2017 French Open: Summary, Promotions and Demotions

Nadal

Long-standing Ozeki (=Champion) Stan Wawrinka could have become a Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) today, but one man stood in his way: Dai-Yokozuna (=Great Grand Champion) Rafael Nadal, who blastet Wawrinka off the court in three sets - just as he had blasted off the court everyone else on the way to the final - and won his 10th title at Roland Garros. With this, Wawrinka's Yokozuna run - that started with his triumph at the 2016 US Open - ends for now, there is no result at Wimbledon that would get him to Yokozuna.

Wawrinka

The mens' tournament was short of major surprises. Yokozuna Andy Murray fought himself all the way into the semifinals, despite disappointing results in the clay court season to this point, where he lost a thrilling 5-setter to Wawrinka. Dai-Yokzouna Novak Djokovic went out a bit earlier than expected, losing in the quarterfinals to Dominic Thiem, who therefore repeated his success of last year and gets re-promoted to Komusubi (=Junior Champion 2). In the semis, Thiem was without a chance against Nadal, as was everyone else.

Thiem will share Komusubi rank with the ex-Sekiwake (=Junior Champion 1) Kei Nishikori, who made the quarterfinals, and Milos Raonic, who gets demoted from the Sekiwake rank he held after the Australian Open. There is no Sekiwake on the Wimbledon 2017 Banzuke, attesting to the dominance of the top 5 - the 4 Yokozuna (Dai-Yokozuna Roger Federer set out the tournament) and Wawrinka.

Ostapenko

Quite by contrast, in the ladies' tournament a new star was born: Jelena Ostapenko, who started the French Open as a 19-year old Maegashira and ended it as a 20-year old Grand Slam Champion and Sekiwake. Ostapenko arguably benefitted from the fact that Dai-Yokozuna Serena Williams sat the tournament out (being pregnant) and (inactive) Yokozuna Maria Sharapova could not participate (not having earned enough ranking points after her doping suspension had been removed); also ex-Ozeki Viktoria Azarenka is still out. This said, Ostapenko's fearless, hard-hitting style looks impressive, and we may see more of her in the future. A quarterfinal participation in Wimbledon would get her to Ozeki.

Halep

Ostapenko's hard-fought win in the final means that ex-Ozeki Simona Halep failed for the second time to win her first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros (the first time was in 2014 against Sharapova). Still, Halep gets repromoted to Sekiwake. The third Sekiwake is now Angelique Kerber, who lost Ozeki status after losing in the first round. A semifinal at Wimbledon for either lady - Halep or Kerber - and they are back at Ozeki.

In terms of promotions, the big event though was Karolina Pliskova's ascent to Ozeki, after three strong grand slam tournaments in a row. Two former Sekiwake had some success and return to Komusubi: Timea Bacsinszky (semifinals) and Caroline Wozniacki (quarterfinals), both falling to Ostapenko. Yokozuna Venus Williams went out in round 4, clay court is arguably not her strong suit.

2017 French Open Winners:

• Rafael Nadal (Dai-Yokozuna)

• Jelena Ostapenko (Maegashira)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• Karolina Pliskova, the 36th Female Ozeki of the Open Era

• Jelena Ostapenko, the 46th Female Sekiwake of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Karolina Pliskova	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Simona Halep (ex-Ozeki)	Seikwake	Komusubi
Jelena Ostapenko	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Kei Nishikori (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Dominic Thiem	Komusubi	Maegashira
Timea Bacsinszky (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Caroline Wozniacki (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
Angelique Kerber	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Milos Raonic	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Grigor Dimitrov	Maegashira	Komusubi
Mirjana Lucic	Maegashira	Komusubi
Coco Vandeweghe	Maegashira	Komusubi
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	Maegashira	Komusubi

Kinboshi:
("gold star" - prize awarded to a non-sanyaku ranked competitor for beating an active Yokozuna):

• Dominic Thiem - for beating Dai-Yokozuna Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

• Timea Bacsinszky - for beating Yokozuna Venus Williams in round 4.

Other noteworthy developments:

• Finalist Stan Wawrinka (Ozeki) misses out on a Yokozuna promotion by just one match.