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.