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