Novak Djokovic Shows why he is a Yokozuna

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It was Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) against Yokozuna, world #1 against world #2, defending champion against last year's finalist - and in the end Novak Djokovic - who had been promoted to Yokozuna only at Wimbledon this year - had the better end for himself. If there were any lingering doubts whether he is worthy of a Yokozuna title these were put to rest tonight once and for all.

After a somewhat disappointing start during which Rafael Nadal seemed tense and restrained, the match exploded in the third set, when Nadal, with his back to the wall, suddenly played at the highest level and produced incredible shots. He was met though by a Novak Djokovic who was not prepared to retreat an inch. Trading repeated breaks (with Djokovic serving for the match at 6-5) the set went into the tiebreaker that Nadal claimed.

In the fourth set both players looked like damaged goods. At first Djokovic seemed in worse shape than Nadal, grabbing his hip and receiving treatment on the court. But it was Nadal who failed to run down balls, overhit shorts, and made the errors - a far cry from the fellow who had showed up in the third. In the end Nadal lost 2-6, 4-6, 7-6, 1-6.

Little will happen to the sanyaku (=championship) ranks as a result of these U.S. Open, as the semifinals were completed by the third Yokozuna, Roger Federer, and Ozeki (=Champion) Andy Murray. Given the dominance of these four, there is little space for anyone else. Only Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) and ex-Ozeki Tomas Berdych at Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) have secured spots on the sanyaku banzuke going into the 2012 Australian Open. Compare this to no less than 12 sanyaku ranked ladies.

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Novak Djokovic	Y1	Rafael Nadal	Y
Y	Roger Federer	Y2	-	-
O	Andy Murray	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	S	-	-
O	Tomas Berdych	K	-	-

Samantha Stosur Takes New York

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How on earth did she do that?

Yes, we knew Samantha Stosur had Grand Slam champion potential, having reached the final at Roland Garros in 2010 and losing - as the favorite - to Francesca Schiavone. And we knew that with her muscular, top-spin based game she was a difficult match-up for Dai-Yokozuna (=great Grand Champion) Serena Williams. But beating this Serena Williams, who had come back from long-term injury with renewed intensity and force? Who had outclassed Stosur only a month ago in Toronto? Who had rushed through the tournament toying with her opponents almost at will? And beating her 6-2, 6-3?

But here she is: Sam Stosur, having crushed the arguably greatest female player of her generation, and winning her first grand slam title at the age of 27. Stosur dominated for most of the match - only at the beginning at the second set, when Serena set some energy free after getting into a dispute with the chair umpire, did it look for a moment as if the match could move away from Stosur. But the Australian kept her composure, and outmuscled, outpressured Williams until the latter crumbled - a feat few players have done with a healthy Serena since the latter broke through into world class some 10 years ago.

Stosur gets re-promoted to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) as a result, and rank she held already in 2010. She would make it even to Ozeki (=Champion) if she reached the quarterfinal at her home slam down under - something she has not managed to do thus far, however. Serena reactivates her Yokozuna status, after a layoff of almost a year.

With the Yokozuna Serena, her sister Venus and Kim Clijsters absent for much of the year, this grand slam season has seen much variation in the ladies' game. Clijsters, Na Li, Petra Kvitova, and now Stosur won the big titles. With the exception of Kvitova, these are all ladies in an advanced tennis age.

Below are the ladies' sanyaku ranked players going into the Australian Open 2012. No less than 11 female players hold sanyaku rank at this juncture, showing how spread out over many shoulders success has been recently in the ladies' game (compare this to just 6 male sanyaku ranked players). At this tournament, surprise semfinalist Angelique Kerber and repeat quarterfinalist (after the French Open 2011) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova earned career-first Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) promotions - they are the 58th and 59th female Komusubi of the open era.

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Serena Williams	Y	Kim Clijsters	Y
Y	Venus Williams	Y(ia)	-	-
O	Maria Sharapova*	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Na Li	S1	Vera Zvonareva	O
S	Samantha Stosur	S2	-	-
S	Petra Kvitova	K1	Marion Bartoli	S
S	Caroline Wozniacki	K2	Angelique Kerber	K
K	Andrea Petkovic	K3	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	K

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
(ia) inactive
* kadoban

A Yokozuna Final for the Men, Serena back in Charge at the Women's

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Dai-Yokozuna (Great Grand Champion) Rafael Nadal and newly promoted Yokozuna (Grand Champion) Novak Djokovic will play the mens' final of the 2011 U.S. Open, in a repeat of last year's U.S. Open final (that Nadal won) and this year's Wimbledon final (that Djokovic won). Djokovic eliminated the other Dai-Yokozuna, Roger Federer, in a five-setter that Federer should have won, being up 5-3, 40-15 in the fifth. Nadal controlled Ozeki (=Champion) Andy Murray in the other semifinal.

The four U.S. top-rated champions sliced up most of the cake between them at the 2011 slams: of the 16 slam semi-finalists, 14 were called Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, or Murray. The exceptions were David Ferrer, who made the Australian Open semifinals after beating an injured Nadal, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who wrestled Federer down in another five-setter at Wimbledon. Federer got his revenge this time, but Tsonga's quarterfinal participation gets him promoted back to his career-high rank of Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I). The only other sanyaku (championship) ranked player will be ex-Ozeki Tomas Berdych, who had another disappointing tournament and will fall to Komusubi (=Junior Champion II).

In the ladies' game, the only constant is that when Dai-Yokozuna Serena Williams is healthy she dominates. In the final she'll meet a resurgent Samantha Stosur, who will get re-promoted to her former career high rank of Sekiwake as a result (win or lose). Stosur, with her muscular, top-spin based game may have the best chance to trouble Serena at this tournament. The only player that came close for a set was Victoria Azarenka, who had the bad luck of meeting Serena in the third round.

But apart from Serena, the ladies' game continues to be in disarray, with no persistent strong challenger emerging. Serena's sister Venus and Kim Clijsters - the two fellow Yokozuna - could play this role but are too often injured (in fact Venus will lose active Yokozuna status after this tournament, with no strong slam result in a year). Other than that, players that held much promise - like French Open champion Na Li, or Vera Zvonareva (both ex-Ozeki that will be Sekiwake after this tournament) - have failed to maintain the level that their games had earlier this year/by the end 2010, respectively. Petra Kvitova, who looked so strong at Wimbledon, had a poor tournament and drops back to Komusubi. Maria Sharapova goes kadoban right after regaining her Ozeki title at the all England Championships. And world #1 Caroline Woziacki's ultra-defensive game just doesn't suffice to get the results at the slams, as her one-sided semi-final loss against Serena Williams demonstrated.

This said, much talent is peaking through at the ladies', with surprise semifinalists Angelique Kerber and quarterfinalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova earning a first-time Komusubi promotion.

Novak Djokovic, Yokozuna

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Novak Djokovic established himself as the leading force in mens' tennis, driving Rafael Nadal off the Wimbledon center court 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. Djokovic played fabulous tennis at times, especially in the second set, when he outplayed, outthought and outmuscled Nadal (!) from the baseline (!) with unbelievable ease. With the exception of a weaker interlude in the third set, Djokovic was clearly the dominant man on the court.

Dominating the game is what is expected from a Yokozuna (=Grand Champion), and a Yokozuna Djokovic is now: the 16th male Yokozuna of the open era, owing to a series WIN AO11 - SF FO11 - WIN WB 11. Djokovic joins the illustre company of Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Jimmy Connors, John Newcombe, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Mats Wilander, Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal.

In the (almost) four years prior to making it to Yokozuna, Djokovic was a highly consistent Ozeki (=Champion), a rank he had gained at the US Open 2007 when he reached his first grand slam final, then losing in straight sets to Roger Federer. Djokovic never gave up Ozeki rank in 15 slams and gradually closed the gap to the intimidatingly dominant Yokozuna duopoly of Federer and Nadal. In the past 10 months or so Djokovic made his final push. In the final of the 2010 US Open he looked competitive with but still clearly inferior to a Rafael Nadal at the peak of his game. This time roles were reversed.

With his third grand slam title Djokovic also edges forward in our open era rankings. He is now #17 on the list - behind Guillermo Vilas, but overtaking Arthur Ashe and Ilie Nastase. Compare this to #31 at end-2010. Rafael Nadal remains #6, Roger Federer #2.

The state of the mens' game is such that behind the three Yokozuna there is steady Ozeki Andy Murray, who made his third consecutive Wimbledon semifinal, and afterwards - not very much. Well, seemingly. Ex-Sekiwake Robin Soderling and ex-Ozeki Tomas Berdych (now a Sekiwake, i.e., Junior Champion I) had their moments in the past few years but have fallen back recently. Ex-Sekiwake Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - now a Komusubi (Junior Champion II) - produces occasional sparkles of brilliance, but lacks the consistency to seriously challenge the big 3 (or 4).

But then, ex-Ozeki Juan Martin del Potro is on the comeback trail and has impressed at both Roland Garros (where he lost to Djokovic, but only after a fight) and Wimbledon (to Nadal, dito). He may get the results back soon. And during this tournament a young man named Bernard Tomic - Australian, German born, of Croatian decent - caught the tennis world's attention by dominating Soderling in the third round, and then in the quarterfinals giving Djokovic more to think than maybe any other opponent.

These are interesting times for mens' tennis. And for now they are the times of the new Yokozuna Novak Djokovic.

Here are the men's sanyaku (=championship) ranks following the 2011 Wimbledon Championships:

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Rafael Nadal	Y1	Roger Federer	Y
Y	Novak Djokovic	Y2	-	-
O	Andy Murray	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Tomas Berdych	S	-	-
S	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	K	-	-

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

A New Wimbledon Queen

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Petra Kvitova, a tall, lanky, powerful 20-year old from the Czech Republic, became the 17th lady to win the Wimbledon Singles Championships in the open era, overpowering and outplaying the 2004 winner Maria Sharapova in two sets, 6-3, 6-4. Sharapova did not play poorly at all, trying to match Kvitova stroke for stroke from the baseline, but often fell just half a step short against a harder and more accurately hitting opponent.

Ladies' tennis has seen quite a bit of turmoil and inconsistency in the past few years, with no less than 10 different players winning the last 15 slams, and several players reaching the #1 WTA ranking without ever having won a slam (Jankovic, Safina, Wozniacki). Especially whenever the Williams sisters were unfit, the field seemed wide open. And more recently grand slam winners tended to be of relatively elevated tennis ages (Schiavone, Li, Clijsters, the Williams sisters).

But whoever saw Kvitova saw taking control of the final today, without a hint of shaky nerves, may wonder whether this may not be a champion to stay. This tournament saw also other talent leaving a mark, most notably semi-finalists Viktoria Azarenka and Sabine Lisicki.

Kvitova gets promoted to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) as a result of this tournament victory. Sharapova returns to Ozeki (=Champion), a rank she held 2004-08. Serena Williams, who missed most of last year's post-Wimbledon season with injuries and came back only just before this tournament, loses active Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) status, but can regain it with a semifinal at the U.S. Open.

Here are the ladies' sanyaku ranks following the 2011 Wimbledon Championships:

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Kim Clijsters	Y	Venus Williams	Y
Y	Serena Williams	Y (ia)	-	-
O	Maria Sharapova	O	Na Li*	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Vera Zvonareva	S1	Petra Kvitova	S
S	Marion Bartoli	S2	-	-
S	Francesca Schiavone	K1	Victoria Azarenka	K
K	Sabine Lisicki	K2	-	-

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
(ia) inactive
* Kadoban

Djokovic Again Only One Match Away from Being a Yokozuna

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By out-thinking and out-hustling the charismatic Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Novak Djokovic reached the Wimbledon final for the first time in his career. Besides taking over the #1 ATP ranking after the tournament, this grants the long-standing Ozeki (=Champion) another chance at a Yokozuna (= Grand Champion) promotion [with a series W(AO)-SF (FO)-W(WB)]. He was also lacking only one win at the French Open, but at Roland Garros Djokovic was stopped somewhat surprisingly by Dai-Yokozuna Roger Federer in the semis. Thus far this is Djokovic's only defeat in 2011.

In Wimbledon the man in Djokovic's way is none other than Dai-Yokozuna Rafael Nadal, Djokovic's predecessor as world #1. In 2011 Djokovic has beaten Nadal already four times. But he 0-2 against Nadal on grass, and Nadal is known for his unique mental strenght that turns him into a near-unbetable force in big matches. It should be interesting.

Were Djokovic to lose the final match, his Yokozuna run would come to an end for now - he would need at least one victory and one final at the upcoming U.S. and Australian Open to make the highest rank.

Nadal reached the final by ending once more the hopes of British Ozeki Andy Murray, who played the 7th Grand Slam semifinal of his career. Murray is arguably the best player of the open era to never have won a slam (yet). Ex-Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga enthused the audience by wrestling Federer into submission in a quarterfinal 5-setter. He returns to the sanyaku (=championship) ranks as a Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) after the tournament. Other than that, the only player with a sanyaku rank is 2010 Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych, who will be demoted to Sekiwake after the tournament for failing to reach a grand slam quarterfinal for the second tournament in a row. Ex-Sekiwake Robin Soderling drops out of the sanyaku ranks altogether.

In the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic-Murray era, there just isn't much space for many other champions.

Maria is Back!

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After more than three years of draught - a period marked by a career-threatening shoulder injury and a slow, uneven comeback, Maria Sharapova returned to the big stage by reaching the sixth Grand Slam final of her career - and this at Wimbledon, the holy grail of tennis. In the semifinals, the new German wunderkind Sabine Lisicki found no means against a Maria Sharapova on a roll, and this though Sharapova hit countless double faults with her trademark unreliable serve. As a result of this tournament and the semfinals at Roland Garros, Sharapova returns to Ozeki (=Champion), a rank she held almost without interruption 2004-08. Lisicki earned a first-time Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) promotion, well deserved after eliminating Ozeki and French Open Champion Na Li and former Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli earier in the tournament.

This blog's wish, uttered more than two years ago, has therefore come true. Ladies' tennis needs badly the starpower and brilliance Sharapova can produce. And age 24, she may have many years of tennis at the highest level ahead of her.

In the final Sharapova will meet Czech Wimbledon specialist Petra Kvitova. In 2010 Kvitova lost only to Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) Serena Williams in the semifinals. This year she turned things around and won a hard-fought semifinal match over Viktoria Azarenka with impressive power and accuracy. Kvitova will get promoted to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) after this tournament - no matter how the final ends. She will share the rank with Marion Bartoli (up from Komusubi) and Vera Zvonareva. Zvonareva gets demoted from Ozeki, following a couple of disappointing slams at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Azarenka will return to Komusubi.

For the Yokozuna Wimbledon was a disappointment. Kim Clisters had to sit the tournament out with an injury, and the Williams sisters both went out in the 4th round, failing to regain form in time after injurites. With no strong result in a year, Serena loses active Yokozuna status for the first time since 2006. Venus will follow suit if she fails to reach the semifinals at the U.S. Open.

The Top 101 of the Open Era: Interim Update

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With two of the four 2011 slams played, it is time to take a look what impact the Australian and the French Open of 2011 had on the top 101 open era ranking. Note: the ranking considers all players with major successes in the open era, but then count their entire careers (thus the prominent ranks for Laver, Court, Rosewall, and King). A full update will be posted after the US Open.

The most notable changes:

• Freshly baken Dai-Yokozuna (=Great Grand Champion) Rafael Nadal overtakes Ivan Lendl and is the mens' new #6, right behind fellow Roland Garros emperor Bjorn Borg



• Kim Clijsters, who got promoted to Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) at the Australian Open, moves up one notch in the ladies' ranking to #14, sandwiched between fellow Yokozuna Hana Mandlikova and Lindsay Davenport



• Long standing Ozeki (=Champion) Novak Djokovic improves from #31 all the way to #19, owing to his triumph at the Australian Open. He is already the fourth strongest male Ozeki of the open era (behind Guillermo Vilas, Arthur Ashe, and Ilie Nastase)



• French Open Champion, Australian Open finalist and new Ozeki Na Li makes an even bigger jump, from #86 at end-2010 to #35, and is now in company of the likes of Mary Joe Fernandez and Wendy Turnbull. Her final opponent, Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) Francesca Schiavone is not far behind at #40.



• New Ozeki Andy Murray improves from #50 to #45, one behind Yannick Noah and one ahead of Adriano Panatta. It will be difficult for him to raise much further though without winning a major.



• Other notable improvements include: Caroline Wozniacki from #67 to #59, Marion Bartoli from #74 to #71, and David Ferrer enters the top 101 as #98.

Below are the current top 20 (active players in bold). Other active players with top 60 rankings include Svetlana Kuznetsova (#23), Andy Roddick (#27), Ana Ivanovic (#29), Juan Carlos Ferrero (#37), Dinara Safina (#42), Vera Zvonareva (#49), Jelena Jankovic (#51), Juan Martin del Potro (#54), Robin Soderling (#56), and David Nalbandian (#59).

The Top 20 Male and Female Tennis Players of the Open Era

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

Great Grand Nadal

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There is a new Dai-Yokozuna (=Great Grand Champion): with the 10th Grand Slam title of his career, Rafael Nadal joined this most exclusive of clubs that, other than himself, counts only Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer among its members on the men's side, and Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, and Serena Williams on the womens'. Fittingly, Nadal acquired access at Roland Garros, the location of his greatest successes, including his first major title in 2005. As fittingly, to get there Nadal had to beat once more his old rival and living legend Roger Federer--as had been the case when Nadal obtained his Ozeki (=Champion) promotion at Roland Garros 2006, and his Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) promotion at Wimbledon 2008.

The final was closer than earlier Nadal-Federer encounters at the French Open. Federer had an excellent start, outplaying Nadal with agressive, variable tennis, and should have won the first set, but gave away a 5-2, 40:30 lead. Thereafter Nadal took command, and at the beginning of the second set it looked as if Federer would once again crumble under the relentless pressure of his running, groaning, fighting, top-spinning opponent. But Federer refused to melt and found a way back into the second set. From then on it was a tight, hard-fought, classy final, which Nadal finally turned in his favor, 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-1.

Federer's 23rd participation in a Grand Slam final (he is 16-7) denied Novak Djokovic the promotion to Yokozuna (see two stories below). The Serb now needs to win Wimbledon to join Nadal and Federer at the highest rank. Until then, he will get company at Ozeki by his buddy Andy Murray, who at last made it to the second-highest rank by putting two good Grand Slam tournaments together back-to-back (final at the AO 2011, semifinal here). Tomas Berdych went out early and goes kadoban--i.e., he needs a quarterfinal at Wimbledon to stay at Ozeki, a rank he had obtained last year with strong results at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

So great is the dominance of Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray that after this tournament there will be no Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I)--there is no player with sufficiently good results over the past three slams. The Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) ranks will be filled by ex-Sekiwake Robin Soderling and by Gael Monfils, who makes a comeback at Komusubi after 3 years.

Here are the men's sanyaku (=championship) ranks following the 2011 French Open:

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Rafael Nadal	Y	Roger Federer	Y
O	Novak Djokovic	O1	Andy Murray	O
O	Tomas Berdych*	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
-	-	S	-	-
S	Robin Soderling	K	Gael Monfils	K

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

Na Li on Top of the World

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Brandnew Ozeki (=Champion) Na Li climbed the tennis olymp today, winning her first Grand Slam tournament on the red clay of Paris at the tender age of 29. Li kept her opponent, defending titlist and Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) Francesca Schiavone, on her toes for most of the match with precise, powerful, deep ground strokes and outstanding foot speed, giving Schiavone little opportunities to develop her floating, variable game. Except for a short period in the second set, when she seemed to fight with her nerves, Li was in control.

Li's is a compelling story, the daughter of an outstanding Chinese amateur badminton player who came through the state system, joined the tour at age 22 with good but not outstanding success, then in 2008 decided to go her own ways--which prepared the ground for her breakthrough into world class. On and off the court Li is an interesting personality, displaying charm, wits and smarts--exactly what the ladies' game needs, which has been dominated for a long time by the ageing Yokozuna (=Grand Champions) Serena and Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters. The Williamses sat Roland Garros out with injuries--Dai-Yokozuna Serena will lose active Yokozuna status if she does not play Wimbledon and reaches the semifinals--while Clijsters went out early, blaming the exit on insufficient clay court preparation.

Also good news is that glamorous ex-Ozeki Maria Sharapova made it into a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time after her career-threatening shoulder injury in 2008. She rejoins the sanyaku (=championship) ranks as Komusubi (=Junior Champion II), a rank that she will share with the ex-Sekiwake Caroline Wozniacki and Marion Bartoli (who continues to have among the weirdest service motions on the tour) as well as first-time Komusubi Andrea Petkovic.

Schiavone remains Sekiwake, falling just one win short of an Ozeki promotion. A semifinal at Wimbledon is now needed to climb the "big hurdle" (this is what Ozeki means literally in Japanese). Vera Zvonareva--who played so strongly in the past three Grand Slams but failed to make an impression at Roland Garros--stays Ozeki but goes kadoban: i.e., Zvonareva needs a quarterfinal at Wimbledon to defend her prominent rank. Ex-Sekiwake Samantha Stosur and ex-Komusubi Petra Kvitova drop out of the sanyaku ranks.

Here are the ladies' sanyaku ranks following the 2011 French Open:

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Kim Clijsters	Y1	Venus Williams	Y
Y	Serena Williams	Y2	-	-
O	Na Li	O	Vera Zvonareva*	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	Francesca Schiavone	S	-	-
S	Caroline Wozniacki	K1	Maria Sharapova	O
S	Marion Bartoli	K2	Andrea Petkovic	K

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

Federer Stops Djokovic's Yokozuna Run

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In a Roland Garros semifinal that goes down as an immediate classic, Dai-Yokozuna (=great Grand Champion) Roger Federer stopped long standing Ozeki (=Champion) and tournament favorite Novak Djokovic in four sets, 7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6. Except for the second set, when Djokovic fell into a bit of a hole, this match was as intense and classy as they come. Djokovic was often the grittier player from the baseline, creating fabulous angels, while Federer could rely on his serve and, at crucial moments of the game, produced this dose of Federer magic that made the difference once again.

Had Djokovic--who was unbeaten thus far this year--won this match, he would have been a Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) himself, to be precise the 16th male Yokozuna of the Open Era. This loss does not end the Yokozuna run altogether, but now Djokovic needs to win Wimbledon to make it to the highest rank. There can be little doubt that he has Yokozuna potential, but on this evening the grand "old" man from Switzerland denied the brilliant Serb the final step. The loss also cost Djokovic the #1 ATP ranking--for now.

With all the excitement about this epic encounter, once could almost forget that another fine semifinal was also played today. The other current Yokozuna, Rafael Nadal, earned a hard-fought win in three sets over newly promoted Ozeki Andy Murray. One more victory on Sunday and Nadal would have 10 Grand Slam titles under his belt, which would grant him the honorary title of Dai-Yokozuna, as only the sixth player of the open era. The existing five Dai-Yokozuna are Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, and, well, Roger Federer.

So it is up to Federer to keep membership in this most exclusive of clubs down. Against the King of Clay Nadal he will be the clear outsider--but then, he also was that today.

Schiavone Does it Again

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Francesca Schiavone blasted past overmatched Marion Bartoli today to secure her place in yet another Roland Garros final. Whoever saw her today would not be surprised if she were to repeat last year's feat, when she came seemingly from nowhere to grab the French Open title. With a tournament win Schiavone would be promoted to Ozeki (=Champion). Former Wimbledon finalist and ex-Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) Bartoli returns to the sanyaku ranks as Komusubi (=Junior Champion II).

Schiavone's final opponent will be tough-as-nails Na Li, who has already secured Ozeki promotion (see two articles below). This is Li's second Grand Slam final in a row. However, while she had established herself as a top hard court player in the past couple of years, it comes as some surprise that she got that far on the red clay of Roland Garros. Li may have been helped by the fact that her seminfal opponent, former Ozeki and triple Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova is a straight, hard hitter just like Li herself, rather than the top spin specialist type that tends to do well on clay. Today Li played more accurately and assertive than Sharapova, with better court coverage, which made her take home an impressive win.

Schiavone will be a different matter. Head-to-head Li and Schiavone are 2-2, but Schiavone won their only match thus far on clay: in the third round of last year's French Open, 6-4 6-2.

Sharapova, like Bartoli, will return to Komusubi following the French Open, after having been absent from the sanyaku ranks for more than 2 years. This is good news: womens' tennis needs the star power that Maria Sharapova brings to the game.

Andy Murray is an Ozeki too--Finally

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Andy Murray followed fellow Australian Open finalist Na Li into the semifinals at Roland Garros and therefore earned, like her, a first-time promotion to Ozeki (=Champion)--the second highest sanyaku (=Championship) rank.

While Li seemed a plausible but not inevitable Ozeki candidate before this tournament, Murray had been at the edge of Ozeki since 2008, but failed to get the series of two-to-three strong grand slam tournaments together that is needed for an Ozeki promotion. In the meantime, players like Juan Martin del Potro or Tomas Berdych leapfrogged Murray, although their career achievements to date have arguably not lived up to those of the Scotsman.

But now Murray is there: the 30st male Ozeki of the open era, and the first Brit (among the men--Britain has already three female career-high Ozeki in Ann Haydon-Jones, Virginia Wade, and Sue Barker). And indeed, it makes more sense seeing Murray on a list with the likes of Pat Cash, Patrick Rafter or Andy Roddick--all fellow career-high Ozeki--than with the career-high Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) Roger Taylor, Greg Rusedski or Arnaud Clement.

Welcome, champ. However, in Ozumo Ozeki are expected to win a major tournament at least once during their careers. So this is what should come next.

Na Li, Ozeki

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Na Li became the 30st female Ozeki (=Champion) of the Open Era today by beating ex-Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) Viktoria Azarenka in straight sets in the French Open quarterfinals. She thus advances to the semifinals, Li's best ever result at Roland Garros. This follows on her memorable Australian Open final loss to Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) Kim Clijsters (who this time went out early).

In the semis, Li will play ex-Ozeki Maria Sharapova, who plays her first grand slam seminfinal since 2008. A tournament victory would propel Sharapova back to her former rank. Sharapova defeated Andrea Petkovic in the quarterfinals, who earned a first-time Komusubi promotion by playing her second grand slam quarterfinal in a row. On a possible Ozeki run is also Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) and defending titlist Francesca Schiavone if she wins this tournament.

Big titles are are stake in the men's game. If Rafael Nadal wins Roland Garros again this year it would be his 10th Grand Slam title, earning him the title of a Dai-Yokozuna (great Grand champion). Only five male open era players have earned this title thus far (Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, and Roger Federer). Further, Novak Djokovic would become the 16th male Yokozuna of the open era if he reaches the final. In his way is semi-final opponent ad Dai-Yokozuna Roger Federer. Finally, Andy Murray could at long last make it to Ozeki if he would win one more match and make his career-first French Open semifinal. At the moment were this is written, Murray has just won the tie-breaker of the first set over Argentine Juan Igancio Chela.

A Flawless Djokovic Wins his Second Slam

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Novak Djokovic won his second Australian Open last night, blasting past Andy Murray in three sets. Djokovic dropped only one set in the entire tournament, defeating both fellow Ozeki (=Champion)Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals and Dai-Yokozuna (=great Grand Champion) Roger Federer in straight sets. A truly impressive feat by a matured, determined Djokovic who played marvelously intelligent and disciplined tennis the two weeks in Melbourne. The only player who might have been able to trouble him, Yokozuna Rafael Nadal--who had beaten Djokovic in the final of the US Open--went out injured in the quarterfinals.

Djokovic is now on a Yokozuna run. A final participation at the French Open would elevate him to Grand Champion status: with 2 Grand Slam titles already won, a series F-W-F is sufficient for Yokozuna. And who would doubt that in this form, Djokovic can be at least the second best clay court player of the world. Djokovic also enters the top 20 of the Yokozuna tennis open era ranking (from #31 before this tournament), probably at #19 between Ilie Nastase and Lleyton Hewitt.

Andy Murray lost the third grand slam final of his career: after two straight set losses to Federer (US Open 2009, Australian Open 2010) now another against Djokovic, who like Murray is just 23 years of age. Also not for the first time Murray fell just one victory short of an Ozeki promotion. There is no doubt that Murray plays at Ozeki level, but to date he has been lacking the consistency at the slams that is necessary for an Ozeki run. At this stage, a semifinal at Roland Garros or a final in Wimbledon would do it for the lanky Scot.

Seminfalist and ex-Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) David Ferrer returned to the sanyaku (=Championship) ranks as a Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) after more than two years of absence. Stanislaw Warwinka of Switzerland reached the sanyaku ranks for the first time, owing to back-to-back quarterfinal participations at the US and the Australian Open.

Here is the men's sanyaku (Championship rank) line-up following the 2011 Australian Open:

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Roger Federer	Y	Rafael Nadal	Y
O	Novak Djokovic	O	Tomas Berdych	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	Andy Murray	S	-	-
S	Robin Soderling	K1	David Ferrer	S
K	Stanislaw Wawrinka	K2	-	-

Kim Clijsters, Yokozuna

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Kim Clijsters became the 16th female Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) of open era tennis last night, by winning her fourth grand slam and the first pair of major titles back-to-back (together with the 2010 US Open title). Clijsters' is the first Yokozuna promotion in the ladies' game since the US Open 2003, when her compatriot Justine Henin attained the highest championship rank. Incidentally, Henin had to announce her second and probably definite retirement from the sport at these Australian Open also, suffering from a chronic elbow injury. At 27 years, Clijsters Yokozuna promotion comes late in her career.

Clijsters won a close and exciting final against Chinese Na Li (pictured below--Li is the family name, thus we write her name this way), who returns to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) rank as a result--a rank she first obtained at the Australian Open last year, when she lost the semifinal to Dai-Yokozuna Serena Williams (Serena sat out this Australian Open injured). Na is a French Open semifinal away from an Ozeki (=Champion) promotion, as is her seminfinal opponent Caroline Wozniacki, who will stay at Sekiwake. Clijsters semi-final opponent Vera Zvonareva defended succesfully Ozeki rank. Quarterfinalist Francesca Schiavone will remain at Sekiwake, while Samantha Stosur (3rd round exit) and retired ex-Ozeki Elena Dementieva will be demoted to Komusubi (=Junior Champion II), where they will be joined by quarterfinalist Petra Kvitova.

To this writer is seems that female tennis is finally recovering from a long through during which the game became too dependent on the Williams sisters, and during which hopefuls like Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic or Dinara Safina--all reaching Ozeki rank--could not live up to expectations after promising starts, with failure often related to injury. The "new" bunch--lead by Clijsters, Zvonareva, Li, Wozniacki, Stosur--seems to have a critical mass of quality that promises to make female Grand Slam tennis interesting. Not yet the days of Evert, Navratilova, Goolagong, Mandlikova, or of Graf, Seles, Sanchez-Vicario, but getting there.

Still outstanding is the men's final between long-standing Ozeki Novak Djokovic and long-standing Ozeki hopeful Andy Murray. If Murray beats his buddy Novak tonight he will finally have taken the "great hurdle" --this is what the Japanese term "Ozeki" means literally. The match is the rare event of a Grand Slam final without the Yokozuna Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who went out in the semis (Federer to a brilliant Djokovic) and quarterfinals (an injured Nadal to his compatriot David Ferrer, who was then wrestled into sumbission by Murray in the semis) respectively. I expect a final of highest quality.

Here are the ladies' sanyaku (=championship) ranks following the 2011 Australian Open:

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Venus Williams	Y1	Serena Williams	Y
Y	Kim Clijsters	Y2	-	-
O	Vera Zvonareva	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	Na Li	S1	Caroline Wozniacki	S
S	Francesca Schiavone	S2	-	-
S	Samantha Stosur	K1	Elena Dementieva*	O
K	Petra Kvitova	K2	-	-

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