The Male Ozeki

.
Ozeki (= Champion) is the second highest Sanyaku (= Championship) rank and attained only by players who competed at the highest level repeatedly. Most players listed below reached several Grand Slam finals and semfinals, and many won Grand Slam titles. Some Ozeki fell short by only one match from obtaining a Yokozuna promotion, these are: Stan Smith, Ilie Nastase, and Guillermo Vilas. The table entries are discussed further below.

Male Ozeki

		Promotion to…			Grand slam achievements 1/				Career	GS tourn. as...
		O	S	K	Titles	Finals	Sfinals	Qfinals	points	O	S/K
1	Arthur Ashe	U68	U68	W68	3	2	5	5	33	15	9
2	Tony Roche	W69	W68	W68	0	3	5	4	23	7	10
3	Jan Kodes	F71	F70	F70	3	2	1	4	24	10	7
4	Stan Smith	U71	W71	F71	2	1	2	5	20	6	9
5	Ilie Nastase	U72	F71	F71	2	3	1	6	25	9	10
6	Guillermo Vilas	U75	F75	F75	4	4	4	7	43	20	12
7	Roscoe Tanner	A77(1)	A77(1)	U74	1	1	4	5	20	4	10
8	Vitas Gerulaitis	A77(2)	A77(2)	W77	1	2	5	3	23	11	6
9	Johan Kriek	A82	A81	U80	2	0	3	6	20	2	11
10	Kevin Curren	W85	A84	W83	0	2	1	1	9	2	5
11	Miloslav Mecir	F87	U86	U86	0	2	2	3	13	8	5
12	Pat Cash	W87	U84	W84	1	2	2	4	18	6	8
13	Michael Stich	W91	W91	F91	1	2	3	4	20	10	8
14	Sergi Bruguera	F94	F93	F93	2	1	1	0	13	2	8
15	Michael Chang	F95	F89	F89	1	3	4	5	26	10	8
16	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	F96	F95	F95	2	1	3	7	24	8	14
17	Richard Krajicek	W96	W96	A92	1	0	3	5	15	2	5
18	Pat Rafter	U97	U97	F97	2	2	3	0	20	6	12
19	Petr Korda	A98	F92	F92	1	1	0	4	11	4	4
20	Carlos Moya	U98	A97	A97	1	1	1	5	14	2	7
21	Gustavo Kuerten	F00	F97	F97	3	0	0	5	17	6	8
22	Magnus Norman	F00	F00	A00	0	1	1	1	6	2	3
23	Marat Safin	A02	U00	U00	2	2	3	2	22	5	10
24	Lleyton Hewitt	W02	U01	U00	2	2	4	7	29	8	14
25	Juan C. Ferrero	F03	U02	F00	1	2	3	3	19	5	6
26	Andy Roddick	U03	A03	A03	1	4	5	9	35	14	13
27	Juan M. Del Potro	U09	F09	A09	1	1	4	7	22	4	13
28	Tomas Berdych	W10	W10	F10	0	1	6	10	25	4	18
29	David Ferrer	F13	A08	A07	0	1	5	11	24	6	12
30	Stanislas Wawrinka	A14	A14	A11	3	1	5	9	34	15	5
31	Marin Cilic	U14	A10	A10	1	2	3	8	24	7	11
32	Dominic Thiem	U20	F18	F16	1	3	2	2	19	3	11
33	Alexander Zverev	U20	U20	A20	0	2	6	5	23	12	7
34	Stefanos Tsitsipas	F21	A21	A19	0	2	4	2	16	5	9
35	Daniil Medvedev	A22	U19	U19	1	5	3	2	27	7	11
36	Matteo Berrettini	A22	W21	U19	0	1	2	3	10	2	6
37	Casper Ruud	U22	F22	F22	0	3	1	0	11	4	5
38	Jannik Sinner	A24	W22	W22	2	0	2	5	17	4	3

Ozeki are a heterogenous group, including both the magnificent Guilllermo Vilas, whose career statistics would also be befitting for a Yokozuna, and Magnus Norman, who advanced only three times to a Grand Slam quarterfinal or beyond in his career. Vilas is the most accomplished Ozeki in terms of longevity (20 tournaments as an Ozeki, or 5 years), followed by Arthur Ashe, Stan Wawrinka and Andy Roddick.

September 8, 2024