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.