French Open when she was just 17 years old. Then in 2023, she took a break from tennis, citing burnout and concerns about mental health. It did not take long after her return in 2024 to establish herself as a matured world-class player, equipped with powerful groundstrokes and excellent court coverage.  

Elsewhere in the tournament, Naomi Osaka reactivated her Yokozuna status by also reaching the semifinals, where she will play Anisimova. After this tournament, there will therefore be three active female  Yokozuna: Osaka, Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka. Osaka won four grand slam titles in 2018-21, including two US Open, before taking a baby break. Thereafter she needed some time to find her old form. But form is temporary, class is permanent. 

The Sanyaku ranking lists will be updated once the US Open have been completed.

The 2025 Wimbledon Tournament: Promotions, Demotions, and Other Stats

2025 Wimbledon Champions:

• Jannik Sinner (Yokozuna)

• Iga Swiatek (Yokozuna)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• Amanda Anisimova, the 60th Female Sekiwake of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Amanda Anisimova (ex-Komusubi)	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Taylor Fritz (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Ben Shelton	Komusubi	Maegashira
Belinda Bencic	Komusubi	Maegashira
Mirra Andreeva	Komusubi	Maegashira
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
Daniil Medvedev (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Tommy Paul	Maegashira	Komusubi
Lorenzo Mussetti	Maegashira	Komusubi
Frances Tiafoe	Maegashira	Komusubi
Barbora Krejcikova (ex-Ozeki)	Maegasharia	Komusubi
Jasmine Paolini (ex-Ozeki)	Maegasharia	Komusubi
Emma Navarro (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegasharia	Komusubi
Paula Badosa (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegasharia	Komusubi
Elina Svitolina (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegasharia	Komusubi
Zheng Qinwen (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegasharia	Komusubi
Lois Boisson	Maegasharia	Komusubi

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

• Amanda Anisimova for beating Yokozuna Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals

Other noteworthy developments:

• Double Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) triumph at Wimbledon, who, as a result, rise in the Open Era rankings: Iga Swiatek is now top 15, Jannik Sinner top 20.
• All three Ozeki (= Champions) - Alexander Zverev, Cori Gauff and Madison Keys - went out early and go kadoban: they need to reach the quarterfinals at the 2025 US Open to hold rank.
• Mass exodus from the Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) ranks, with no less than 10 demotions from the championship ranks. Ladies' finalist Amanda Anisimova is now the only Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I)

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2025 Wimbledon Tournament

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Jannik Sinner	Y1	Carlos Alcaraz	Y
Dai-Y	Novak Djokovic	Y2	-	-
O	Alexander Zverev (k)	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
-	-	S	-	-
O	Daniil Medvedev	K1	Taylor Fritz	S
K	Ben Shelton	K2	-	-

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Iga Swiatek	Y	Aryna Sabalenka	Y
O	Cori Gauff (k)	O	Madison Keys (k)	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	Amanda Anisimova	S	-	-
K	Belinda Bencic	K1	Mirra Andreeva	K
S	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	K2	-	-

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
Inactive Yokozuna: Naomi Osaka
(k): kadoban
(o): Sekiwake-Ozeki