U.S. Open 2008--Pre-Tournament Sanyaku Ranks

Men

Name	Current Rank (place on seeding list)	Career-High Rank	Career points
Yokozuna and Ozeki
Rafael Nadal	Y(a, 1)	Y	30
Roger Federer	Y(a, 2)	Y	68
Novak Djokovic	O(k, 3)	O	14
Lower Sanyaku
David Ferrer	K (4)	S	5
Andy Roddick	K (8)	O	27
Marat Safin	K (-)	O	22
Rainer Schuettler	K (-)	S	5

Women

Name	Current Rank (place on seeding list)	Career-High Rank	Career points
Yokozuna and Ozeki
Serena Williams	Y(a, 4)	Y	55
Venus Williams	Y(a, 7)	Y	65
Ana Ivanovic	O(k, 1)	O	13
Lower Sanyaku
Elena Dementieva	S (5)	O	15
Maria Sharapova	S (withdrew)	O	29
Jelena Jankovic	K (2)	S	9
Svetlana Kuznetsova	K (3)	O	17
Dinara Safina	K (6)	S	5
Agnieszka Radwanska	K (9)	K	2
Jie Zheng	K (-)	K	2
Lindsay Davenport	Y(ia, 23)	Y	59

Highest places non-ranked players ("meatgrinder"):

Men:
M1: Andy Murray (6), David Nalbandian (7, former S)
M2: James Blake (9), Stanislaw Wawrinka (10)
M3: Fernando Gonzalez (11, former S), Richard Gasquet (12, former K)

Women:
M1: Vera Zvonareva (8), Anna Chakvetadze (10, former K)
M2: Daniela Hantuchova (11, former K), Marion Bartoli (12, former S)
M3: Agnes Szavay (13), Victoria Azarenka (14)

The Top 101 Male and Female Tennis Players of the Open Era

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This site already has various top 20 lists, but to extend the mania (and because there isn't much else to do between Slams ), I have created top 101 lists for male and female tennis players of the open era. The lists are based on Grand Slam results, but make various adjustments, for example:

• players who excelled at the poorly attended Australian Open 1975-82 are ranked lower than they would otherwise be (e.g., Kriek, Denton, O'Neill, Barbara Jordan),
• players who suceeded almost exlusively on one surface only also get downgraded (e.g., Kuerten, Bruguera),
• and for players who had a substantial part of their careers before the open era, I tried to assess their entire careers (e.g., Laver, Rosewall, Court, Haydon-Jones).

Ray Emerson, Pancho Gonzales, Fred Stolle, Maria Bueno and Leslie Bowrey are not listed, as they had basically all their major successes before the open era.

Admittedly, the difference between, say, the #78 and #80 may be hard to tell -- but overall I believe these are pretty consistent rankings.

Wimbledon 2008--the Summary

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Rafael Nadal won a stunning five-set final over Dai-Yokozuna Roger Federer and finally took the hurdle to Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) promotion himself, becoming the 15th tennis player of the open era to attain the highest rank. Former Ozeki (= Champion) Marat Safin and ex-Sekiwake (= Junior Champion I) Rainer Schuettler gave a strong showing and return to the Sanyaku ranks as Komosubi (= Junior Champion II). By contrast, Novak Djokovic--who was on a Yokozuna run entering this tournament--exited early and will go as kadoban Ozeki to the U.S Open, implying that he needs to reach the quarterfinal there to defend the rank. The Sekiwake David Ferrer and Andy Roddick also failed to reach the quarterfinals and will be demoted to Komosubi, while Komosubi Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils drop out of the Sanyaku ranks. Both withdrew from the tournament with injuries.

In the ladies' tournament, the Williams sisters--both long-established Yokozuna--defied the seeding list (there were seeded 6 and 7 only) and played an all-familiy final, with Venus having the better end for herself this time. Former Ozeki Elena Dementieva reached the semifinals, which gets her back to Sekiwake rank following her quarterfinal participation at the French Open. Semifinalist Jie Zheng and quarterfinalist Angieszka Radwanska earned a Komosubi promotion, which marks the first time for either player in the Sankyaku ranks. Ozeki Ana Ivanovic exited in the fourth round and therefore goes kadoban, while kadobon Ozeki Maria Sharapova will be demoted to Sekiwake. All three players at Sekiwake rank at the beginning of the tournamnet -- Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova (former O) and Dinara Safina -- failed to reach the quarterfinals, triggering a mass demotion to Komosubi.

The Men's Tournament

Result	Name	Old Rank	New Rank	Highest Rank	Career points
Winner	Rafael Nadal	O	Y(a)	Y	30
Finalist	Roger Federer	Y(a)	Y(a)	Y	68
Semifinalist	Marat Safin	-	K	O	22
Semifinalist	Rainer Schuettler	-	K	S	5
Quarterfinalist	Mario Ancic	-	-	K	5
Quarterfinalist	Feliciano Lopez	-	-	-	2
Quarterfinalist	Arnaud Clement	-	-	S	5
Quarterfinalist	Andy Murray	-	-	-	1
-	Novak Djokovic	O	O(k)	O	14
-	Andy Roddick	S	K	O	27
-	David Ferrer	S	K	S	5
-	Jo Wilfried Tsonga	K	-	S	3
-	Gael Monfils	K	-	K	2

The Women's Tournament

Result	Name	Old Rank	New Rank	Highest Rank	Career points
Winner	Venus Williams	Y(a)	Y(a)	Y	65
Finalist	Serena Williams	Y(a)	Y(a)	Y	55
Semifinalist	Elena Dementieva	-	S	O	15
Semifinalist	Jie Zheng	-	K	K	2
Quarterfinalist	Agnieszka Radwanska	-	K	K	2
Quarterfinalist	Nadia Petrova	-	-	S	9
Quarterfinalist	Nicole Vaidisova	-	-	S	7
Quarterfinalist	Tamarine Tanasugarn	-	-	-	1
-	Ana Ivanovic	O	O(k)	O	13
-	Maria Sharapova	O(k)	S	O	29
-	Svetlana Kuznetsova	S	K	O	17
-	Jelena Jankovic	S	K	S	9
-	Dinara Safina	S	K	S	5
-	Lindsay Davenport	Y(ia)	Y(ia)	Y	59

Y(a)=Active Yokozuna
Y(ia)=Inactive Yokozuna
O=Ozeki
O(k)=Kadoban Ozeki
S=Sekiwake
K=Komosubi

Final and Semifinal Results

Men's Final
Federer (Y, seeded 1)	vs.	Nadal (O, 2)	4-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 7-9
Women's Final
S. Williams (Y, 6)	vs.	V. Williams (Y, 7)	5-7, 4-6
Men's Semifinals
Federer (Y, 1)	vs.	Safin (former O)	6-3, 7-6, 6-4
Schuettler (former S)	vs.	Nadal (O, 2)	1-6, 6-7, 4-6
Women's Semifinals
Zheng	vs.	S. Williams (Y, 6)	2-6, 6-7
Dementieva (former O, 5)	vs.	V. Williams (Y, 7)	1-6, 6-7

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Rafael Nadal, Yokozuna

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Rafael Nadal beat five-time Wimbledon champion and Dai-Yokozuna Roger Federer in five thrilling and classy sets for the championship and, therefore becomes tennis' 15th male Yokozuna since the beginning of the open era.

Nadal joins an elite club that prior to this tournament consisted of Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Jimmy Connors, John Newcombe, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Mats Wilander, Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, and the very Roger Federer he defeated.

This is the first Yokozuna promotion in men's tennis since 2003 (Federer) and only the second since 1995 (Agassi). It is also the first time since Andre Agassi's retirement that there are two active male Yokozuna--Federer and Nadal.

Nadal jumped both Yokozuna promotion hurdles at the same time: Wimbledon 2008 marked the 5th grand slam victory of his career, and he also produced back-to-back grand slam titles following his win at the French Open in June.

Wimbledon 2008--Semifinal Summary

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Rainer Schuettler completed the semifinal field after an epic five-setter with fellow former Sekiwake Arnaud Clement. For Schuettler this implies the return to the Sankyaku ranks after 5 years of absence. He will meet Rafael Nadal next who has played a superb tournament thus far, keeping his Yokozuna run on track--a win at Wimbledon and Nadal will be the 15th male tennis player in the open era to make it to Yokozuna tennis' higest rank.

Also back is in the Sanyaku ranks is former Ozeki and world No. 1 Marat Safin, who will play the grand Roger Federer in the semis.

Williams vs. Williams

In the ladies' tournament the semis are already completed. For the third time after 2002 and 2003, Venus and Serena Williams will play the Wimbledon final. To some degree this confirms the Yokozuna tennis ranking system--the Williams sisters were ranked as the only active Yokozuna before the tournament, even though they occupied only the #6 and #7 spots on the seeding list. Venus beat former Ozeki Elena Dementieva in two sets, who will therefore make a return to Sekiwake. Serena won her seminfal by an almost identical result over the surprise of the tournament, Jie Zheng of China, who earned a promotion to Komosubi for the first time in her career.

Thus far Serena is 5-1 in Grand Slams finals over Venus...

Men's Semifinals

Federer (Y, seeded 1)	vs.	Safin (former O)
Schuettler (former S)	vs.	Nadal (O, 2)

Women's Semifinals

Zheng	vs.	S. Williams (Y, 6)		2-6, 6-7
Dementieva (former O, 5)	vs.	V. Williams (Y, 7)		1-6, 6-7

Promotions (already secured)
Dementieva from non-ranked to Sekiwake
Safin, Schuettler, Zheng, Radwanska from non-ranked to Komosubi

Demotions
[Djokovic, Ivanovic from Ozeki to kadoban Ozeki]
Sharapova from kadoban Ozeki to Sekiwake
Ferrer, Roddick, Jankovic, Kuznetsova, Safina from Sekiwake to Komosubi
Monfils, Tsonga from Komosubi to non-ranked
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Wimbledon 2008--the Pre-Quarterfinal Summary (updated)

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Wimbledon is at the first decisive threshold: the quarterfinals. Reaching the quarterfinal is a precondition for defending Sanyaku ranks that do not enjoy rank protecion. The Sanyaku rank demotions post Wimbledon are therefore determined. Possible promotions will be decided in the remaining five tournament days.

The first Wimbledon week had its more than fair share of upsets: all Sanyaku ranked players except the active Yokozuna (Federer and the Williams sisters) and Ozeki Rafael Nadal failed to make the quarterfinals. The last ones to crash out were the female Sekiwake trio Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina, triggering a mass demotion to Komosubi.

Some promotions are also already secured: Elena Dementieva (former O) and Agniezska Radwanska will be promoted at least to Komosubi, as they came into the tournament with quarterfinals reached at the French/the Austrialian Open, respectively. For Radwanska this will be the first time she holds Sanyaku rank. Many old hands are giving a strong showing at these championships, including former Ozeki Marat Safin (the older brother of Dinara Safina) and the former Sekiwake Rainer Schuettler, Arnaud Clement, Nicole Vaidisova and Nadia Petrova.

Men's Quarterfinals

Federer (Y, seeded 1)	vs.	Ancic (former K)	6-1, 7-5, 6-4
Safin (former O)	vs.	Lopez (-, 31)	3-6, 7-5, 7-6, 6-3
Schuettler (former S)	vs.	Clement (former S)	6-3, 5-7, 7-6, 6-7, 8-6
Murray (-, 12)	vs.	Nadal (O, 2)	3-6, 2-6, 4-6

Women's Quarterfinals

Zheng	vs.	Vaidisova (former S, 18)	6-2, 5-7, 6-1
Radwanska (-,14)	vs.	S. Williams (Y, 6)	4-6, 0-6
Dementieva (former O, 5)	vs.	Petrova (former S, 21)	6-1, 6-7, 6-3
V. Williams (Y, 7)	vs.	Tanasugarn	6-4, 6-3

Promotions (already secured)
Dementieva from non-ranked to Sekiwake
Safin, Schuettler, Zheng, Radwanska from non-ranked to Komosubi

Demotions
[Djokovic, Ivanovic from Ozeki to kadoban Ozeki]
Sharapova from kadoban Ozeki to Sekiwake
Ferrer, Roddick, Jankovic, Kuznetsova, Safina from Sekiwake to Komosubi
Monfils, Tsonga from Komosubi to non-ranked

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