The Top Grand Slam Players of 2010

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Time for a review of the 2010 grand slam season.

Career-high sanyaku ranks are marked with an "*".

1. Rafael Nadal (Yokozuna, open era rank: 7, SF-W-W-W)

Three slam titles (French, Wimbledon, US), completing a career slam, and only one title away from Dai-Yokozuna (great Grand Champion) status. What can one say more. Oh yes: might have won the Aussie Open as well had he not been injured. Nadal's dominance in 2010 was almost scary.

1. Serena Williams (Dai-Yokozuna, 5, W-QF-W-A)

Remains head and shoulders above the rest of the ladies' field: defended her crowns at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, reached the quarterfinals at her lest-favored slam in Paris, had to sit out the US Open. The queen of women' tennis.

2. Roger Federer (Dai-Yokozuna, 2, W-QF-QF-SF)

It feels like this is the twilight of his career, but what a twilight it is: won the Australian Open for his 16th grand slam title, made it to the quarterfinals everywhere else (and to the semifinals at the US Open). At nearly 30 years of age still able to win anything any day.

2. Vera Zvonareva (Ozeki*, 50, R4-R2-F-F)

Made her career breakthrough in 2010 with back-to-back finals at Wimbledon and the US Open. Lost clearly on both occasions, but she has established herself as part of the elite on the ladies' tour. A first-time ozeki (Champion) promotion has been the result.

3. Novak Djokovic (Ozeki, 31, QF-QF-SF-F)

Showed in 2010 why he has been continously at Ozeki since the US Open 2007: regular quarternfinal participant at the slams, semifinals at Wimbledon, then the down to the wire at the US Open after overcoming his nemesis Federer. Lost to, well, Nadal.

3. Kim Clijsters (Ozeki, 15, R3-A-QF-W)

Missed the early part of the season, came back at Wimbledon. Then peaked again in New York, winnning her third slam by blowing Zvonareva off the court--the same player who had still beaten her at Wimbledon. Now the strongest female Ozeki of the open era.

4. Andy Murray (Komusubi, ex-Sekiwake, 50, F-R4-SF-R3)

His career's jo-jo pattern continued: 2nd grand slam final at the Aussie open, early exit at Roland Garros, semis at Wimbledon, then a tough to watch implosion at Flushing Meadows. Clearly has potential for Ozeki, but consitency at the slams continues to lack.

4. Francesca Schiavone (Sekiwake*, 46, R4-W-R1-QF)

The sensation of the 2010 season: won the French Open at an age of almost 30, after having been an also-ran for most of her career, and eanred a promotion straihgt to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I). Confirmed at the US Open that her triumph was not a fluke.

5. Tomas Berdych (Ozeki*, 81, R2-SF-F-R1)

Had his breathrough year after having been considered a great talent for some time. Semis at Roland garros, then final in Wimbledon, after eliminating Roger Federer in the quarterfinals. Early exit at the US Open, hence kadoban Ozeki at end-year.

5. Samantha Stosur (Sekiwake*, 68, R4-F-R1-QF)

Established hersef firmly in the world elite in 2010 with a first-time grand slam final in Paris that she lost--somewhat surprisingly--to Schiavone. Reached another quarterfinal in New York, where she gave Clijsters one of the toughest match of the tournament.

6. Robin Soderling (Sekiwake, 57, R1-F-QF-QF)

A well-established threat now, can beat any player any day. Reverse fortune at Roland Garros compared to 2009: then he sensationally beat Nadal but lost to Federer in the final, this time he kicked out the Dai-Yokozuna but then fell to Nadal. Quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the US Open. The "George Foreman of tennis" according to McEnroe.

6. Venus Williams (Yokozuna, 9, QF-R4-QF-SF)

The long-time Yokozuna showed that she is still to be reckoned with. The quarterfinal exit at Wimbledon was perhaps a tad disappointing, but her strong run at the US Open all the way to the semifinals compensated, ending with a nailbiter-loss to Clijsters.

Honorable mention:

Mikhail Youzhny (Komusubi, 104, R3-QF-R2-SF), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (ex-Sekiwake, 77, SF-R4-QF-A), Justine Henin (Yokozuna, 10, F-R4-R4-A), Caroline Wozniacki (Sekiwake, 67, R4-QF-R4-SF), Na Li (ex-Sekiwake, 86, SF-R3-QF-R1)

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The Top 101 Male and Female Players of the Open Era--Update at end-2010

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Nadal enters the top 10, Clijsters now #15

As the U.S. Open have run their course, bringing the 2010 grand slam season to an end, it is time to re-consider the top 101 list of open era tennis players.

Rafael Nadal (picture) improves from #13 at end-2009 to #7, upon winning three more grand slam titles and completing a career slam. One more major title and Nadal would be not only #6 but also Dai-Yokozuna (great Grand Champion)--the only 6th male player of the open era making it to that level. On the ladies' side, Kim Clijsters moved into the top 20 (#15) and is now the highest ranked female Ozeki (=Champion).

The biggest jup of the year outside Nadal and Clijsters made French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, who was not within the top 100 at end-2009 and is now #45. Slam finalists Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Robin Soderling, Tomas Berdych, Vera Zvonareva and Samantha Stosur all made major inroads too.

The top 20 are listed below, the top 101 here.

The Top 20 Male and Female Tennis Players of the Open Era

	Male Players	Highest Rank			Female Players	Highest Rank
1	Rod Laver	Dai-Y		1	Margaret Court	Dai-Y
2	Roger Federer	Dai-Y		2	Steffi Graf	Dai-Y
3	Ken Rosewall	Dai-Y		3	Martina Navratilova	Dai-Y
3	Pete Sampras	Dai-Y		4	Chris Evert	Dai-Y
4	Bjorn Borg	Dai-Y		5	Serena Williams	Dai-Y
6	Ivan Lendl	Y		6	Billie Jean King	Dai-Y
7	Rafael Nadal	Y		7	Monica Seles	Dai-Y
8	Jimmy Connors	Y		8	Evonne Goolagong	Y
9	Andre Agassi	Y		9	Venus Williams	Y
10	John McEnroe	Y		10	Justine Henin	Y
11	Mats Wilander	Y		11	Martina Hingis	Y
12	Boris Becker	Y		12	Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario	Y
13	Stefan Edberg	Y		13	Hana Mandlikova	Y
14	John Newcombe	Y		14	Lindsay Davenport	Y
15	Jim Courier	Y		15	Kim Clijsters	O
16	Guillermo Vilas	O		16	Jennifer Capriati	Y
17	Arthur Ashe	O		17	Ann Haydon-Jones	O
18	Ilie Nastase	O		18	Maria Sharapova	O
19	Lleyton Hewitt	O		19	Virginia Wade	O
20	Marat Safin	O		20	Gabriela Sabatini	O

Kim Shows Again She is a Champion

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Blasting past an overmatched Vera Zvonareva , Kim Clijsters won her third U.S. Open title. Clijsters thus makes it straight back to Ozeki (=Champion) for the third time in career. With three grand slam titles and seven final participants she is now clearly the strongest female Ozeki of the open era. Her career stats are in fact already better than those of Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) Jennifer Capriati, and comparable to those of Lindsay Davenport. One wonders whether a Yokozuna promotion may be still in the cards for Clijsters. A tournament victory down under in January would do it for her, as would two more slams at any venue.

Amidst all the well-justified enthusiasm about the charming Belgian, one should not oversee that Zvonareva earned an Ozeki promotion for herself, owing to back-to-back final participations at Wimbledon--where she lost to Yokozuna Serena Williams, who sat the U.S. Open out injured--and now here at Flushing Meadows. Zvonareva is the 30st female Ozeki of the open era. The last two Ozeki before her, Ana Ivanovic and Dinara Safina, could not hold Champion level following their promotions. One hopes Zvonareva will fare better than them.

The sole participating Yokozuna Venus Williams--apart from Serena also Justine Henin sat the tournament out--did well, reaching her first grand slam semifinal since Wimbledon 2009, where she lost a close encounter to Clijsters. This secures Venus active Yokozuna status for at least another year. By contrast, Elena Dementieva exited in round 4, hence losing Ozeki status for the third time in her career. She will join the other semifinalist (and last-year finalist) Caroline Wozniacki at Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) rank, as well as the French Open finalists Francesca Schiavone and Samantha Stosur (her 4th round victor), who both made it to the quarterfinals. Kaia Kanepi will complete the Sanyaku lineup as Komusubi (=Junior Champion II)--the first time in Kanepi's young career that she makes it to championship rank. Put precisely, Kanepi is the 56th female Komusubi of the open era.

In the mens' tournament, long-standing Ozeki Novak Djokovic prevented an all-Yokozuna final by beating Roger Federer in five sets. In the final Rafael Nadal is waiting, in a quest to complete a career grand slam. Nadal has looked ferocious thus far at the U.S. Open.

Wimbledon 2010 Produces a New Ozeki

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With apologies for the delay (I've been traveling), below is the Sanyaku (=Championship) rank update after Wimbledon 2010.

In the men's tournament, Rafael Nadal once gain lived up to his Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) rank by winning his second Wimbledon title, beating Tomas Berdych ins straight sets. With eight Grand Slam titles, Nadal is gradually edging up to Dai-Yokozuna (=Great Grand Champion) status, a title that typically awareded after the 10th Grand Slam victory. The open era has thus far produced five Dai-Yokozuna, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, and of course Nadal's fellow Yokozuna Roger Federer.

Federer again exited in the quarterfinals, as in Roland Garros, losing to Tomas Berdych. Berdych secured a rare Ozeki (=Champion) promotion with his back-to-back strong results at Roland Garros (semifinal) and Wimbledon (final)--a player who has been know to be dangerous for years, but thus far had not managed to put consistent strong performances together.

Berdych is only the 29th Ozeki of the open era, joining a group that contains legends like Guillermo Vilas, Arthur Ashe or Ilie Nastase. In the post-Wimbledon sanyaku line-up, Berdych will join his semifinal opponent Novak Djokovic at this rank. Djokovic has been Ozeki for almost three years.

By contrast to Berdych, Robin Soderling and Andy Murray both fell just one victory short to be take the great hurdel to the senior sanyaku ranks themselves. Murray has been in this spot for some time now, he now needs to make the US Open final to make it to Ozeki. Murray certainly possesses Ozeki-quality, what he has lacked to date is the consistency to put strong Grand Slam tournaments together back-to-back.

In the ladies' game, Dai-Yokozuna Serena Williams continues to reign supreme, winning the final in straight sets over newly promoted Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) Vera Zvonareva. Her sister and fellow Yokozuna Venus Williams--long considered a Wimbledon specialist--exited in the quarterfinals, and is hanging on to active Yokozuna status by the edge of her teeth: she wil needsa quarterfinal at the upcoming US or Australian Open to still join Serena and Justine Henin at the top of the banzuke (=sanyaku line-up).

Ozeki Elena Dementieva sat out Wimbledon with an injury, while Kim Clijsters fell just one victory short of regaining Ozeki status, losing in the quarterfinals to Zvonareva.

Surprise semifinalists Petra Kvitova and Tsvetana Pironkova secured first-time Sanyaku promotions to Komusubi (=Junior Champion II). There are no less than five female Komusubi, including Roland Garros finalists Francesca Schiavone and Samantha Stosur, who both exited in the first round on the grass of the All-England Club.

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Rafael Nadal	Y	Roger Federer	Y
O	Novak Djokovic	O	Tomas Berdych	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	Robin Soderling	S	Andy Murray	S
O	Juan Martin del Potro	K	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	S

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Serena Williams	Y1	Venus Williams	Y
Y	Justine Henin	Y2	-	-
O	Elena Dementieva*	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Kim Clijsters	S	Vera Zvonareva	S
S	Francesca Schiavone	K1	Samantha Stosur	S
S	Na Li	K2	Caroline Wozniacki	S
K	Petra Kvitova	K3	Tsvetana Pironkova	K

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
* Kadoban

The King of Clay Retakes his Kingdom

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With less difficulty than expected, Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) Rafael Nadal retook the French Open crown from the very man who had prevented him from defending it last year: former and future Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) Robin Soderling.

One year ago Soderling outmuscled Nadal in four sets in a tense 4th round match (only to lose the final to the other Yokozuna, Roger Federer). Thereafter Nadal was out injured for several months thereafter, and then seemed to struggle to return to his former, dominant form, giving rise to worries that his immensely physical game had taken too much of a toll on his body--concerns that should have been laid to rest by his flawless performances at this tournament, during which Nadal did not drop a single set.

In this final, Soderling played on par with Nadal only at the beginning of the second set, when he carved out--but could not convert--several break points. At all other times Nadal had the edge with his more agile, accurate and controlled game.

But even though Soderling fell short in another Roland Garros final, he has established himself as one of the five or six most dangerous contenders behind the Federer/Nadal Yokozuna duopoly. Which means he can set his eyes on higher targets. A semifinal participation at Wimbledon, or another final at the US Open, would earn Soderling an Ozeki (=Champion) promotion at the not-so-tender age of nearly 26 years. This would provide yet more evidence--after Francesca Schiavone's first Grand Slam title at an age of nearly 30--that there is a space for late bloomers in tennis.

Promotions, Demotions, and the New Banzuke

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No matter how tomorrow's mens' final ends, the sanyaku (=Championship) ranks for Wimbledon 2010 are already decided (as Soderling will be promoted to Sekiwake in any case, and Nadal will of course stay Yokozuna. Promotions and demotions as a result of the 2010 French Open are as follows:

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career-high rank)	To	From
Promotions
Elena Dementieva (ex-Ozeki)	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Robin Soderling (ex-Sekiwake)	Sekiwake	Komusubi
Caroline Wozniacki (ex-Sekiwake)	Sekiwake	Komusubi
Samantha Stosur (ex-Komusubi)	Sekiwake*	Maegashira 1
Francesca Schiavone	Sekiwake*	Maegashira 5
Jelena Jankovic (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira 1
Tomas Berdych	Komusubi*	Maegashira 4
Nadia Petrova (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira 6
Jurgen Melzer	Komusubi*	Maegashira 7
Demotions
Juan Martin del Potro (ex-Ozeki)	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Kim Clijsters (ex-Ozeki)	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Andy Roddick (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Dinara Safina (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Andy Murray	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Marin Cilic	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Na Li	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Svetlana Kuznetsova (ex-Ozeki)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Jie Zheng	Maegashira	Komusubi

* New career-high

This results in the following sanyaku ranks for Wimbledon--with no less than 5 Komusubi on the mens' side:

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Rafael Nadal	Y	Roger Federer	Y
O	Novak Djokovic	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Juan Martin del Potro	S	Robin Soderling	S
S	Andy Murray	K1	Andy Roddick	O
S	Marin Cilic	K2	Tomas Berdych	K
K	Jurgen Melzer	K3	-	-

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Serena Williams	Y1	Justine Henin	Y
Y	Venus Williams	Y2	-	-
O	Elena Dementieva	O	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Kim Clijsters	S1	Francesca Schiavone	S
S	Samantha Stosur	S2	Caroline Wozniacki	S
O	Dinara Safina	K1	Na Li	S
S	Jelena Jankovic	K2	Nadia Petrova	S

1/ Career-high Sanyaku rank.

Venus Williams faces an interesting challenge at Wimbledon: she needs to reach the quarterfinals to maintain active Yokozuna status. Based on her past performances at the All England club, she should find this not overly difficult.