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.