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