French Open 2009: Banzuke and Preview

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The long and gruelling slam-less period betwen the Australian and the French Open is finally over. Here is how the top players line up for the this year's elite tournament at Roland Garros:

• As has been the case since last year's Wimbledon tournament, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer lead the men's banzuke as Yokozuna (=Grand Champions), followed by long-term Ozeki (=Champion) Novak Djokovic. For Nadal, this is the first time he enters Roland Garros as Yokozuna.



• The ladies' banzuke is once again headed by the Williams sisters. The Ozeki slots are occupied by two Russian ladies: Australian Open finalist Dinara Safina in her first apearance as ozeki, and the re-promoted Elena Dementieva.



• No player is on a Yokozuna run. There is also no particularly strong candidate for an Ozeki promotion, even though three men and one woman would obtain the rank if they reached the final: Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) Andy Roddick (for who this would be the third Ozeki promotion of his career), the Komusubi (=Junior Champions II) and US-Open finalists Andy Murray and Jelena Jankovic, and the Komusubi and Australian Open semi-finalist Fernando Verdasco.



• Frenchman Gilles Simon (M1) and Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro (M8) would obtain a first-time sanyaku promotion if they reach the quarterfinals.



• Komusubi Vera Zvonareva had to withdraw with an ankle injury, and will get demoted to Maegashira after the tournament.

The table below shows the top banzuke ranks. The Sanyaku ranks are determined by the Yokozunatennis ranking system, the Maegashira ranks are filled up according to the seeding list. The full banzuke is published here.

Men

Career rank 1/	Seed	East	Current Rank	West	Seed	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Champion Ranks)
Y	1	Rafael Nadal	Y	Roger Federer	2	Y
O	4	Novak Djokovic	O	-	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	6	Andy Roddick	S	-	-	-
S	3	Andy Murray	K1	Fernando Verdasco	8	K
K	5	Juan Martin del Potro	K2	-	-	-
High Maegashira
-	7	Gilles Simon	M1	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	9	S
S	10	Nikolay Davydenko	M2	Gael Monfils	11	K
S	12	Fernando Gonzalez	M3	Martin Cilic	13	-

Women

Career rank 1/	Seed	East	Current Rank	West	Seed	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Champion Ranks)
Y	2	Serena Williams	Y	Venus Williams	3	Y
O	1	Dinara Safina	O	Elena Dementieva	4	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
-	-	-	S	-	-	-
S	5	Jelena Jankovic	K1	Ana Ivanovic	8	O
K	(6)	Vera Zvonareva*	K2	-	-	-
High Maegashira
O	7	Svetlana Kuznetsova	M1	Victoria Azarenka	9	-
-	10	Caroline Wozniacki	M2	Nadia Petrova	11	S
K	12	Agnieszka Radwanska	M3	Marion Bartoli	13	S

* withdrew
1/ Career-high Sanyaku rank, if applicable.