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.