The Female Yokozuna

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Yokozuna (= Grand Champion) is the highest Sanyaku (= Championship) rank and attained only by players who occupied a dominant position in the sport. The players listed below all (i) won back-to-back Grand Slam titles, or (ii) achieved equivalent results over three tournaments, such as two wins interrupted by a final or semifinal, and/or (iii) won five grand slam tournaments over the course of their careers. Dai-Yokozuna are Yokozuna who distinguised themselves even within this elite group, typically by winning 10 or more grand slam tournaments. Billie Jean King meets this criterion once the pre-open era is also considered. Moncia Seles is considered a Dai-Yokozuna, as arguably only a violent physical attack--that interrupted her career for several years--prevented her from winning 10 (or more) slams. The table entries are discussed in detail below.

Female Yokozuna

			Promotion to…				GS	Grand slam achievements 1/
		Dai-Y	Y	O	S	K	debut	Titles	Finals	Sfinals	Qfinals
1	Margaret Court 2/	F69	F69	A69	A69	U68	(A59)	11	1	4	4
2	Evonne Goolagong		W71	F71	A71	A71	(A67)	7	11	4	4
3	Billie Jean King 2/	U72	W72	W68	W68	F68	(W61)	8	4	5	11
4	Chris Evert	F80	W74	W73	U72	U71	U71	18	16	18	2
5	Hana Mandlikova		F81	A80	F80	F80	F78	4	4	6	9
6	Martina Navratilova	W84	F82	F75	A75	A75	F73	18	14	12	9
7	Steffi Graf	W91	A88	W87	F87	U85	F83	22	9	6	5
8	Monica Seles	A96	F91	W90	F90	F89	F89	9	4	5	13
9	Arantxa Sanchez Vicario		F95	W89	F89	F89	F87	4	8	10	13
10	Martina Hingis		W97	A97	A97	U96	A95	5	7	7	5
11	Lindsay Davenport		A00	F98	A98	W94	U91	3	4	11	13
12	Venus Williams		U00	W00	U97	U97	F97	7	9	7	16
13	Jennifer Capriati		F01	F01	U91	F90	F90	3	0	10	10
14	Serena Williams	A09	W02	F02	U99	U99	A98	23	10	7	13
15	Justine Henin		U03	W01	F01	F01	F99	7	5	5	2
16	Kim Clijsters		A11	F03	F01	F01	W99	4	4	8	3
17	Maria Sharapova		F14	W04	W04	W04	A03	5	5	10	4
18	Naomi Osaka		A19	A19	U18	U18	W15	4	0	0	0
19	Iga Swiatek		F24	F22	F20	F20	A19	5	0	1	3

Female Yokozuna (continued)

		Career	Grand slam tournaments as…					Tournaments between….
		points 1/	Syk	Y(a)	O	S	K	Db-Y	Db-K	K-O	O-Y
1	Margaret Court 2/	59	27	25	1	0	1	-	-	1	1
2	Evonne Goolagong	73	41	39	1	1	0	-	-	1	1
3	Billie Jean King 2/	65	51	34	13	2	2	-	-	1	16
4	Chris Evert	158	73	64	4	2	3	11	0	7	4
5	Hana Mandlikova	49	31	27	1	2	1	12	8	3	1
6	Martina Navratilova	147	81	53	18	7	3	36	7	1	28
7	Steffi Graf	132	51	45	3	0	3	19	10	7	2
8	Monica Seles	71	46	41	3	1	1	8	0	5	3
9	Arantxa Sanchez Vicario	73	48	24	19	4	1	32	8	1	23
10	Martina Hingis	60	30	27	2	0	1	10	7	1	2
11	Lindsay Davenport	59	38	27	7	1	3	33	11	15	7
12	Venus Williams	85	59	47	1	7	4	14	2	11	1
13	Jennifer Capriati	42	31	18	0	6	7	44	0	44	0
14	Serena Williams	150	80	70	1	6	3	18	7	10	1
15	Justine Henin	55	31	21	9	0	1	18	8	1	9
16	Kim Clijsters	47	35	8	14	9	4	47	8	8	31
17	Maria Sharapova	59	39	9	24	3	3	46	6	0	40
18	Naomi Osaka	16	11	10	0	1	0	15	14	1	0
19	Iga Swiatek	25	14	3	7	2	2	21	6	7	8

1/ Since the beginning of the Open era.
2/ Court and King had major achievements also before the open era that are not reflected in this table.

Yokozuna promotions are rare; on average there has been one about every three years. The largest gap of more than 7 years was between Justine Henin's promotion in 2003 and Kim Clijsters' in 2011.

The table also shows important differences in the careers of the Yokozuna. Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, and Serena Williams have the most impressive statistics; they would be joined by Margaret Court if the pre-open era would be considered as well. Serena Williams won the most grand slam titles with 23, but Chris Evert reached more finals and semi-finals, which gives her the edge in terms of total career points - a simple measure that allocates 4 points to a grand slam title, 3 points to a (lost) final, 2 points to a semifinal, and one point to a quarterfinal. Evert also holds the record for the most tournament participations as an active Yokozuna (73), but Martina Navratilova - who spent a long time at Ozeki before being promoted to the highest rank - had the most Sankayku-rank tournament entries with 81, spanning a period of more than 20 years (!).

The quickest promotion from Grand Slam debutant to Yokozuna was Monica Seles' with only 9 tournaments (little over 2 years). The slowest advance has been Kim Clijsters', who took a baby-break as a long-standing Ozeki in 2006, to come back in 2009 and advance to Yokozuna level in 2011. Jennifer Capriati and Naomi Osaka leapfrogged Ozeki level and went straight from Sekiwake to Yokozuna, by winning their first two grand slam titles back-to-back. By contrast, Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova, Martina Navratilova and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario spent long stretches of their careers at Ozeki before they finally attained the highest rank.

September 7, 2024