Winds of Change

For the first time in almost 10 years, there was no Roger Federer, no Rafael Nadal, and also no Novak Djokovic. The three reigning Yokozuna (=Grand Champions), who had sent at least one of them to the last 38 grand slam finals - winning 34 of them - were all absent. Also missing was long-standing Ozeki (=Champion) Andy Murray.

Instead two relative nobodies played the mens' 2014 US Open final: Marin Cilic, whose best slam performance thus far had been a single semifinal participation at the 2010 Australian Open. And Kei Nishikori, who had never made a grand slam quarterfinal. In the event, the hard-hitting Croatian, measuring almost 2 meters, outgunned the nimble Japanese counterpuncher 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

The win was surely well deserved. Cilic had crushed Roger Federer in straight sets in the semifinals, after doing the same in the quarterfinals to ex-Ozeki Tomas Berdych. Together with his quarterfinal participation at Wimbledon - where Cilic lost a tight fivesetter to Djokovic - this grants Cilic a promotion to Ozeki; he is the 32nd male Ozeki of the open era (a rank that Cilic's coach and compatriot Goran Ivanisevic never attained, by the way).

Nishikori had an arguably even tougher route to the final, having to overcome Sekiwake Milos Raonic, Ozeki Stanislas Wawrinka, and Yokozuna Novak Djokovic in long, grueling matches. With this final, Nishikori earns a promotion to Sekiwake, which makes him the first Asian born, sanyaku (champion) ranked player of the open era. Given that the Yokozuna-tennis ranking system takes its inspiration from Ozumo - Japan's national sport - a circle comes to completion.

Many observers have declared this year's US Open would mark the end of the "big 4". After all, Federer has lost consistency - at the biblical tennis age of 33 - Nadal and Murray are increasingly prone to injury, and Djokovic has not quite returned to his dominance of 2011. And yet - for much of the second week of the US Open, conditions were plain irregular, with temperatures of 95F (35C) and humidity levels around 70 pecent. Success had as much to do with being able to cope with tropical conditions as with the tennis playing capacity. The next few slams will show what these Open's outcome is worth.

 

As regards the remainder of the banzuke (=-ranking list), Ozeki Andy Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka both reached the quarterfinals and therefore hold rank - in the case of Murray for the 15th straight time. David Ferrer, by contrast, missed the quarterfinals for the second consecutive slam and thus gets demoted to Sekiwake, after six tournaments at Ozeki. Ferrer will share that rank with Nikishori. Raonic drops one rank to Komusubi (=Junior Champion 2), where he will be joined by Berdych and colorful Gael Monfils, who returns to Komusubi for the third time in his career, after giving Federer a stiff five-set challenge in the quarterfinals. Grigor Dimitrov, who lost to Monfils in round 4, drops out of the sanykau ranks.

 

5 players in lower sanyaku is something the male banzuke has not seen in some time: the dominant "big 4" had not given many other players a chance to earn ranking points. This - at least for now - has changed.   

  

The mens' sanyaku ranks at the end of the 2014 grand slam season are therefore as follows:
 

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Novak Djokovic	Y1	Roger Federer	Dai-Y
Dai-Y	Rafael Nadal	Y2	-	-
O	Andy Murray	O1	Stanislas Wawrinka	O
O	Marin Cilic	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	David Ferrer	S	Kei Nishikori	S
S	Milos Raonic	K1	Tomas Berdych	O
K	Gael Monfils	K2	-	-

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