Mr. Australian Open

Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) Novak Djokovic won his favorite grand slam tournament - the Australian Open - for the 5th time last night, and for the third time in what seems to be his favorite final opponent - Ozeki (=Champion) Andy Murray. The match was competitive for two and a half sets, then Murray seemed to lose it and Djokovic took over.

Djokovic has a total of 8 grand slam titles how, and career statistics that resemble those of Ivan Lendl, Jimmy Connors, or Andre Agassi - some of the most acomplished Yokozuna. Two more titles and Djokovic would be granted the title of Dai-Yokozuna (=great Grand Champion); the third player of his generation after Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. With age seemingly getting the better of Federer, and Nadal struggling much of the time with injuries, this seems a quite plausible prospect.

And Murray? He is already one of the most accomplished and consistent Ozeki of the open era, second only to the magnificent Guillermo Vilas and perhaps Arthur Ashe. Had he won the 2015 Australian Open, one could have seen a path to Yokozuna for him - perhaps not under the two-consecutive-grand-slam title rule, which requires a degree of dominance that is hard to achieve when competing with three of the greatest players of all time; but under the five-grand-slam-titles-overall rule that got champions like John Newcombe, Stefan Edberg, or more recently Maria Sharapova at the ladies to Yokozuna. But also this prospect seems remote now, with Murray turning 28 this year and "only" two slam titles under his belt thus far. Perhaps he will enter yokozunatennis history as a great Ozeki rather than an average Yokozuna.

Talking about Ozeki, defending Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka held rank for the fourth consecutive tournament, showing the type of consistency befitting for an Ozeki. In the semifinals he gave Djokovic his longest match of the tournament - although not quite living up to the quality of their encounters in previous years. US-Open champion Marin Cilic missed the tournament and goes kadoban immediately, i.e. he has to reach the quarterfinals at Roland Garros to defend rank.

Ex-Ozeki Tomas Berdych reached another grand slam semifinal - losing to Murray - and moves back up to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I). US Open finalist Kei Nishikori held Sekiwake rank with a quarterfinal participation, but missed clearing the Ozeki-hurdle by one win, being overwhelmed by Wawrinka.

Ex-Sekiwake Milos Raonic held Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) rank. He will be joined by ex-Ozeki David Ferrer, who, after another early exit, drops down from Sekiwake, and young and exiting prospect Nick Kyrgios. Kyrgios, playing in front of his home crowd, reached his second grand slam quarterfinal within three tournaments. While three out of the first four male Yokozuna open era were Australian - Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe - it has been almost 15 years since the last Australian man entered the sanyaku (=championship ranks) - Lleyton Hewitt in 2000 (who later made it to Ozeki). Kyrgios is the 83rd male Komusubi of the open era.

With this, the sanyaku ranks going into the 2015 French Open are as follows:

Men

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

* Kadoban

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