The 50 Most Accomlished Players of the Open Era - 2026 Update

An update to the top 50 open era rankings, compiled 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.

In 2026, the Yokozuna Carlos Alcaraz (to 15 from 17), Aryna Sabalenka (to 16 from 20) and Jannik Sinner (to 18 from 20) all improved their ranking. The biggest leaps were made by the new Yokozuna Alexander Zverev (to 22 from 46) and Ozeki Elena Rybakina (to 29 from 55), however, who both won two grand slam titles. With Rybakina entering the top 50, Sekiwake Wendy Turnbull lost her spot in the table. Novak Djokovic (1), Iga Swiatek (15), Naomi Osaka (23) and Coco Gauff (38) added points but did not improve their ranking. 

The 50 Most Accomplished Players of the Open Era

	Men	Career Rank	Score			Women	Career Rank	Score
1	Novak Djokovic	Dai-Y	836		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	Carlos Alcaraz	Y	209		15	Iga Swiatek	Y	176
16	John Newcombe	Y	208		16	Aryna Sabalenka	Y	173
17	Andy Murray	Y	192		17	Hana Mandlokova	Y	171
18	Jannik Sinner	Y	167		18	Kim Clijsters	Y	171
19	Guillermo Vilas	O	163		19	Linday Davenport	Y	163
20	Jim Courier	Y	151		20	Jennifer Capriati	Y	121
21	Arthur Ashe	O	127		21	Nancy Richey	O	116
22	Alexander Zverev	Y	117		22	Virginia Wade	O	113
23	Stan Wawrinka	O	114		23	Naomi Osaka	Y	112
24	Jan Kodes	O	106		24	Angelique Kerber	O	105
25	Lleyton Hewitt	O	91		25	Viktoria Azarenka	O	102
26	Ilie Nastase	O	90		26	Simona Halep	O	100
27	Andy Roddick	O	87		27	Gabriela Sabatini	O	100
28	Gustavo Kuerten	O	86		28	Mary Pierce	O	98
29	Marat Safin	O	83		29	Elena Rybakina	O	96
30	Daniil Medvedev	O	83		30	Amelie Mauresmo	O	87
31	Pat Rafter	O	81		31	Ashleigh Barty	O	86
32	Yevgeni Kafelnikov	O	79		32	Svetlana Kuznetsova	O	86
33	Stan Smith	O	74		33	Kerry Melville Reed	O	85
34	Tony Roche	O	74		34	Conchita Martinez	O	84
35	Michael Chang	O	71		35	Na Li	O	82
36	Goran Ivanisevic	S	70		36	Jana Novotna	O	82
37	Johan Kriek	O	69		37	Petra Kvitova	O	81
38	Sergi Bruguera	O	66		38	Coco Gauff	O	80
39	Vitas Gerulaitis	O	63		39	Garbine Muguruza	O	78
40	Dominic Thiem	O	62		40	Tracy Austin	O	71
41	Marin Cilic	O	62		41	Caroline Wozniacki	S	60
42	Michael Stich	O	58		42	Barbora Krejcikova	O	58
43	Juan Carlos Ferrero	O	57		43	Mima Jausovec	O	56
44	Pat Cash	O	55		44	Madison Keys	O	56
45	Juan Martin Del Potro	O	55		45	Helena Sukova	O	56
46	Roscoe Tanner	O	53		46	Ana Ivanovic	O	54
47	Manuel Orantes	S	47		47	Mary Joe Fernandez	O	55
48	Carlos Moya	O	44		48	Rosemary Casals	O	50
49	Richard Krajicek	O	41		49	Samantha Stosur	O	47
50	Thomas Muster	S	41		50	Virginia Ruzici	O	47

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 2026 US Open: Promotions, Demotions and Other Stats

2026 US Open Champions:

• Alexander Zverev (Ozeki)

• Elena Rybakina (Sekiwake, ex-Ozeki)

New Career Sanyaku Ranks:

• Alexander Zverev, the 20st Male Yokozuna of the Open Era

• Linda Noskova, the 50st Female Ozeki of the Open Era

• Ben Shelton, the 80st Male Sekiwake of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Alexander Zverev	Yokozuna	Ozeki
Elena Rybakina	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Linda Noskova	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Jessica Pegula	Sekiwake	Komusubi
Mirra Andreeva	Sekiwake	Komusubi
Ben Shelton	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Karen Khachanov (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Francis Tiafoe (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
Amanda Anisimova (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Karolina Muchova	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Marta Kostyuk	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Felix Auger-Aliassime (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Arthur Fery	Maegashira	Komusubi
Elina Svitolina (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Maja Chwalinska (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi

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

• Mariano Navone, for beating Dai-Yokozuna Novak Djokovic in round 1

• Qinwen Zhang, for beating Iga Swiatek in round 4

Other noteworthy developments:

• Long-standing Ozeki (=Champion) Alexander Zverev became a Yokozuna (=Grand Champion), after 18 tournaments at Ozeki and more than 11 years after his grand slam debut
• Yokozuna Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka became inactive, after failing to reach at least on semifinal or two quarterfinals in the last four grand slam tournaments (one cannot get demoted from Yokozuna)
• Elena Rybakina gained immediate re-promotion to Ozeki, after losing that rank at the 2026 Wimbledon tournament.

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2026 US Open

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Carlos Alcaraz	Y1	Novak Djokovic	Dai-Y
Y	Jannik Sinner	Y2	Alexander Zverev	Y
-	-	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	Ben Shelton	S	-	-
S	Flavio Cobolli	K1	Karen Khachanov	S
K	Francis Tiafoe	K2	-	-

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Aryna Sabalenka	Y	-	-
O	Elena Rybakina	O	Linda Noskova	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Cori Gauff	S1	Jessica Pegula	S
S	Mirra Andreeva	S2	-	-
O	Amanda Anisimova	K1	Karolina Muchova	S
S	Marta Kostyuk	K2	-	-

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

Alexander Zverev, Yokozuna. Linda Noskova, Ozeki.

Alexander Zverev became the 

Alexander Zverev

20st male Yokozuna (= Grand Champion) of the open era today: his victory at the 2026 US Open, in combination with the title at the 2026 French Open and the (lost) final at the 2026 Wimbledon tournament, suffices for a promotion to the highest rank. Zverev has been the dominant male tennis player at the last three grand slams.

For a long time, the tall, 29-year old German looked promising but tended to fall a step short when it mattered most. Through end-2025, he reached three grand slam finals without winning any of them. Early in his early career, Zverev played in the shadows of the Dai-Yokozuna Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. He also missed an opening at the 2020 US Open, when he lost a narrow final to career-high Ozeki Dominic Thiem after being two sets up. In recent years, Zverev seemed to have been overtaken by the new superstars, Yokozuna Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. 

Linda Noskova

This season, Sinner and Alcaraz missed grand slam tournaments due to injury, or they played but struggled physically and exited uncharacteristically early. Zverev stepped into the void. In the US Open final, he was in control throughout and outplayed the muscular Ben Shelton in four sets - a masterful, Yokozuna-worthy performance.

 

In the ladies' game, Linda Noskova followed on her victory at the 2026 Wimbledon tournament with a quarterfinal participation at the US Open, where she lost a tight match against Yokozuna Aryna Sabalenka. As a result, Noskova became the 50st female Ozeki (=Champion) of the open era. 

Tournament winner Elena Rybakina earned a re-promotion to the second highest rank.

The 2026 Wimbledon Tournament: Promotions, Demotions, and the New Banzuke

2026 Wimbledon Champions:

• Jannik Sinner (Yokozuna)

• Linda Noskova (Maegashira)

New Career Sanyaku Ranks:

• Marta Kostyuk, the 62nd Female Sekiwake of the Open Era

• Linda Noskova, the 63rd Female Sekiwake of the Open Era

• Arthur Fery, the 102nd Male Komusubi of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Cori Gauff (ex-Ozeki)	Sekiwake	Komusubi
Marta Kostyuk	Sekiwake	Komusubi
Karolina Muchova	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Linda Novoska	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Arthur Fery	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
Amanda Anisimova	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Elena Rybakina	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Elina Svitolina	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Mirra Andreeva	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Maja Chwalinska	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Jakub Mensik	Maegashira	Komusubi
Matteo Arnaldi	Maegashira	Komusubi
Diana Shnaider	Maegashira	Komusubi

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

• Karolina Muchova, for beating Naomi Osaka in the quarterfinals

• Alexandra Eala, for beating Iga Swiatek in round 3

Other noteworthy developments:

• Long-standing Ozeki (=Champion) Alexander Zverev fell one win short of a Yokozuna (=Grand Champion). He can will beomce a Yokozuna if he wins the 2026 US Open
• Elena Rybakina and Amanda Aminisova got demoted to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) after failing to make the quarterfinals for the second grand slam tournament in a row. A semifinal at the 2026 US Open would have them regain Ozeki rank.

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2026 Wimbledon Tournament

Men

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

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Naomi Osaka	Y1	Aryna Sabalenka	Y
Y	Iga Swiatek	Y2	-	-
-	-	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Amanda Anisimova (o)	S1	Elena Rybakina (o)	O
O	Cori Gauff	S2	Linda Noskova	S
S	Karolina Muchova	S3	Marta Kostyuk	S
S	Elina Svitolina	K1	Mirra Andreeva	S
S	Maja Chwalinska	K2	Jessica Pegula	S

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