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.