Mr. Australian Open

Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) Novak Djokovic won his favorite grand slam tournament - the Australian Open - for the 5th time last night, and for the third time in what seems to be his favorite final opponent - Ozeki (=Champion) Andy Murray. The match was competitive for two and a half sets, then Murray seemed to lose it and Djokovic took over.

Djokovic has a total of 8 grand slam titles how, and career statistics that resemble those of Ivan Lendl, Jimmy Connors, or Andre Agassi - some of the most acomplished Yokozuna. Two more titles and Djokovic would be granted the title of Dai-Yokozuna (=great Grand Champion); the third player of his generation after Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. With age seemingly getting the better of Federer, and Nadal struggling much of the time with injuries, this seems a quite plausible prospect.

And Murray? He is already one of the most accomplished and consistent Ozeki of the open era, second only to the magnificent Guillermo Vilas and perhaps Arthur Ashe. Had he won the 2015 Australian Open, one could have seen a path to Yokozuna for him - perhaps not under the two-consecutive-grand-slam title rule, which requires a degree of dominance that is hard to achieve when competing with three of the greatest players of all time; but under the five-grand-slam-titles-overall rule that got champions like John Newcombe, Stefan Edberg, or more recently Maria Sharapova at the ladies to Yokozuna. But also this prospect seems remote now, with Murray turning 28 this year and "only" two slam titles under his belt thus far. Perhaps he will enter yokozunatennis history as a great Ozeki rather than an average Yokozuna.

Talking about Ozeki, defending Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka held rank for the fourth consecutive tournament, showing the type of consistency befitting for an Ozeki. In the semifinals he gave Djokovic his longest match of the tournament - although not quite living up to the quality of their encounters in previous years. US-Open champion Marin Cilic missed the tournament and goes kadoban immediately, i.e. he has to reach the quarterfinals at Roland Garros to defend rank.

Ex-Ozeki Tomas Berdych reached another grand slam semifinal - losing to Murray - and moves back up to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I). US Open finalist Kei Nishikori held Sekiwake rank with a quarterfinal participation, but missed clearing the Ozeki-hurdle by one win, being overwhelmed by Wawrinka.

Ex-Sekiwake Milos Raonic held Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) rank. He will be joined by ex-Ozeki David Ferrer, who, after another early exit, drops down from Sekiwake, and young and exiting prospect Nick Kyrgios. Kyrgios, playing in front of his home crowd, reached his second grand slam quarterfinal within three tournaments. While three out of the first four male Yokozuna open era were Australian - Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe - it has been almost 15 years since the last Australian man entered the sanyaku (=championship ranks) - Lleyton Hewitt in 2000 (who later made it to Ozeki). Kyrgios is the 83rd male Komusubi of the open era.

With this, the sanyaku ranks going into the 2015 French Open are as follows:

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Novak Djokovic	Y1	Rafael Nadal	Dai-Y
Dai-Y	Roger Federer	Y2	-	-
O	Andy Murray	O1	Stanislas Wawrinka	O
O	Marin Cilic*	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	Kei Nishikori	S	Tomas Berdych	O
S	Milos Raonic	K1	David Ferrer	O
K	Nick Kyrgios	K2	-	-

* Kadoban

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

Ladies' Grand Slam Tournaments are Simple Events...

... where 128 women chase a small ball, and in the end Serena always wins.

The Australian Open 2015 confirmed once more: when Dai-Yokozuna (=great Grand Champion) Serena Williams is fit and focused, she is near-impossible to beat. Williams struggled in the early rounds against prospects like Elina Svitolina and Garbine Muguruza. She fought as much with what seemed a bad cold as with her opponents. Fellow Yokozuna Maria Sharapova put up a trademark fight in the final. No matter, in the end the winner was again Serena, winning the 19th grand slam tournament of her career. Serena has now won more than one-third of all grand slam tournaments since the 2002 French Open (18 out of 52), and more than half since Wimbledon 2012 (6 out of 11). Not since the days of Steffi Graf 20 years ago has a  female player been that dominant.

The stats of the Serena-Sharapova final reveal a key source of Serena Williams' superiority: her first serve. Its power, speed and precision is without equal in the ladies' game, and grants her many free points. Serena out-aced Sharapova - who has a good serve herself - 18-5, which accounts for more than the total points difference in the match (76-64). On second serve, Sharapova actually beat Williams 14-9, but on first serve Serena outscored Sharapova 37-28.

Elsewhere in the tournament, the Ozeki (=Champions) Eugenie Bouchard and Simona Halep held rank, although for both the tournament was arguably a mild disappointment, with relatively clear losses in the quarterfinals. Serena's sister Venus reached her first grand slam quarterfinal since 2010. Another quarterfinal in the next three slams and she will reactiviate her - currently dormant - Yokozuna status.


Madison Keys, Komusubi

Petra Kvitova failed to back up her Wimbledon 2014 triumph for the second slam running and gets demoted to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I). She will share the rank with Ekaterina Makarova, who confirmed her consistently good form by reaching her third grand slam quarter- and second semi-final in succession. Another semifinal at the French Open and Makarova will surge to Ozeki.

The Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) ranks will be filled with ex-Ozeki Viktoria Azarenka, who is fighting back from injury, ex-Sekiwake Caroline Wozniacki, and - the discovery of the tournament - US-prospect Madison Keys. The hard-hitting Keys defeated Kvitova in round three and gave Serena Williams, for one set, a scare in the semifinal. This earns Keys a first-time sanyaku (=championship) promotion: she is the 60th female Komusubi of the open era.

The ladies' sanyaku ranks going into the 2015 French Open are therefore as follows:

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Serena Williams	Y	Maria Sharapova	Y
O	Eugenie Bouchard	O	Simona Halep	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Petra Kvitova	S	Ekaterina Makarova	S
O	Viktoria Azarenka	K1	Caroline Wozniacki	S
K	Madison Keys	K2	-	-

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

Promotions and Demotions Following the 2015 Australian Open

The finals of the Australian Open are not yet played - and what finals promise these to be, with a Yokozuna/Ozeki (Djokovic/Murray) matchup in the mens' tournament, and two Yokozunas (Serena Williams, Sharapova) competing for the ladies' title.

But promotions and demotions have already been determined. With the top players dominating the tournament, there are many more demotions than promotions.

Ekaterina Makarova, Sekiwake

There are no promotions into the higher sanyaku (=championship) ranks. Quarterfinalists Kei Nishikori and Ekaterina Makarova (picture) both fell one win short of clearing the "great hurdle" to Ozeki (=Champion) and stay at Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I). Fellow quarterfinalist Venus Williams fell one win short of re-activiating her long dormant Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) status - another quarterfinal at one of the next three slams would be enough. 

All active Yokozuna stay active - the Dai-Yokozuna (=great Grand Champions) Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Serena Williams as well as the "normal" Yokozuna Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova. Nadal needs to get to the quarterfinals at the French Open, however, to avoid that his Yokozuna status switches to dormant.

Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Eugenie Bouchard, and Simona Halep all hold rank at Ozeki, as all made the quarterfinals or better. Freshly baken Ozeki Marin Cilic missed the Australian Open and goes kadoban (has to reach the quarterfinals at the French Open to avoid demotion).

Petra Kvitova gets demoted to Sekiwake, after failing to back up her success at Wimbledon 2014 in the next two grand slams.

Nick Kyrgios, Komusubi

Semifinalist and Ex-Ozeki Tomas Berdych raises back up to Sekiwake (from Komusubi).

Two-time quarterfinalist Nick Kyrgios and semifinalist Madison Keys get first-time promotions into the sanyakyu ranks at Komusubi (=Junior Champion II). Quarterfinalist and ex-Sekiwake Milos Raonic holds rank at Komusubi.

Ex-Ozeki David Ferrer and Viktoria Azarenka both get demoted from Sekiwake to Komusubi after losing in round 4, as does Caroline Wozniacki. Gael Monfils, Shuai Peng, Sara Errani (ex-Sekiwake) and Na Li (retired ex-ozeki) drop out of the sanyaku ranks.

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Tomas Berdych (ex-Ozeki)	Sekiwake	Komusubi
Nick Kyrgios	Komusubi*	Maegashira
Madison Keys	Komusubi*	Maegashira
Demotions
Petra Kvitova	Sekiwake	Ozeki
David Ferrer (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Viktoria Azarenka (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Caroline Wozniacki	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Gael Monfils	Maegashira	Komusubi
Li Na (ex-Ozeki, retired)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Sara Errani (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Shuai Peng	Maegashira	Komusubi

* New career high

Fare Well, Champion

A great Ozeki (=Champion) has retired from the sport of tennis: two-time grand slam winner Na Li.


Na Li, the 29th female Ozeki of the open era

Fare well, champion. You will be missed.
 

Promotions and Demotions Following the 2014 US Open

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Marin Cilic	Ozeki*	Maegashira
Kei Nishikori	Sekiwake*	Maegashira
Caroline Wozniacki	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Elena Makarova	Sekiwake*	Maegashira
Gael Monfils	Komusubi	Maegashira
Shuai Peng	Komusubi*	Maegashira
Sara Errani (ex-Sekiwake)	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
David Ferrer	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Milos Raonic	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Na Li (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Grigor Dimitrov	Maegashira	Komusubi
Lucie Safarova	Maegashira	Komusubi

* New career high

Winds of Change

For the first time in almost 10 years, there was no Roger Federer, no Rafael Nadal, and also no Novak Djokovic. The three reigning Yokozuna (=Grand Champions), who had sent at least one of them to the last 38 grand slam finals - winning 34 of them - were all absent. Also missing was long-standing Ozeki (=Champion) Andy Murray.

Instead two relative nobodies played the mens' 2014 US Open final: Marin Cilic, whose best slam performance thus far had been a single semifinal participation at the 2010 Australian Open. And Kei Nishikori, who had never made a grand slam quarterfinal. In the event, the hard-hitting Croatian, measuring almost 2 meters, outgunned the nimble Japanese counterpuncher 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

The win was surely well deserved. Cilic had crushed Roger Federer in straight sets in the semifinals, after doing the same in the quarterfinals to ex-Ozeki Tomas Berdych. Together with his quarterfinal participation at Wimbledon - where Cilic lost a tight fivesetter to Djokovic - this grants Cilic a promotion to Ozeki; he is the 32nd male Ozeki of the open era (a rank that Cilic's coach and compatriot Goran Ivanisevic never attained, by the way).

Nishikori had an arguably even tougher route to the final, having to overcome Sekiwake Milos Raonic, Ozeki Stanislas Wawrinka, and Yokozuna Novak Djokovic in long, grueling matches. With this final, Nishikori earns a promotion to Sekiwake, which makes him the first Asian born, sanyaku (champion) ranked player of the open era. Given that the Yokozuna-tennis ranking system takes its inspiration from Ozumo - Japan's national sport - a circle comes to completion.

Many observers have declared this year's US Open would mark the end of the "big 4". After all, Federer has lost consistency - at the biblical tennis age of 33 - Nadal and Murray are increasingly prone to injury, and Djokovic has not quite returned to his dominance of 2011. And yet - for much of the second week of the US Open, conditions were plain irregular, with temperatures of 95F (35C) and humidity levels around 70 pecent. Success had as much to do with being able to cope with tropical conditions as with the tennis playing capacity. The next few slams will show what these Open's outcome is worth.

 

As regards the remainder of the banzuke (=-ranking list), Ozeki Andy Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka both reached the quarterfinals and therefore hold rank - in the case of Murray for the 15th straight time. David Ferrer, by contrast, missed the quarterfinals for the second consecutive slam and thus gets demoted to Sekiwake, after six tournaments at Ozeki. Ferrer will share that rank with Nikishori. Raonic drops one rank to Komusubi (=Junior Champion 2), where he will be joined by Berdych and colorful Gael Monfils, who returns to Komusubi for the third time in his career, after giving Federer a stiff five-set challenge in the quarterfinals. Grigor Dimitrov, who lost to Monfils in round 4, drops out of the sanykau ranks.

 

5 players in lower sanyaku is something the male banzuke has not seen in some time: the dominant "big 4" had not given many other players a chance to earn ranking points. This - at least for now - has changed.   

  

The mens' sanyaku ranks at the end of the 2014 grand slam season are therefore as follows:
 

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Y	Novak Djokovic	Y1	Roger Federer	Dai-Y
Dai-Y	Rafael Nadal	Y2	-	-
O	Andy Murray	O1	Stanislas Wawrinka	O
O	Marin Cilic	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	David Ferrer	S	Kei Nishikori	S
S	Milos Raonic	K1	Tomas Berdych	O
K	Gael Monfils	K2	-	-

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