List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players

The WTA rankings are the Women's Tennis Association's (WTA) merit-based system for determining the rankings in women's tennis. The top-ranked singles player is the player who, over the previous 52 weeks, has garnered the most ranking points on the WTA Tour. Points are awarded based on how far a player advances in tournaments and the category of those tournaments. The WTA has used a computerized system for determining the rankings since November 3, 1975. Since 1975, 29 women have been ranked No. 1 in singles by the WTA, of which 15 have been year-end No. 1.

Iga Świątek, currently ranked No. 1 in women's singles.

Iga Świątek is the current singles world No. 1.

WTA No. 1 ranked singles players edit

The rankings are sourced by the WTA Media Guide and the WTA website (which usually revises its rankings every Sunday night or Monday morning, except when tournament finals are postponed).[1][2]

 
Steffi Graf spent 377 weeks at the top of the WTA ranking, the most of any female player.
  First-time No. 1 player.
 WTA rankings record.
  Current World No. 1 (weeks are automatically updated).
No. Player Start date End date Weeks Total
1   Chris Evert (USA) Nov 3, 1975 Apr 25, 1976 25 25
2   Evonne Goolagong Cawley (AUS) Apr 26, 1976 May 9, 1976 2 2
  Chris Evert (2) May 10, 1976 Jul 9, 1978 113 138
3   Martina Navratilova (USA) Jul 10, 1978 Jan 13, 1979 26 26
  Chris Evert (3) Jan 14, 1979 Jan 27, 1979 2 140
  Martina Navratilova (2) Jan 28, 1979 Feb 24, 1979 4 30
  Chris Evert (4) Feb 25, 1979 Apr 15, 1979 7 147
  Martina Navratilova (3) Apr 16, 1979 Jun 24, 1979 10 40
  Chris Evert (5) Jun 25, 1979 Sep 9, 1979 11 158
  Martina Navratilova (4) Sep 10, 1979 Apr 6, 1980 31 71
4   Tracy Austin (USA) Apr 7, 1980 Apr 20, 1980 2 2
  Martina Navratilova (5) Apr 21, 1980 Jul 6, 1980 11 82
  Tracy Austin (2) Jul 7, 1980 Nov 17, 1980 19 21
  Chris Evert (6) Nov 18, 1980 May 2, 1982 76 234
  Martina Navratilova (6) May 3, 1982 May 16, 1982 2 84
  Chris Evert (7) May 17, 1982 Jun 13, 1982 4 238
  Martina Navratilova (7) Jun 14, 1982 Jun 9, 1985 156 240
  Chris Evert (8) Jun 10, 1985 Oct 13, 1985 18 256
  Martina Navratilova (8) Oct 14, 1985 Oct 27, 1985 2 242
  Chris Evert (9) Oct 28, 1985 Nov 24, 1985 4 260
  Martina Navratilova (9) Nov 25, 1985 Aug 16, 1987 90 332
5   Steffi Graf (FRG) Aug 17, 1987 Mar 10, 1991 186 186
6   Monica Seles (YUG) Mar 11, 1991 Aug 4, 1991 21 21
  Steffi Graf (2) Aug 5, 1991 Aug 11, 1991 1 187
  Monica Seles (2) Aug 12, 1991 Aug 18, 1991 1 22
  Steffi Graf (3) Aug 19, 1991 Sep 8, 1991 3 190
 /  Monica Seles[n 1] (3) Sep 9, 1991 Jun 6, 1993 91 113
  Steffi Graf (4) Jun 7, 1993 Feb 5, 1995 87 277
7   Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (ESP) Feb 6, 1995 Feb 19, 1995 2 2
  Steffi Graf (5) Feb 20, 1995 Feb 26, 1995 1 278
  Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (2) Feb 27, 1995 Apr 9, 1995 6 8
  Steffi Graf (6) Apr 10, 1995 May 14, 1995 5 283
  Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (3) May 15, 1995 Jun 11, 1995 4 12
  Steffi Graf (7) Jun 12, 1995 Aug 14, 1995 9 292
  Steffi Graf (7) Aug 15, 1995 Nov 3, 1996 64 356
  Monica Seles[n 1] (4) 177
  Steffi Graf (7) Nov 4, 1996 Nov 17, 1996 2 358
  Steffi Graf (7) Nov 18, 1996 Nov 24, 1996 1 359
  Monica Seles (5) 178
  Steffi Graf (7) Nov 25, 1996 Mar 30, 1997 18 377
8   Martina Hingis (SUI) Mar 31, 1997 Oct 11, 1998 80 80
9   Lindsay Davenport (USA) Oct 12, 1998 Feb 7, 1999 17 17
  Martina Hingis (2) Feb 8, 1999 Jul 4, 1999 21 101
  Lindsay Davenport (2) Jul 5, 1999 Aug 8, 1999 5 22
  Martina Hingis (3) Aug 9, 1999 Apr 2, 2000 34 135
  Lindsay Davenport (3) Apr 3, 2000 May 7, 2000 5 27
  Martina Hingis (4) May 8, 2000 May 14, 2000 1 136
  Lindsay Davenport (4) May 15, 2000 May 21, 2000 1 28
  Martina Hingis (5) May 22, 2000 Oct 14, 2001 73 209
10   Jennifer Capriati (USA) Oct 15, 2001 Nov 4, 2001 3 3
  Lindsay Davenport (5) Nov 5, 2001 Jan 13, 2002 10 38
  Jennifer Capriati (2) Jan 14, 2002 Feb 24, 2002 6 9
11   Venus Williams (USA) Feb 25, 2002 Mar 17, 2002 3 3
  Jennifer Capriati (3) Mar 18, 2002 Apr 21, 2002 5 14
  Venus Williams (2) Apr 22, 2002 May 19, 2002 4 7
  Jennifer Capriati (4) May 20, 2002 Jun 9, 2002 3 17
  Venus Williams (3) Jun 10, 2002 Jul 7, 2002 4 11
12   Serena Williams (USA) Jul 8, 2002 Aug 10, 2003 57 57
13   Kim Clijsters (BEL) Aug 11, 2003 Oct 19, 2003 10 10
14   Justine Henin (BEL) Oct 20, 2003 Oct 26, 2003 1 1
  Kim Clijsters (2) Oct 27, 2003 Nov 9, 2003 2 12
  Justine Henin (2) Nov 10, 2003 Sep 12, 2004 44 45
15   Amélie Mauresmo (FRA) Sep 13, 2004 Oct 17, 2004 5 5
  Lindsay Davenport (6) Oct 18, 2004 Aug 21, 2005 44 82
16   Maria Sharapova (RUS) Aug 22, 2005 Aug 28, 2005 1 1
  Lindsay Davenport (7) Aug 29, 2005 Sep 11, 2005 2 84
  Maria Sharapova (2) Sep 12, 2005 Oct 23, 2005 6 7
  Lindsay Davenport (8) Oct 24, 2005 Jan 29, 2006 14 98
  Kim Clijsters (3) Jan 30, 2006 Mar 19, 2006 7 19
  Amélie Mauresmo (2) Mar 20, 2006 Nov 12, 2006 34 39
  Justine Henin (3) Nov 13, 2006 Jan 28, 2007 11 56
  Maria Sharapova (3) Jan 29, 2007 Mar 18, 2007 7 14
  Justine Henin (4) Mar 19, 2007 May 18, 2008 61 117
  Maria Sharapova (4) May 19, 2008 Jun 8, 2008 3 17
17   Ana Ivanovic (SRB) Jun 9, 2008 Aug 10, 2008 9 9
18   Jelena Janković (SRB) Aug 11, 2008 Aug 17, 2008 1 1
  Ana Ivanovic (2) Aug 18, 2008 Sep 7, 2008 3 12
  Serena Williams (2) Sep 8, 2008 Oct 5, 2008 4 61
  Jelena Janković (2) Oct 6, 2008 Feb 1, 2009 17 18
  Serena Williams (3) Feb 2, 2009 Apr 19, 2009 11 72
19   Dinara Safina (RUS) Apr 20, 2009 Oct 11, 2009 25 25
  Serena Williams (4) Oct 12, 2009 Oct 25, 2009 2 74
  Dinara Safina (2) Oct 26, 2009 Nov 1, 2009 1 26
  Serena Williams (5) Nov 2, 2009 Oct 10, 2010 49 123
20   Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) Oct 11, 2010 Feb 13, 2011 18 18
  Kim Clijsters (4) Feb 14, 2011 Feb 20, 2011 1 20
  Caroline Wozniacki (2) Feb 21, 2011 Jan 29, 2012 49 67
21   Victoria Azarenka (BLR) Jan 30, 2012 Jun 10, 2012 19 19
  Maria Sharapova (5) Jun 11, 2012 Jul 8, 2012 4 21
  Victoria Azarenka (2) Jul 9, 2012 Feb 17, 2013 32 51
  Serena Williams (6) Feb 18, 2013 Sep 11, 2016 186 309
22   Angelique Kerber (GER) Sep 12, 2016 Jan 29, 2017 20 20
  Serena Williams (7) Jan 30, 2017 Mar 19, 2017 7 316
  Angelique Kerber (2) Mar 20, 2017 Apr 23, 2017 5 25
  Serena Williams (8) Apr 24, 2017 May 14, 2017 3 319
  Angelique Kerber (3) May 15, 2017 Jul 16, 2017 9 34
23   Karolína Plíšková (CZE) Jul 17, 2017 Sep 10, 2017 8 8
24   Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP) Sep 11, 2017 Oct 8, 2017 4 4
25   Simona Halep (ROU) Oct 9, 2017 Jan 28, 2018 16 16
  Caroline Wozniacki (3) Jan 29, 2018 Feb 25, 2018 4 71
  Simona Halep (2) Feb 26, 2018 Jan 27, 2019 48 64
26   Naomi Osaka (JPN) Jan 28, 2019 Jun 23, 2019 21 21
27   Ashleigh Barty (AUS) Jun 24, 2019 Aug 11, 2019 7 7
  Naomi Osaka (2) Aug 12, 2019 Sep 8, 2019 4 25
  Ashleigh Barty (2) Sep 9, 2019 Mar 22, 2020 28 35
Rankings frozen
Mar 23, 2020 Aug 9, 2020 20
  Ashleigh Barty (2) Aug 10, 2020 Apr 3, 2022 86 121
28   Iga Świątek (POL) Apr 4, 2022 Sep 10, 2023 75 75
29   Aryna Sabalenka[a] Sep 11, 2023 Nov 5, 2023 8 8
  Iga Świątek (2) Nov 6, 2023 Present 20 95
  1. ^ a b Monica Seles was stabbed by a spectator during a WTA tournament match on 30 April 1993; while ranked number one. When she returned to competition in 1995, the WTA decided to reinstate her alongside Graf as number one, with her ranking protected for a year until she had a full season of ranking points accrued.[3]

Weeks at No. 1 edit

Total edit

No. Player Weeks
1   Steffi Graf 377
2  /  Martina Navratilova 332
3   Serena Williams 319
4   Chris Evert 260
5   Martina Hingis 209
6  /  Monica Seles 178
7   Ashleigh Barty 121
8   Justine Henin 117
9   Lindsay Davenport 98
10   Iga Świątek 95
11   Caroline Wozniacki 71
12   Simona Halep 64
13   Victoria Azarenka 51
14   Amélie Mauresmo 39
15   Angelique Kerber 34
16   Dinara Safina 26
17   Naomi Osaka 25
18   Tracy Austin 21
  Maria Sharapova
20   Kim Clijsters 20
21   Jelena Janković 18
22   Jennifer Capriati 17
23   Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 12
  Ana Ivanovic
25   Venus Williams 11
26   Karolína Plíšková 8
  Aryna Sabalenka
28   Garbiñe Muguruza 4
29   Evonne Goolagong Cawley 2
Active players – current No. 1 in bold.

Consecutive edit

No. Player Weeks
1   Steffi Graf 186
  Serena Williams
3   Martina Navratilova 156
4   Ashleigh Barty 114
5   Chris Evert 113
6   Steffi Graf (2) 94
7   Monica Seles 91
8   Martina Navratilova (2) 90
9   Steffi Graf (3) 87
10   Martina Hingis 80
11   Chris Evert (2) 76
12   Iga Świątek 75
13   Martina Hingis (2) 73
14   Monica Seles (2) 64
15   Justine Henin 61
16   Serena Williams (2) 57
17   Serena Williams (3) 49
  Caroline Wozniacki
19   Simona Halep 48
20   Justine Henin (2) 44
  Lindsay Davenport
Current streak in bold.

Weeks are updated automatically.[5][6]
The source for this through the week of January 2, 2012, is the 2012 WTA Tour Official Guide, page 177.[1]

Weeks at No. 1 leaders timeline edit

Year span Leader Date achieved Duration Record
1975–1985   Chris Evert 3 November 1975 9 years, 6 months 238
1985–1985   Martina Navratilova 27 May 1985 0 months, 28 days 240
1985–1986   Chris Evert 24 June 1985 9 months 260
1986–1996   Martina Navratilova 31 March 1986 10 years, 1 month 332
1996–Present   Steffi Graf 21 May 1996 27 years, 9 months 377

Current record in bold.

No. 1 leaders timeline edit

Chris EvertMartina NavratilovaChris EvertMartina NavratilovaSteffi Graf

Year-end No. 1 players edit

The source for this through to 2012 is the 2012 WTA Tour Official Guide, page 178.[1]

By year edit

Year Player
1975   Chris Evert (USA)
1976   Chris Evert (2)
1977*   Chris Evert (3)
1978   Martina Navratilova (USA)
1979   Martina Navratilova (2)
1980   Chris Evert (4)
1981*   Chris Evert (5)
1982   Martina Navratilova (3)
1983*   Martina Navratilova (4)
1984*   Martina Navratilova (5)
1985   Martina Navratilova (6)
1986*   Martina Navratilova (7)
1987   Steffi Graf (FRG)
1988*   Steffi Graf (2)
1989*   Steffi Graf (3)
1990*   Steffi Graf (4)
1991   Monica Seles (YUG)
1992*   Monica Seles (2)
1993   Steffi Graf (5)
1994*   Steffi Graf (6)
1995   Steffi Graf (7)
  Monica Seles (3)
1996*   Steffi Graf (8)
1997   Martina Hingis (SUI)
1998   Lindsay Davenport (USA)
1999   Martina Hingis (2)

By year (continued) edit

Year Player
2000   Martina Hingis (3)
2001   Lindsay Davenport (2)
2002   Serena Williams (USA)
2003   Justine Henin (BEL)
2004   Lindsay Davenport (3)
2005   Lindsay Davenport (4)
2006   Justine Henin (2)
2007   Justine Henin (3)
2008   Jelena Janković (SRB)
2009   Serena Williams (2)
2010   Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
2011   Caroline Wozniacki (2)
2012   Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
2013   Serena Williams (3)
2014*   Serena Williams (4)
2015*   Serena Williams (5)
2016   Angelique Kerber (GER)
2017   Simona Halep (ROU)
2018   Simona Halep (2)
2019   Ashleigh Barty (AUS)
2020*   Ashleigh Barty (2)
2021*   Ashleigh Barty (3)
2022   Iga Świątek (POL)
2023   Iga Świątek (2)
2024  
* Player was ranked No. 1 throughout the calendar year.

Per player edit

No. Total
8   Steffi Graf
7   Martina Navratilova
5   Chris Evert
  Serena Williams
4   Lindsay Davenport
3  /  Monica Seles
  Martina Hingis
  Justine Henin
  Ashleigh Barty
2   Caroline Wozniacki
  Simona Halep
  Iga Świątek
1   Jelena Janković
  Victoria Azarenka
  Angelique Kerber
No. Consecutive
5   Martina Navratilova
4   Steffi Graf (x2)
3   Chris Evert
  Serena Williams
  Ashleigh Barty
2   Martina Navratilova
  Chris Evert
  Monica Seles
  Martina Hingis
  Lindsay Davenport
  Justine Henin
  Caroline Wozniacki
  Simona Halep
  Iga Świątek

Players who became No. 1 without having won a Grand Slam tournament title edit

Player First ranked No. 1 First Grand Slam final First Grand Slam title
  Kim Clijsters August 11, 2003 2001 French Open (June 2001) (1st of 8) 2005 US Open (1st of 4, retired in 2022)
  Amélie Mauresmo September 13, 2004 1999 Australian Open (January 1999) (1st of 3) 2006 Australian Open (1st of 2, retired in 2009)
  Jelena Janković August 11, 2008 2008 US Open (September 2008) (only final) None (retired in 2017)
  Dinara Safina April 20, 2009 2008 French Open (June 2008) (1st of 3) None (retired in 2014)
  Caroline Wozniacki October 11, 2010 2009 US Open (September 2009) (1st of 3) 2018 Australian Open (only title, still active)
  Karolína Plíšková July 17, 2017 2016 US Open (September 2016) (1st of 2) None (still active)
  Simona Halep October 9, 2017 2014 French Open (June 2014) (1st of 5) 2018 French Open (1st of 2, still active)

Time span between first and last dates No. 1 was held edit

  Current No. 1 player (date and age are updated automatically).
  • Active players and age records indicated in bold.
Time span Player First held No. 1 Last held No. 1
Date Age Date Age
14 years, 310 days   Serena Williams Jul 8, 2002 20 years, 285 days May 14, 2017 35 years, 230 days
10 years, 21 days   Chris Evert Nov 3, 1975 20 years, 317 days Nov 24, 1985 30 years, 338 days
9 years, 225 days   Steffi Graf Aug 17, 1987 18 years, 64 days Mar 30, 1997 27 years, 289 days
9 years, 37 days   Martina Navratilova Jul 10, 1978 21 years, 265 days Aug 16, 1987 30 years, 302 days
7 years, 193 days   Kim Clijsters Aug 11, 2003 20 years, 64 days Feb 20, 2011 27 years, 257 days
7 years, 137 days   Caroline Wozniacki Oct 11, 2010 20 years, 92 days Feb 25, 2018 27 years, 229 days
7 years, 109 days   Lindsay Davenport Oct 12, 1998 22 years, 126 days Jan 29, 2006 29 years, 235 days
6 years, 321 days   Maria Sharapova Aug 22, 2005 18 years, 125 days Jul 8, 2012 25 years, 80 days
5 years, 258 days   Monica Seles Mar 11, 1991 17 years, 99 days Nov 24, 1996 22 years, 358 days
4 years, 211 days   Justine Henin Oct 20, 2003 21 years, 141 days May 18, 2008 25 years, 352 days
4 years, 197 days   Martina Hingis Mar 31, 1997 16 years, 182 days Oct 14, 2001 21 years, 14 days
2 years, 283 days   Ashleigh Barty Jun 24, 2019 23 years, 61 days Apr 3, 2022 25 years, 344 days
2 years, 60 days   Amélie Mauresmo Sep 13, 2004 25 years, 70 days Nov 12, 2006 27 years, 130 days
1 year, 349 days   Iga Świątek Apr 4, 2022 20 years, 308 days March 18, 2024 22 years, 292 days
1 year, 110 days   Simona Halep Oct 9, 2017 26 years, 12 days Jan 27, 2019 27 years, 122 days
1 year, 18 days   Victoria Azarenka Jan 30, 2012 22 years, 183 days Feb 17, 2013 23 years, 201 days
307 days   Angelique Kerber Sep 12, 2016 28 years, 238 days Jul 16, 2017 29 years, 179 days
237 days   Jennifer Capriati Oct 15, 2001 25 years, 200 days Jun 9, 2002 26 years, 72 days
224 days   Tracy Austin Apr 7, 1980 17 years, 117 days Nov 17, 1980 17 years, 341 days
223 days   Naomi Osaka Jan 28, 2019 21 years, 104 days Sep 8, 2019 21 years, 327 days
195 days   Dinara Safina Apr 20, 2009 22 years, 358 days Nov 1, 2009 23 years, 188 days
174 days   Jelena Janković Aug 11, 2008 23 years, 165 days Feb 1, 2009 23 years, 339 days
132 days   Venus Williams Feb 25, 2002 21 years, 253 days Jul 7, 2002 22 years, 20 days
125 days   Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Feb 6, 1995 23 years, 50 days Jun 11, 1995 23 years, 175 days
90 days   Ana Ivanovic Jun 9, 2008 20 years, 216 days Sep 7, 2008 20 years, 306 days
55 days   Karolína Plíšková Jul 17, 2017 25 years, 118 days Sep 10, 2017 25 years, 173 days
  Aryna Sabalenka Sep 11, 2023 25 years, 129 days Nov 5, 2023 25 years, 184 days
27 days   Garbiñe Muguruza Sep 11, 2017 23 years, 338 days Oct 8, 2017 24 years, 0 days
13 days   Evonne Goolagong Cawley Apr 26, 1976 24 years, 270 days May 9, 1976 24 years, 283 days

Weeks at No. 1 by decade edit

  • Current No. 1 player indicated in italic.

Weeks at No. 1 by country edit

  • Current No. 1 player indicated in bold.
No. Country Total Players
Players Weeks
1   United States 8 1,123 Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Tracy Austin, Monica Seles*, Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, Venus Williams, Serena Williams
2   Germany 2 411 Steffi Graf, Angelique Kerber
3   Switzerland 1 209 Martina Hingis
4  / /  Yugoslavia/Serbia 3 143 Monica Seles*, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Janković
5   Belgium 2 137 Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin
6   Australia 2 123 Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Ashleigh Barty
7   Poland 1 95 Iga Świątek
8   Denmark 1 71 Caroline Wozniacki
9   Romania 1 64 Simona Halep
10   Belarus[a] 2 59 Victoria Azarenka, Aryna Sabalenka
11   Russia 2 47 Maria Sharapova, Dinara Safina
12   France 1 39 Amélie Mauresmo
13   Japan 1 25 Naomi Osaka
14   Spain 2 16 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Garbiñe Muguruza
15   Czech Republic 1 8 Karolína Plíšková

Weeks are updated automatically.
* Monica Seles is included twice due to change of citizenship.

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b On 1 March 2022, the WTA announced that until further notice, players from Russia and Belarus would not be allowed to compete under the name or flag of Russia or Belarus following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Aryna Sabalenka thus competed under no nationality during this time and her tenure as number 1 is not attributed to Belarus in the "Weeks at No. 1 by country" table.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c "2012 WTA Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 15, 2012.
  2. ^ "WTA Singles Rankings". Archived from the original on February 8, 2014. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
  3. ^ "Seles is back in the limelight". The Irish Times. June 26, 1996. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  4. ^ "Joint Statement by the International Governing Bodies of Tennis". wtatennis.com. March 1, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  5. ^ "WTA Press Center – Weeks at No. 1". Archived from the original on November 3, 2012.
  6. ^ "WTA Notes & Netcords". Archived from the original on January 17, 2012.