Ashleigh Barty, Ozeki

Ashleigh Barty became the 41st female Ozeki (=Champion) of the open era today winning the 2019 French Open. Together with reaching the quarterfinals at the 2019 Australian Open, this suffices to clear the ‘big hurdle’ (the meaning of ‘Ozeki’ in Japanese). The Australian was thus far better known as a doubles specialist - and as a professional cricket player, a passion for which she once interrupted her tennis career - but put herself firmly on the map now as an elite singles contestant.

Her opponent in the final, Marketa Vondrousova, will be promoted to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion 1), and there is also a new Komusubi (=Junior Champion 2) in semi-finalist Amanda Anisimova. Both Vondrousava and Asiminova are teenagers - the face of ladies' tennis appears to be changing rapidly, even though recently crowned Yokzouna (=Grand Champion) Naomi Osaka - herself only 21 years old - exited in round 3 this time.

In the mens' game, Dai-Yokozuna (=Great Grand Champion) Rafael Nadal and Komusubi (and ex-Sekiwake) Dominik Thiem will contest the final, in a repeat of last year.

The 2019 Australian Open: Promotions, Demotions, and Other Stats

2019 Australian Open Champions:

• Novak Djokovic (Dai-Yokozuna)

• Naomi Osaka (Sekiwake)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• Naomi Osaka, the 18th Female Yokozuna of the Open Era

• Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 89th Male Komusubi of the Open Era

• Danielle Collins, the 66th Female Komusubi of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Naomi Osaka	Yokozuna	Sekiwake
Petra Kvitova (ex-Ozeki)	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Stefanos Tsitsipas	Komusubi	Maegashira
Danielle Collins	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
Angelique Kerber	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Dominic Thiem	Komusubi	Sekiwake
John Isner	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Simona Halep (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Garbine Muguruza (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Kevin Anderson (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Jelena Ostapenko (ex-Ozeki)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Anastasija Sevastova	Maegashira	Komusubi


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

• Stefanos Tsitsipas - for beating Dai-Yokozuna Roger Federer in round 4

Other noteworthy developments:

• Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal played a pure Dai-Yokozuna final, the first since Roger Federer defeated Nadal in the 2017 Australian Open final.
• Dai-Yokozuna Roger Federer loses active Yokozuna status, after not reaching a semifinal/two quarterfinals in the last four slams. He joins Andy Murray, Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova as inactive Yokozuna.
• Ozeki Marin Cilic, Juan Martin del Potro, Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens all go kadoban after failing to reach the quarterfinals (del Potro sat out the tournament injured), and need to reach the quarterfinals at the 2019 French Open to hold rank.
• Angelique Kerber gets demoted to Sekiwake but still enjoys limited rank protection: a semifinal at the 2019 French Open would bring her back to Ozeki
• Ex-Ozeki Karolina Pliskova holds Sekiwake rank with a semifinal participation.

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2019 Australian Open

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Novak Djokovic	Y	Rafael Nadal	Dai-Y
O	Marin Cilic (k)	O	Juan Martin del Potro (k)	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	Kei Nishikori	S	-	-
S	Dominic Thiem	K1	John Isner	S
K	Stefanos Tsitsipas	K2	-	-

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Serena Williams	Y	Naomi Osaka	Y
O	Madison Keys (k)	O	Sloane Stephens (k)	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Karolina Pliskova	S1	Angelique Kerber (o)	O
O	Petra Kvitova	S2	-	-
O	Simona Halep	K1	Garbine Muguruza	O
K	Danielle Collins	K2	-	-

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
Inactive Yokozuna: Roger Federer (Dai), Andy Murray, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova
(k): kadoban Ozeki
(o): Sekiwake-Ozeki

Naomi Osaka, Yokozuna

Naomi Osaka, Yokozuna

Naomi Osaka became the 18th female Yokozuna (= Grand Champion) of the open era last night, by beating resurgent ex-Ozeki (= Champion) Petra Kvitova in the final of the 2019 Australian Open in three sets.

Osaka is only the second player - after Jennifer Capriati - to jump straight from Sekiwake (Junior Champion I) to Yokozuna, achieved by winning the second grand slam title right after her maiden slam - last year's US Open. But while Capriati had a long career at the lower sanyaku ranks before breaking through to top level, Osaka came out of nowhere: she had not been in a grand slam quarterfinal before she started winning slams.

Osaka's rise from grand slam debutante to Yokozuna is also one of the fastest of the open era: she needed just 15 grand slam tournaments to climb to the top of the game - although the record is still held by Dai-Yokozuna (= Great Grand Champion) Monica Seles with 8 tournaments.

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

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

Naomi Osaka is on a Yokozuna Run

After Saturday's final, it will either be Osaka achieving a record-fast promotion to Yokozuna (= Grand Champion), or resurgent Petra Kvitova returning to Ozeki (= Champion) for the third time in her career.

A match with stakes as high as they come.

Naomi Osaka, Ozeki

Naomi Osaka became the 41st female Ozeki (=Champion) of the open era today by reaching the quarterfinals of the 2019 Australian Open, which follows on her maiden grand slam victory at the 2018 US Open (the Ozeki list will be updated once the tournament has been completed). Osaka could even make it to Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) if she wins the tournament. Moving from nowhere to Yokozuna within two slams would be a first in open era history. Osaka is also the first Japanese to reach Ozeki rank, in either the men's or the women's game.
 
Elsewhere, Dai-Yokozuna (=Great Grand Champion) Roger Federer lost active status after losing in the round of 16. Inactive Yokozuna Andy Murray lost in the first round and may retire. If it comes to this, we will pay our dues with an extra article on this page.

Further, the Australian Open turn out to be an Ozeki massacre, with Marin Cilic, Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys and Angelique Kerber all going out before the quarterfinals. Cilic, Stephens, Keys, and Juan Martin del Potro - who missed the Australian Open injured - go kadoban (they need to reach the quarterfinals at the 2019 French Open to defend the rank). Kerber was already kadoban and hence gets demoted to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) after the tournament.

Dai-Yokozuna Serena Williams, by contrast, reached the quarter-finals after a thriller against ex-Ozeki Simona Halep, and remains on-track to win her 24th grand slam title - which would have her take first place from Margaret Court in our open era ranking.