The 2024 US Open Tournament: Promotions, Demotions, and Other Stats

2024 US Open Champions:

• Jannik Sinner (Ozeki)

• Aryna Sabalenka (Ozeki)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• Taylor Fritz, the 79th Male Sekiwake of the Open Era

• Emma Navarro, the 57th Female Sekiwake of the Open Era

• Jessica Pegula, the 58th Female Sekiwake of the Open Era

• Jack Draper, the 99th Male Komusubi of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Taylor Fritz	Sekiwake	Komusubi
Emma Navarro	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Jessica Pegula (ex-Komusubi)	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Jack Draper	Komusubi	Maegashira
Karolina Muchova (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
Cori Gauff	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Marketa Vondrousova	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Elina Rybakina (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Casper Ruud (ex-Ozeki)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Lorenzo Musetti	Maegashira	Komusubi
Ons Jabeur (ex-Ozeki)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Donna Vekic	Maegashira	Komusubi

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

• Jessica Pegula for beating Yokozuna Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals

• Alexei Popyrin for beating Dai-Yokozuna Novak Djokovic in round 3

• Botic van de Zandschulp for beating Yokozuna Carlos Alcaraz in round 2

Other noteworthy developments:

• The accomplished Ozeki (=Champions) Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka added another grand slam title to their tallies, and are again on Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) runs: victory at the 2025 Australian Open - where both are defending champions - would get them promoted to the highest rank. Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev also defended Ozeki rank with quarterfinal participations, but are not on a Yokozuna run.

• Fresly baken Ozeki Jasmine Paolini and Barbora Krejcikova exited in the early rounds and go kadoban, i.e., they need to each the quarterfinals at the 2024 Australian open to defend rank. Cori Gauff and Market Vondrousova also lost early and get demoted to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I), but have a one-off chance to regain Ozeki with a semifinal participation in Australia before rank protection extinguishes.

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2024 US Open

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Novak Djokovic	Y	Carlos Alcaraz	Y
O	Jannik Sinner	O1	Daniil Medvedev	O
O	Alexander Zverev	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	Taylor Fritz	S	-	-
K	Alex de Minaur	K	Jack Draper	K

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Iga Swiatek	Y	-
O	Aryna Sabalenka	O1	Barbora Krejcikova (k)	O
O	Jasmine Paolini (k)	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Cori Gauff (o)	S1	Marketa Vondrousova (o)	O
S	Emma Navarro	S2	Jessica Pegula	S
O	Elina Rybakina	K	Karolina Muchova	S

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
Inactive Yokozuna: Rafael Nafal (Dai), Andy Murray, Venus Williams, Naomi Osaka
(k): kadoban
(o): Sekiwake-Ozeki

The 2024 Wimbledon Tournament: Promotions, Demotions, and Other Stats

2024 Wimbledon Champions:

• Carlos Alcaraz (Ozeki)

• Barbora Krejcikova (Maegashira, ex-Sekiwake)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• Carlos Alcaraz, the 18th Male Yokozuna of the Open Era

• Jasmine Paolini, the 48th Female Ozeki of the Open Era

• Barbora Krejcikova, the 49th Female Ozeki of the Open Era

• Alex de Minaur, the 98th Male Komusubi of the Open Era

• Lorenzo Musetti, the 99th Male Komusubi of the Open Era

• Donna Vekic, the 77th Female Komusubi of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Carlos Alcaraz	Yokozuna	Ozeki
Jasmine Paolini	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Barbora Krejcikova	Ozeki	Maegashira
Alex de Minaur	Komusubi	Maegashira
Taylor Fritz	Komusubi	Maegashira
Lorenzo Musetti	Komusubi	Maegashira
Donna Vekic	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
Casper Ruud (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Ons Jabeur (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Qinwen Zheng (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Mirra Andreeva	Maegashira	Komusubi

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

• Yulia Putintseva for beating Yokozuna Iga Swiatek in round 3

Other noteworthy developments:

• Carlos Alcaraz won the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back and thus became the 18th male Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) of the Open Era - joining an elite group of players that have dominated the sport in the past 55 years. Alcaraz's is the first Yokozuna promotion since Andy Murray's in 2016 - see the separate article.

• Jannik Sinner's and Aryna Sabalenka's Yokozuna runs ended unsuccesfully, by contrast. Sabalenka had to sit out the tournamnet injured, while Sinner went out in the quarterfinals to fellow Ozeki (=Champion) Daniil Medvedev. Medvedev and Sinner held Ozeki rank, but Sabalenka goes kadoban: she needs to reach the quarterfinals at the 2024 US Open to defend Ozeki rank. The same holds for Alexander Zverev, Cori Gauff, and Marketa Vondrousova.

• Former Ozeki and Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina held Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) rank with a semifinal participation.

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2024 Wimbledon Tournament

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Novak Djokovic	Y	Carlos Alcaraz	Y
O	Daniil Medvedev	O1	Jannik Sinner	O
O	Alexander Zverev (k)	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
-	-	S	-	-
O	Casper Ruud	K1	Lorenzo Musetti	K
K	Taylor Fritz	K2	Alex de Minaur	K

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Iga Swiatek	Y	-
O	Cori Gauff (k)	O1	Aryna Sabalenka (k)	O
O	Marketa Vondrousova (k)	O2	Barbora Krejcikova	O
O	Jasmine Paolini	O3	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Elina Rybakina	S	-	-
O	Ons Jabeur	K	Donna Vekic	K

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
Inactive Yokozuna: Rafael Nafal (Dai), Andy Murray, Venus Williams, Naomi Osaka
(k): kadoban
(o): Sekiwake-Ozeki

Carlos Alcaraz, Yokozuna

Carlos Alcaraz

Carlos Alcaraz became the 18th male Yokozuna (= Grand Champion) of the open era today, by winning the 2024 French Open and the 2024 Wimbledon tournament back-to-back. He joins a small elite group of players who have dominated the men's game in the past 56 years.

Alcaraz's rise is the one of the fastest in the open era: he climbed to Yokozuna in just 14 tournaments - or 3 1/2 years - since his grand slam debut at the 2021 Australian Open. To date, only Jim Courier’s ascent has been as fast. Alcaraz’s compatriot Rafael Nadal needed 20 tournaments (or 5 years) to become a Yokozuna, for example, Roger Federer 22 tournaments, Novak Djokovic 27 tournaments. Yokozuna is a rank for life, hence Alcaraz cannot be demoted. He can only be declared inactive if he fails to produce sufficiently strong results. 

Alcaraz’s is also the first male Yokozuna promotion since Andy Murray's in 2016, which makes this the second longest gap between Yokozuna promotions in open era history (the longest has been almost 10 years between Agassi’s promotion at the 1995 Australian Open and Federer’s at the US Open in 2004). This just demonstrates how much the 'big four' - Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray - have held tennis in their grip in the past 20 years. Not only did they prevent anybody else to rise to the very top, they allowed also only five promotions to the second highest rank of Ozeki (=Champion) between 2003 and 2020: Juan Martin del Potro, Thomas Berdych, David Ferrer, Marin Cilic, and Stan Wawrinka. 

Federer has retired, while Murray and Nadal are plagued by injuries and also seem close to ending their careers. Only Djokovic is still going strong - but in this Wimbledon final, he stood little chance against a younger, faster and stronger Alcaraz. 

Since 2020, Ozeki rank has already become more accessible, with Dominique Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Stefanis Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev, Matteo Berrettini, Casper Ruud and Jannik Sinner earning Ozeki promotions in quick succession. Alcaraz is now the first ‘new gen’ Yokozuna - an unmistakable sign that the big four era has come to an end.

Barbora Krejcikova and Jasmine Paolini, Ozeki

Jasmine Paolini

Double promotion to Ozeki (=Champion) in the women'' game: Jasmine Paolini and Barbora Krejcikova became the 48th and the 49th female Ozeki of the open era, by finishing first (Krejcikova) and second (Paolini) in the 2024 Wimbledon tournament. 

Paolini jumped the "big hurdle" (the literal meaning of Ozeki in Japanese) by reaching back-to-back finals at grand slam tournaments, while Krejcikova won her second grand slam title after the 2021 French Open, which grants an automatic Ozeki promotion.

Both players attain the second highest sanyaku (=championship) rank at the relatively advanced tennis player age of 28. Paolini is a genuine late starter: until one year ago, she had not been in the world's top 40, and had never gone beyond the second round at a grand slam tournament. Then this year things suddenly came together: Paolini won the Dubai championships and the Italian Open, reached the final at Roland Garros, now again at Wimbledon. A comparatively short tennis player at 1.63 m (5'4'') , the charismatic Paolini compensates a lack of natural power with speed, versatility, and exuberant energy. 

Barbora Krejcikova

Krecjikova started her tennis career as a doubles specialist: she has eight grand slam female doubles titles under her belt - all won alongside her compatriot Katerina Siniakova - and three mixed doubles titles. Since the French open victory in 2021, she has also been part of the singles elite, peaking as high as word #2 2022. Her aggressive, variable,  powerful game serves Krejcikova well on all surfaces, and her prowess around the net - arguably a consequence of her doubles experience - adds an element that has become uncommon in modern tennis. 

Krejcikova's inspiration has been her former coach, the late Jana Novotna: a former Wimbledon winner and Ozeki herself. Krejcikova has now caught up with her mentor on both counts.

Elsewhere in the ladies' game, Ozeki Aryna Sabalenka had to sit out the tournament and hence missed her chance for a Yokozuna (=grand champion) promotion.  

Alcaraz Yokozuna, Krejcikova and Paolini Ozeki

 Updates to follow asap.

Farewell, Champions

Two career-high Ozeki (=Champion) have announced their retirement from the sport: Garbine Muguruza, the 38th female Ozeki of the open era, and Dominic Thiem, the 32nd male Ozeki of the open era. 

Garbine Murguruza

Muguruza was born in 1993 in Venezuela to a Venezuelan mother and a Spanish-Basque father. When she was six, the family moved to Spain, to improve her and her brothers' training opportunities. This paid off handsomely when Muguruza broke into the world tennis elite in 2014/15. In 2016 she won her first grand slam title - beating Serena Williams in the French open final  - and earned a promotion to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I). In 2016 she also won Wimbledon, this time prevailing over Serena's sister Venus Williams, and crossed the "great hurdle" - this is what 'Ozeki' means literally in Japanese.

A lanky, elegant and powerful player, Muguruza could excel on all surfaces. At the same time, her career was a bit rollercoaster style: brilliant at one tournament, disappointing at the next, then - when many observers had written her off - coming back with a vengeance. In recent years, she was increasingly plagued by injuries, making a return to her former strength difficult. Having nothing left to prove as a tennis player, Muguruza put aside her racket up at the age of only 30. 

Dominic Thiem

Thiem also retires at age 30: he is one month older than Muguruza. Thiem caught the wider public's eye in 2016, when he reached the semifinal at the French Open - losing to Novak Djokovic but earning a first-time promotion into the sanyaku ranks as Komusubi (=Junior Champion II). He repeated the feat in 2017, then went one step further in 2018 and 2019, when he made it to the Roland Garros final - beaten both times by Rafael Nadal. 

Thiem's career peaked in 2020. First he lost an intensely fought, five-set Australian Open final to Djokovic. Then he won the US Open against Alexander Zverev, turning the match around after losing the first two sets and being two points from defeat. The victory made Thiem only the second Austrian grand slam winner of the open era - the first had been Thomas Muster in 1995 - and the first Austrian Ozeki.

Unfortunately, in 2021 Thiem injured his wrist - particularly detrimental for a player who relied not only on a grinding high-intensity game, but also on a flashy but technically demanding single-handed backhand. When it became clear that success was unlikely to return, Thiem retired from the tour.    

 

Fare well, champions. You will be missed.

The 2024 French Open: Promotions, Demotions, and Other Stats

2024 French Open Champions:

• Carlos Alcaraz (Ozeki)

• Iga Swiatek (Sekiwake, ex-Ozeki)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• Iga Swiatkek, the 19th Female Yokozuna of the Open Era

• Jasmine Paolini, the 58th Female Sekiwake of the Open Era

• Mirra Andreeva, the 76th Female Komusubi of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Iga Swiatek	Yokozuna	Sekiwake
Alexander Zverev	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Casper Ruud (ex-Ozeki)	Sekiwake	Komusubi
Jasmine Paolini	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Mirra Andreeva	Komusbi	Maegashira
Demotions
Qinwen Zheng	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Andrey Rublev	Maegashira	Komusubi
Taylor Fritz	Maegashira	Komusubi
Madison Keys (ex-Ozeki)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Karolina Muchova (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Dayana Yasremska	Maegashira	Komusubi

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

• none

Other noteworthy developments:

• Iga Swiatek won her fifth Grand Slam title and thus became the 19th female Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) of the Open Era, joining a small elite club of women players who have dominated the sport in the past 56 years. Yokozuna promotions are rare events, on average they occur only every three years or so. See the separate article.

• Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev and Aryna Sabalenka also had chances to earn a Yokozuna promotion but couldn't get the result needed. Sabalenka and Medvedev lost in the quarterfinals/round of 16, respectively, and need to start over. Australian Open champion Sinner reached the semifinals and hence remains on a Yokozuna run, he needs to win the 2024 Wimbledon tournament to get elevated to the highest rank. French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz would also become a Yokozuna if he wins at Wimbledon.

• Sabelanka and Sinner held Ozeki (=Champion) rank though, while Medvedev goes kadoban: he needs to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon to defend his rank. Semifinalist Cori Gauff also held Ozeki. Finalist Alexander Zverev got himself re-promoted to the rank that he held already in 2020-22.

• Former Ozeki Elena Rybakina and Ons Jabeur lost in the quarterfinals and hence fell one win short from earning a re-promotion to their former rank. Both remain at Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I).

• In the men's game, there is no active Komusubi (=Junior Champion II): the current 6 top ranking players have won most marbles at the last three slams and have left little for anybody else. In addition to Alcaraz, Sinner, Medvedev and Zverev, these 'big 6' include Dai-Yokozuna (=Great Grand Champion) Novak Djokovic and current Sekiwake and ex-Ozeki Casper Ruud.

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2024 French Open

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Novak Djokovic	Y	-
O	Carlos Alcaraz	O1	Jannik Sinner	O
O	Daniil Medvedev (k)	O2	Alexander Zverev	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Casper Ruud	S	-	-
-	-	K	-	-

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Iga Swiatek	Y	-
O	Cori Gauff	O1	Aryna Sabalenka	O
O	Marketa Vondrousova	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Ons Jabeur	S1	Elena Rybakina	O
S	Jasmine Paolini	S2	-	-
S	Qinwen Zheng	K	Mirra Andreeva	K

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
Inactive Yokozuna: Rafael Nafal (Dai), Andy Murray, Venus Williams, Naomi Osaka
(k): kadoban
(o): Sekiwake-Ozeki

Iga Swiatek, Yokozuna

Iga Swiatek became the 19th female Yokozuna (= Grand Champion) of the open era today, by winning her fourth French Open tournament and thereby her fifth grand slam title. Five grand slams suffice for a Yokozuna promotion. Swiatek advances to the highest rank a bit more than 5 years after her Grand Slam debut at the 2019 Australian Open.

Iga Swiatek

Swiatek's is only the second Yokozuna promotion in the ladies' s game in the past 10 years, the other being Naomi Osaka's promotion in 2019. Swiatek played Osaka in the first round here, the only opponent who gave her some difficulty (Osaka is on the comeback trail after given birth to her first child). Other than this, Swiatek cruised to her fourth Roland Garros title.

Several other players had the chance for a Yokozuna promotion, notably Aryna Sabalenka, who 'only' needed to reach the final to get elevated to the highest rank. Somewhat surprisingly she exited in the quarterfinals, however. Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev would have needed to win the tournament, but fell short as well. Sinner can still get promoted to Yokzouna if he wins at Wimbledon.

Yokozuna is - in contrast to the other sanyaku ranks (Ozeki, Sekiwake, Komusubi) - a rank for life: Swiatek cannot be demoted, but only be declared 'inactive' if she fails to produce results befitting her rank in the years ahead.

The full update will follow once the men's final has been completed.

The 2024 Australian Open: Promotions, Demotions, and other Stats

2024 Australian Open Champions:

• Jannik Sinner (Maegashira, ex-Komusubi)

• Aryna Sabalenka (Ozeki)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• Jannik Sinner, the 39th Male Ozeki of the Open Era

• Coco Gauff, the 48th Female Ozeki of the Open Era

• Qinwen Zheng, the 57th Female Sekiwake of the Open Era

• Taylor Fritz, the 97th Male Komusubi of the Open Era

• Dayana Yastremska, the 75th Female Komusubi of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Coco Gauff	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Jannik Sinner	Ozeki	Maegashira
Alexander Zverev (ex-Ozeki)	Sekiwake	Komusubi
Qinwen Zheng	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Taylor Fritz	Komusubi	Maegashira
Dayana Yastremska	Komusbi	Maegashira
Demotions
Iga Swiatek	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Ons Jabeur	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Elina Rybakina	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Casper Ruud (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Karolina Muchova	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Madison Keys (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Ben Shelton	Maegashira	Komusubi
Elina Svitolina (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi

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

• none

Other noteworthy developments:

• Ozeki (=Champions) Aryna Sabalenka, Daniil Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz all held rank with strong results. Sabalenka would get promoted to Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) if she reaches the final at the 2024 French Open, Medvedev if he wins the tournament. By contrast, Marketa Vondrousova lost early and goes kadoban - she needs to reach the quarterfinals at the French Open to hold rank.

• Andrey Rublev held Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) rank with yet another quarterfinal. It's his 10th overall, and he has held Komusubi rank for seven tournaments now, without ever making it to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion II). Both are open era records

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2024 Australian Open

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Novak Djokovic	Y	-
O	Daniil Medvedev	O1	Carlos Alcaraz	O
O	Jannik Sinner	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Alexander Zverev	S	-	-
O	Casper Ruud	K1	Andrey Rublev	K
K	Taylor Fritz	K2	-	-

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
-	-	Y	-	-
O	Aryna Sabalenka	O1	Marketa Vondrousova (k)	O
O	Cori Gauff	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Iga Swiatek (o)	S1	Ons Jabeur (o)	O
O	Elina Rybakina (o)	S2	Qinwen Zheng	S
S	Karolina Muchova	K1	Madison Keys	O
K	Dayana Yastremska	K2	-	-

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
Inactive Yokozuna: Rafael Nafal (Dai), Andy Murray, Venus Williams, Naomi Osaka
(k): kadoban
(o): Sekiwake-Ozeki

Jannik Sinner, Ozeki

Jannik Sinner

Jannik Sinner became the 39th male Ozeki of the open era by winning  the 2024 Australian Open. Together with his semi-final participation at the 2023, Wimbledon tournament this suffices to cross the "great hurdle" - the meaning of "Ozeki"  in Japanese. 

Sinner's rise has been in the making for years, but only in the past 6 months or so did he bring himself on a level where he can challenge the very best. On his path to victory, Sinner defeated both Dai-Yokozuna (=Great Grand Champion) and Australian Open dominator Novak Djokovic in the semifinal and fellow Ozeki Daniil Medvedev in the final - nobody could say that Sinner has not earned this. 

Sinner's success may also signal that a new generation has arrived in men's tennis. Thus far much talk has been about the "next generation" player - the players that first sought to unseat the old guard of super-champions (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Djokovic Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka) and that are now in the second half of their twenties. Medvedev is the most consistent player in this group, it also includes the ex-Ozeki Alexander Zverev (semi-finalist here and currently ranked at Sekiwake), Stefanos Tsitsipas, or Matteo Berrettini. With hindsight, this group hasn't quite succeeded: Nadal and (more often) Djokovic still stood in the way of these players' ambitions, hence they have  won only one grand slam title thus far - Medvedev at the 2021 US Open.

Now there is the next-next generation: Sinner, fellow Ozeki Carlos Alcaraz (who this time exited in the quarterfinals), maybe ex-Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) Holger Rune, all players in their early 20s with an aggressive, variable all-round game that is almost free of flaws and works on any surface. Importantly, Sinner and Alcaraz appear capable of beating the old master Djokovic on a fairly regular basis. Hence, the 2024 Australian Open are already the 3rd grand slam title for this group. 

The sanyaku rankings will be updated in the next post.

Coco Gauff, Ozeki

Coco Gauff

Cori "Coco" Gauff became the 48th female Ozeki of the open era by reaching the quarterfinals of the 2024 Australian Open. Together with her victory at the 2023 US Open, this suffices to cross the "great hurdle" - the meaning of "Ozeki"  in Japanese. Gauff is still in the tournament and would be promoted to Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) if she wins the Australian Open.

Coco Gauff burst on the scene in 2019, when she reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon at barely 15 years of age. Since then she has been a constant presence, making her seem like a veteran - even though she is still a teenager and has hopefully many years of outstanding tennis ahead of her. 

Elsewhere in the tournament, Ozeki Carlos Alcaraz is also on a Yokozuna run, but, as Gauff, he would need to win the tournament to be elevated to the highest rank. Daniil Medvedev and Aryna Sabalenka have alreddy defended Ozeki rank with quarterfinals participations (or better), though without the chance to get promoted to Yokozuna. 

On the ladies' side, there will be a mass-exodus from Ozeki, with Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur and Elena Rybakina all bound to be demoted Sekiwake (Junior Champion I) after failing to reach  grand slam quarterfinals for two tournaments in a row. Market Vondrousova will go kadoban - she has to reach the quarterfinals at the 2024 French Open to defend Ozeki rank.

The Sanyaku ranking lists will be updated once the Australian Open have been completed.