The 50 Most Accomplished Players of the Open Era: a Data-Based Approach

This is an attempt to devise a ranking of player accomplishments without resorting to judgement. The scoring system is explained below. The ranking captures only achievements at the Grand Slams, and only for players with significant successes during the open era. Active players - whose score can still improve - are bolded. The permanent link is here.

The 50 Most Accomplished Players of the Open Era

	Men	Career Rank	Score			Women	Career Rank	Score
1	Novak Djokovic	Dai-Y	824		1	Serena Williams	Dai-Y	745
2	Rafael Nadal	Dai-Y	699		2	Margaret Court	Dai-Y	721
3	Roger Federer	Dai-Y	696		3	Steffi Graf	Dai-Y	698
4	Ken Rosewall	Dai-Y	551		4	Chris Evert	Dai-Y	686
5	Pete Sampras	Dai-Y	435		5	Martina Navratilova	Dai-Y	657
6	Rod Laver	Dai-Y	431		6	Billie Jean King	Dai-Y	416
7	Bjorn Borg	Dai-Y	349		7	Monica Seles	Dai-Y	307
8	Ivan Lendl	Y	348		8	Venus Williams	Y	307
9	Jimmy Connors	Y	337		9	Evonne Goolagong	Y	304
10	Andre Agassi	Y	322		10	Justine Henin	Y	251
11	John McEnroe	Y	256		11	Martina Hingis	Y	224
12	Mats Wilander	Y	240		12	Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario	Y	223
13	Stefan Edberg	Y	238		13	Maria Sharapova	Y	214
14	Boris Becker	Y	227		14	Anne Haydon-Jones	O	180
15	John Newcombe	Y	208		15	Iga Swiatek	Y	175
16	Andy Murray	Y	192		16	Hana Mandlikova	Y	171
17	Carlos Alcaraz	Y	181		17	Kim Clijsters	Y	171
18	Guillermo Vilas	O	163		18	Lindsay Davenport	Y	163
19	Jim Courier	Y	151		19	Aryna Sabalenka	Y	154
20	Jannik Sinner	Y	137		20	Jennifer Capriati	Y	121
21	Arthur Ashe	O	127		21	Nancy Richey	O	116
22	Stan Wawrinka	O	114		22	Virginia Wade	O	113
23	Jan Kodes	O	106		23	Naomi Osaka	Y	111
24	Lleyton Hewitt	O	91		24	Angelique Kerber	O	105
25	Ilie Nastase	O	90		25	Viktoria Azarenka	O	102
26	Andy Roddick	O	87		26	Simona Halep	O	100
27	Gustavo Kuerten	O	86		27	Gabriela Sabatini	O	100
28	Marat Safin	O	83		28	Mary Pierce	O	98
29	Daniil Medvedev	O	83		29	Amelie Mauresmo	O	87
30	Pat Rafter	O	81		30	Ashleigh Barty	O	86
31	Yevgeni Kafelnikov	O	79		31	Svetlana Kuznetsova	O	86
32	Stan Smith	O	74		32	Kerry Melville Reed	O	85
33	Tony Roche	O	74		33	Conchita Martinez	O	84
34	Michael Chang	O	71		34	Na Li	O	82
35	Goran Ivanisevic	S	70		35	Jana Novotna	O	82
36	Johan Kriek	O	69		36	Petra Kvitova	O	81
37	Sergi Bruguera	O	66		37	Garbine Murguruza	O	78
38	Vitas Gerulaitis	O	63		38	Coco Gauff	O	73
39	Dominic Thiem	O	62		39	Tracy Austin	O	71
40	Marin Cilic	O	62		40	Caroline Wozniacki	S	60
41	Michael Stich	O	58		41	Barbora Krejcikova	O	58
42	Juan Carlos Ferrero	O	57		42	Mima Jausovec	O	56
43	Pat Cash	O	55		43	Madison Keys	O	56
44	Juan Martin del Potro	O	55		44	Helena Sukova	O	56
45	Roscoe Tanner	O	53		45	Ana Ivanovic	O	54
46	Alexander Zverev	O	51		46	Mary Joe Fernandez	O	53
47	Manuel Orantes	S	47		47	Rosemary Casals	O	50
48	Carlos Moya	O	44		48	Samantha Stosur	O	47
49	Richard Krajicek	O	41		49	Virginia Ruzici	O	47
50	Thomas Muster	S	41		50	Wendy Turnbull	S	46

For players whose careers fall entirely into the open era - the vast majority - the score is computed as follows: one point for a grand slam quarter-final participation, 3 points for a semifinal, 9 points for a final, and 27 points for a title. Hence every win in the later stages of a slam triples the score. 

For players who split their careers between the pre-open era and the open era - including Margaret Court, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Billie Jean King, John Newcombe Anne Haydon-Jones - adjustments are made to give credit to achievements during both periods. In the men's ranking, points accumulated on the pro tour have a weight of 2/3 per tournament (note: there were only three pro slams), points accumulated on the amateur tour have a weight of 1/2. This ensures that the total points per year remain the same as in the open era. In the ladies' game, there was only the amateur tour, hence pre-open era points count fully. 

In case of points equality, the number of tournament victories/finals/semifinals (in this order) serve as tiebreakers, followed by the sanyaku rank.  Players who had most their success  before the open era are not included, specifically: players who would have obtained a higher sanyaku rank pre-open era than they did during the open era. This applies, among others, to Andres Gimeno, Mal Anderson, Dennis Ralston, Butch Buchholz, Fred Stolle, Ray Emerson, Bob Lutz, Maria Bueno, Lesley Turner Bowrey, and Francoise Durr.

The 2025 US Open: Promotions, Demotions, and Other Stats

2025 US Open Champions:

• Carlos Alcaraz (Yokozuna)

• Aryna Sabalenka (Yokozuna)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• Amanda Anisimova, the 49th Female Ozeki of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Amanda Anisimova	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Taylor Fritz	Sekiwake	Komusubi
Felix Auger-Aliassime (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Lorenzo Musetti	Komusubi	Maegashira
Jessica Pegula	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
Alexander Zverev	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Cori Gauff	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Madison Keys	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Daniil Medvedev (ex-Ozeki)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Ben Shelton	Maegashira	Komusubi
Belinda Bencic	Maegashira	Komusubi
Mirra Andreeva	Maegashira	Komusubi
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi

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

• none

Other noteworthy developments:

• Naomi Osaka reached the seminfals and therefore rectivated her Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) status after more than three years as an inactive Yokozuna.
• All three Ozeki (= Champions) rank holder - Alexander Zverev, Cori Gauff and Madison Keys - went again out early. They were already kadoban, and hence get demoted to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I). They have one chance to regain Ozeki rank by reaching the seminfinals at the 2026 Australian Open, thereafter, rank protection extinguishes.
• For the second consecurive slam, there are more demotions than promotions, making the sanyaku ranks thinly populated. This reflects the dominance of the Yokozuna - pkus of the newly elevated Ozeki Amanda Anisimova - on both the men's and the ladies' side.

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2025 US Open

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Carlos Alcaraz	Y1	Jannik Sinner	Y
Dai-Y	Novak Djokovic	Y2	-	-
-	-	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Alexander Zverev (o)	S	Taylor Fritz	S
S	Felix Auger-Aliassime	K	Lorenzo Musetti	K

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Aryna Sabalenka	Y1	Iga Swiatek	Y
Y	Naomi Osaka	Y2	-	-
O	Amanda Anisimova	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Cori Gauff (o)	S	Madison Keys (o)	O
S	Jessica Pegula	K	-	-

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
Inactive Yokozuna: Venus Williams
(k): kadoban
(o): Sekiwake-Ozeki

Amanda Anisimova, Ozeki

Amanda Anisimova

Amanda Anisimova became the 49th female Ozeki (=Champion) of the open era by reaching the semifinals of the 2025 US Open. Together with her final participation at the 2025 Wimbledon tournament, this suffices to cross the "great hurdle" - the literal meaning of "Ozeki"  in Japanese. The  quarterfinal victory was over Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) Iga Swiatek, hence Anisimova took revenge for a brutal loss only 7 weeks earlier in the Wimbledon final.

Anisimova was one of the strongest juniors of her cohort and also had early success as a pro, reaching, among other things, the semifinal at the 2019 French Open when she was just 17 years old. Then in 2023, she took a break from tennis, citing burnout and concerns about mental health. It did not take long after her return in 2024 to establish herself as a matured world-class player, equipped with powerful groundstrokes and excellent court coverage.  

Elsewhere in the tournament, Naomi Osaka reactivated her Yokozuna status by also reaching the semifinals, where she will play Anisimova. After this tournament, there will therefore be three active female  Yokozuna: Osaka, Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka. Osaka won four grand slam titles in 2018-21, including two US Open, before taking a baby break. Thereafter she needed some time to find her old form. But form is temporary, class is permanent. 

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

The 2025 Wimbledon Tournament: Promotions, Demotions, and Other Stats

2025 Wimbledon Champions:

• Jannik Sinner (Yokozuna)

• Iga Swiatek (Yokozuna)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• Amanda Anisimova, the 60th Female Sekiwake of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Amanda Anisimova (ex-Komusubi)	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Taylor Fritz (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Ben Shelton	Komusubi	Maegashira
Belinda Bencic	Komusubi	Maegashira
Mirra Andreeva	Komusubi	Maegashira
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
Daniil Medvedev (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Tommy Paul	Maegashira	Komusubi
Lorenzo Mussetti	Maegashira	Komusubi
Frances Tiafoe	Maegashira	Komusubi
Barbora Krejcikova (ex-Ozeki)	Maegasharia	Komusubi
Jasmine Paolini (ex-Ozeki)	Maegasharia	Komusubi
Emma Navarro (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegasharia	Komusubi
Paula Badosa (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegasharia	Komusubi
Elina Svitolina (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegasharia	Komusubi
Zheng Qinwen (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegasharia	Komusubi
Lois Boisson	Maegasharia	Komusubi

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

• Amanda Anisimova for beating Yokozuna Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals

Other noteworthy developments:

• Double Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) triumph at Wimbledon, who, as a result, rise in the Open Era rankings: Iga Swiatek is now top 15, Jannik Sinner top 20.
• All three Ozeki (= Champions) - Alexander Zverev, Cori Gauff and Madison Keys - went out early and go kadoban: they need to reach the quarterfinals at the 2025 US Open to hold rank.
• Mass exodus from the Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) ranks, with no less than 10 demotions from the championship ranks. Ladies' finalist Amanda Anisimova is now the only Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I)

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2025 Wimbledon Tournament

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Jannik Sinner	Y1	Carlos Alcaraz	Y
Dai-Y	Novak Djokovic	Y2	-	-
O	Alexander Zverev (k)	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
-	-	S	-	-
O	Daniil Medvedev	K1	Taylor Fritz	S
K	Ben Shelton	K2	-	-

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Iga Swiatek	Y	Aryna Sabalenka	Y
O	Cori Gauff (k)	O	Madison Keys (k)	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	Amanda Anisimova	S	-	-
K	Belinda Bencic	K1	Mirra Andreeva	K
S	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	K2	-	-

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
Inactive Yokozuna: Naomi Osaka
(k): kadoban
(o): Sekiwake-Ozeki

The 2025 French Open: Promotions, Demotions, and Other Stats

2025 French Open Champions:

• Carlos Alcaraz (Yokozuna)

• Cori Gauff (Sekiwake, ex-Ozeki)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• Aryna Sabalenka, the 20st Female Yokozuna of the Open Era

• Lois Boisson, the 77th Female Komusubi of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Aryna Sabalenka	Yokozuna	Ozeki
Cori Gauff	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Madison Keys	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Lorenzo Musetti	Komusubi	Maegashira
Frances Tiafoe	Komusubi	Maegashira
Zheng Qinwen (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Lois Boisson	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
Daniil Medvedev	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Barbora Krejcikova (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Jasmine Paolini (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Emma Navarro	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Paula Badosa	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Taylor Fritz ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Alex de Minaur	Maegashira	Komusubi
Ben Shelton	Maegashira	Komusubi
Marketa Vondrousova (ex-Ozeki)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Jessica Pegula (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi

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

• none

Other noteworthy developments:

• Aryna Sabalenka put together a series W (2024 UO) - F (2025 AO) - F (2025 FO), which, together with the two grand slam titles she had aleady won earlier, elevates her to the 20st female Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) of the Open Era. The loss in the final may have been a disappointment to her, but she still joined the top elite of the sport. In the men's game, the still relatively new Yokzouna Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner hold, for the first time, the first two spots on the sanyaku, after playing a thrilling final.

• Both Cori Gauff and Madison Keys, the last two female grand slam winners, got themselves re-promoted to Ozeki (=Champion). Gauff is even on a Yokozuna run if she wins Wimbledon.

• Alexander Zverev had another hold at Ozeki. With 14 tournaments at the second-highest rank (and a 15th guaranteed), he is already one of the longest-lived Ozeki of the Open Era. By contrast, Daniil Medvedev exited again early and gets demoted to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I). Rank protection isn't fully extinguished though: he can regain Ozeki rank if he makes the semifinals at Wimbledon. Ex-Ozeki Barbora Krejcikova and Jasmine Paolini lost rank protecion and get demoted to Komusubi (=Junior Champion II).

• Tommy Paul and ex-Sekiwake Elina Svitolina both held rank at Komusubi

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2025 French Open

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Carlos Alcaraz	Y1	Jannik Sinner	Y
Dai-Y	Novak Djokovic	Y2	-	-
O	Alexander Zverev	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Daniil Medvedev (o)	S	-	-
K	Tommy Paul	K1	Lorenzo Musetti	K
K	Frances Tiafoe	K2	-	-

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Iga Swiatek	Y	Aryna Sabalenka	Y
O	Cori Gauff	O	Madison Keys	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
-	-	S	-	-
O	Barbora Krejcikova	K1	Jasmine Paolini	O
S	Emma Navarro	K2	Paula Badosa	S
S	Elina Svitolina	K3	Zheng Qinwen	S
K	Lois Boisson	K4	-	-

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
Inactive Yokozuna: Naomi Osaka
(k): kadoban
(o): Sekiwake-Ozeki

Aryna Sabalenka, Yokozuna

Aryna Sabalenka became the 20st  female Yokozuna (= Grand Champion) of the open era today, by defeating (now) co-Yokozuna Iga Swiatek in the French open semi-finals and adding at least a final participation to her final at the 2025 Australian Open and victory at the 2024 U.S. Open. Given that Sabalenka already holds three grand slam titles, this series (W-F-F) suffices for a promotion to the highest rank. 

Sabalenka had been close before, and with her dominant, aggressive game she seemed poised for Yokozuna, but only in the last three grand slam tournaments did she find the top-level consistency that is befitting for a Grand Champion. There are several paths to Yokozuna, hers took a bit longer - almost 8 years after her grand slam debut. But now Sabalenka has joined a small circle of elite players who have dominated female grand slam tennis since the beginning of the Open Era in 1968. 

A full update will come later. 

The 2025 Australian Open: Promotions, Demotions, and Other Stats

2025 Australian Open Champions:

• Jannik Sinner (Ozeki)

• Madison Keys (Maegashira, ex-Ozeki)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• Jannik Sinner, the 19th Male Yokozuna of the Open Era

• Paula Badosa, the 58th Female Sekiwake of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Jannik Sinner	Yokozuna	Ozeki
Madidon Keys (ex-Ozeki)	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Paula Badosa	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Ben Shelton	Komusubi	Maegashira
Tommy Paul	Komusubi	Maegashira
Elina Svitolina (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
Barbora Krejcikova	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Jasmine Paolini	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Taylor Fritz	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Marketa Vondrousova (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Jessica Pegula	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Jack Draper	Maegashira	Komusubi
Elina Rybakina (ex-Ozeki)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Karolina Muchova (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi

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

• Madison Keys for beating Yokozuna Iga Swiatek in the semifinals

Other noteworthy developments:

• Jannik Sinner defended his Australian Open title and became the 19th male Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) of the Open Era. Please see the separate article.

• By contast, Ozeki (=Champion) Aryna Sabalenka fell again one win short of elevation to the highest rank, by losing the final to former Ozeki Madison Keys. Sabalenka remains on a Yokozuna run though and needs a final participation at the 2025 French Open for the ultimate promotion. For now she remains at Ozeki, as does the unsuccesful men's finalist, Alexander Zverev (who, different from Sabalenka, is not on a Yokozuna run though).

• Ozeki Daniil Medvedev lost early and goes kadoban - he needs to reach the quarterfinals at the French Open to avoid demotion. Barbora Krejcikova and Jasmine Krejcikova were already kadoban, and as they failed again to reach the quarterfinals, they get demoted to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I). Rank protection isn't fully extinguished though: both can regain Ozeki rank if they make the semifinals at the French Open. Ex-Ozeki Cori Gauff was in that very situation here at the Australian Open, but fell one win short. Exit in the quarterfinals means Gauff defends Sekiwake rank though.

• Keys is a career-high Ozeki already, as she held that rank in 2018/19. She does not return to Ozeki though, as this is only her first grand slam title. Keys would need a quarterfinal at the French Open to ascend again to her former rank.

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2025 Australian Open

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Novak Djokovic	Y1	Carlos Alcaraz	Y
Y	Jannik Sinner	Y2	-	-
O	Alexander Zverev	O	Daniil Medvedev (k)	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	-	S	-	-
S	Taylor Fritz	K1	Alex de Minaur	K
K	Ben Shelton	K2	Tommy Paul	K

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Iga Swiatek	Y	-	-
O	Aryna Sabalenka	O	-	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Barbora Krejcikova (o)	S1	Jasmine Paolini (o)	O
O	Cori Gauff	S2	Emma Navarro	S
O	Madison Keys	S3	Paula Badosa	S
O	Marketa Vondrousova	K1	Jessica Pegula	S
S	Elina Svitolina	K2	-	-

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
Inactive Yokozuna: Naomi Osaka
(k): kadoban
(o): Sekiwake-Ozeki

Jannik Sinner, Yokozuna

Jannik Sinner

Jannik Sinner became the 19th male Yokozuna (= Grand Champion) of the open era today, by winning the 2024 US Open and the 2025 Australian Open back-to-back. He joins a small elite group of players who have dominated the men's game in the past 57 years. 

Sinner looked dominant indeed throughout the tournament, winning almost all his matches in straight sets with his powerful, accurate and variable baseline game to which his opponents found no answer. In the final, the seasoned and strong Ozeki (=Champion) Alexander Zverev failed to carve out even a single break point - even though Zverev played many brilliant exchanges, but they were needed to just stay in the match. The only time Sinner looked somewhat vulnerable was in round 4 against former Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) Holger Rune, and there it was arguably the hot and humid conditions more than the opponent that challenged Sinner.  

Yokozuna is a rank for life, hence Sinner can no longer be demoted. He can only be declared inactive if he fails to produce sufficiently strong results. 

Yokozuna promotions are rare: on average, there is one only every three years. In the past 20 years they had been even rarer: between 1995 and 2024, only the "big four"  Roger Federer (2004), Rafael Nadal (2008), Novak Djokovic (2011) and Andy Murray (2016) ascended to the highest rank. Now there have been two Yokozuna promotions in quick succession: Carlos Alcaraz after the 2024 Wimbledon tournament, and Sinner. 

This signals not only a new era, it also means that the Yokozuna rank seems to have jumped a tennis generation: the one remaining player of the "great four" era, Novak Djokovic, is 37 years sold, Sinner is 23, Alcaraz 21. Between them lies a generation of great players who saw their path to the highest rank blocked, including the career-high Ozeki Dominic Thiem (31 years), Daniil Medvedev (28), Matteo Berrettini (28), Zverev (27), Casper Ruud (26) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (26).  

In the ladies' game, long-standing Ozeki Aryna Sabalenka fell again one win short of a Yokozuna promotion, losing the Australian Open final against former Ozeki Madison Keys. Sabalenka remains on a Yokozuna run though and now needs to reach the final at the 2025 French Open to make it to the highest rank.

Full updates to follow shortly.