The 2024 Australian Open: Promotions, Demotions, and other Stats

2024 Australian Open Champions:

• Jannik Sinnner (Maegashira, ex-Komusubi)

• Aryna Sabalenka (Ozeki)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• Jannik Sinner, the 39th Male Ozeki of the Open Era

• Coco Gauff, the 48th Female Ozeki of the Open Era

• Qinwen Zheng, the 57th Female Sekiwake of the Open Era

• Taylor Fritz, the 97th Male Komusubi of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Coco Gauff	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Jannik Sinner	Ozeki	Maegashira
Alexander Zverev (ex-Ozeki)	Sekiwkake	Komusubi
Qinwen Zheng	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Taylor Fritz	Komusbi	Maegashira
Demotions
Iga Swiatek	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Ons Jabeur	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Elina Rybakina	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Caspar Ruud (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Karolina Muchova	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Madison Keys (ex-Ozeki)	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Ben Shelton	Maegashira	Komusubi
Elina Svitolina (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi

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

• none

Other noteworthy developments:

• Ozeki (=Champions) Aryna Sabalenka, Daniil Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz all held rank with strong results. Sabalenka would get promted to Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) if she reaches the final at the 2024 French Open, Medveded if he wins the toournament. By contrast, Marketa Vondrousova lost early and goes kadoban - she needs to reach the quarterfinals at the French Open to hold rank.

• Andrey Rublev held Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) rank with yet another quarterfinal. It's his 10th overall, and he has held Komusubi rank for seven tournaments now, without ever making it to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion II). Both are records

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2024 Australian Open

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Novak Djokovic	Y	-
O	Daniil Medvedev	O1	Carlos Alcaraz	O
O	Jannik Sinner	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Alexander Zverev	S	-	-
O	Caspar Ruud	K1	Andrey Rublev	K
K	Taylor Fritz	K2	-	-

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
-	-	Y	-	-
O	Aryna Sabalenka	O1	Marketa Vondrousova (k)	O
O	Cori Gauff	O2	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Iga Swiatek (o)	S1	Ons Jabeur (o)	O
O	Elina Rybakina (o)	S2	Qinwen Zheng	S
S	Karolina Muchova	K	Madison Keys	O

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
Inactive Yokozuna: Rafael Nafal (Dai), Andy Murray, Venus Williams, Naomi Osaka
(k): kadoban
(o): Sekiwake-Ozeki

Jannik Sinner, Ozeki

Jannik Sinner

Jannik Sinner became the 39th male Ozeki of the open era by winning  the 2024 Australian Open. Together with his semi-final participation at the 2023, Wimbledon tournament this suffices to cross the "great hurdle" - the meaning of "Ozeki"  in Japanese. 

Sinner's rise has been in the making for years, but only in the past 6 months or so did he bring himself on a level where he can challenge the very best. On his path to victory, Sinner defeated both Dai-Yokozuna (=Great Grand Champion) and Australian Open dominator Novak Djokovic in the semifinal and fellow Ozeki Daniil Medvedev in the final - nobody could say that Sinner has not earned this. 

Sinner's success may also signal that a new generation has arrived in men's tennis. Thus far much talk has been about the "next generation" player - the players that first sought to unseat the old guard of super-champions (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Djokovic Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka) and that are now in the second half of their twenties. Medvedev is the most consistent player in this group, it also includes the ex-Ozeki Alexander Zverev (semi-finalist here and currently ranked at Sekiwake), Stefanos Tsitsipas, or Matteo Berrettini. With hindsight, this group hasn't quite succeeded: Nadal and (more often) Djokovic still stood in the way of these players' ambitions, hence they have  won only one grand slam title thus far - Medvedev at the 2021 US Open.

Now there is the next-next generation: Sinner, fellow Ozeki Carlos Alcaraz (who this time exited in the quarterfinals), maybe ex-Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) Holger Rune, all players in their early 20s with an aggressive, variable all-round game that is almost free of flaws and works on any surface. Importantly, Sinner and Alcaraz appear capable of beating the old master Djokovic on a fairly regular basis. Hence, the 2024 Australian Open are already the 3rd grand slam title for this group. 

The sanyaku rankings will be updated in the next post.

Coco Gauff, Ozeki

Coco Gauff

Cori "Coco" Gauff became the 48th female Ozeki of the open era by reaching the quarterfinals of the 2024 Australian Open. Together with her victory at the 2023 US Open, this suffices to cross the "great hurdle" - the meaning of "Ozeki"  in Japanese. Gauff is still in the tournament and would be promoted to Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) if she wins the Australian Open.

Coco Gauff burst on the scene in 2019, when she reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon at barely 15 years of age. Since then she has been a constant presence, making her seem like a veteran - even though she is still a teenager and has hopefully many years of outstanding tennis ahead of her. 

Elsewhere in the tournament, Ozeki Carlos Alcaraz is also on a Yokozuna run, but, as Gauff, he would need to win the tournament to be elevated to the highest rank. Daniil Medvedev and Aryna Sabalenka have alreddy defended Ozeki rank with quarterfinals participations (or better), though without the chance to get promoted to Yokozuna. 

On the ladies' side, there will be a mass-exodus from Ozeki, with Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur and Elena Rybakina all bound to be demoted Sekiwake (Junior Champion I) after failing to reach  grand slam quarterfinals for two tournaments in a row. Market Vondrousova will go kadoban - she has to reach the quarterfinals at the 2024 French Open to defend Ozeki rank.

The Sanyaku ranking lists will be updated once the Australian Open have been completed.

The 2023 US Open: Promotions, Demotions and Other Stats

2023 US Open Champions:

• Novak Djokovic (Dai-Yokozuna)

• Cori Gauff (Maegashira, ex-Sekiwake)

New Career Sanyaku Rank:

• Marketa Vondrousova, the 47th Female Ozeki of the Open Era

• Ben Shelton, the 97th Male Komusubi of the Open Era

Sanyaku Rank Changes

Player (career rank if different)	To	From
Promotions
Marketa Vondrousova	Ozeki	Sekiwake
Daniil Medvedev	Ozeki	Komusubi
Karolina Muchova	Sekiwake	Komusubi
Cori Gauff	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Madison Keys (ex-Ozeki)	Sekiwake	Maegashira
Ben Shelton	Komusubi	Maegashira
Demotions
Caspar Ruud	Sekiwake	Ozeki
Elina Svitolina	Komusubi	Sekiwake
Stefanos Tsitsipas (ex-Ozeki)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Karen Khachanov (ex-Sekiwake)	Maegashira	Komusubi
Jannik Sinner	Maegashira	Komusubi
Holger Rune	Maegashira	Komusubi
Jessica Pegula	Maegashira	Komusubi

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

• none

Other noteworthy developments:

• Dai-Yokozuna (=Great Grand Champion) Novak Djokovic continues to wrute history, adding a 24th Grand Slam title to his tally. He had therefore equalled Margaret Court's record.

• Ozeki (=Champion) Carlos Alcaraz was on a Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) run but would have needed to win the tournament - he lost his semifinal to Daniil Medvedev, who returns to Ozeki after a year and a half absence. A victory at the 2024 Australian Open would still get Alcaraz promoted to Yokozuna though.

• Aryna Sabalenka held Ozeki rank with a final participation. All the other female Ozeki - Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur and Elena Rybakina - lost early and go kadoban, i.e., they need to reach the quarterfinals at the 2024 Australian Open to hold rank. With the new addition of 2023 Wimbledon Chanmpion Marketa Vondrousova, there are now five Ozeki - but still no active Yokozuna - in the women's game.

• Caspar Ruud got demoted from Ozeki to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I) after failing to reach a quarterfinal for the second consecutive time, but has a one-time chance to regain Ozeki rank with a semifinal participation at the 2024 Australian Open.

• Alexander Zverev - a former Ozeki - and Andrey Rublev held Komusubi (=Junior Champion II) rank with quarterfinal participations.

Sanyaku Ranks Following the 2023 US Open

Men

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
Dai-Y	Novak Djokovic	Y	-
O	Carlos Alcaraz	O	Daniil Medvedev	O
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
O	Caspar Ruud (o)	S	-	-
O	Alexander Zverev	K1	Andrey Rublev	K
K	Ben Shelton	K2	-	-

Women

Career rank 1/	East	Current Rank	West	Career rank 1/
High Sanyaku (Senior Champion Ranks)
-	-	Y	-	-
O	Aryna Sabalenka	O1	Iga Swiatek (k)	O
O	Ons Jabeur (k)	O2	Elena Rybakina (k)	O
O	Marketa Vondrousova	O3	-	-
Lower Sanyaku (Junior Champion Ranks)
S	Cori Gauff	S1	Karolina Muchova	S
O	Madison Keys	S2	-	-
S	Elina Svitolina	K	-	-

1/ Highest sanyaku rank achieved in a player's career
Inactive Yokozuna: Rafael Nafal (Dai), Andy Murray, Venus Williams, Naomi Osaka
(k): kadoban
(o): Sekiwake-Ozeki