List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players
Contributors to Wikimedia projects
Article Images
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.
_09_(cropped).jpg)
Iga Świątek is the current singles world No. 1.
WTA No. 1 ranked singles players
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]
First-time No. 1 player.
‡ WTA rankings record.
Current World No. 1 (weeks are automatically updated).
- ^ 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 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
| 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 | 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 | 28 years, 4 months | 377 |
Current record in bold.
No. 1 leaders timeline
Year-end No. 1 players
The source for this through to 2012 is the 2012 WTA Tour Official Guide, page 178.[1]
By year
|
By year (continued)
|
|
|
Players who became No. 1 without having won a Grand Slam
| 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
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, 179 days | Iga Świątek | Apr 4, 2022 | 20 years, 308 days | September 30, 2024 | 23 years, 122 days |
| 2 years, 60 days | Amélie Mauresmo | Sep 13, 2004 | 25 years, 70 days | Nov 12, 2006 | 27 years, 130 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
- Current No. 1 player indicated in italic.
|
* — Starting November 1975 |
WTA rankings were frozen from March 23, 2020 to August 9, 2020.
|
Weeks at No. 1 by country
- Current No. 1 player indicated in bold.
| Weeks | Country | Players |
|---|---|---|
| 1,123 | United States | Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Tracy Austin, Monica Seles*, Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, Venus Williams, Serena Williams |
| 411 | Germany | Steffi Graf, Angelique Kerber |
| 209 | Switzerland | Martina Hingis |
| 143 | / / Yugoslavia/Serbia | Monica Seles*, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Janković |
| 137 | Belgium | Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin |
| 123 | Australia | Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Ashleigh Barty |
| 123 | Poland | Iga Świątek |
| 71 | Denmark | Caroline Wozniacki |
| 64 | Romania | Simona Halep |
| 51 | Belarus[a] | Victoria Azarenka |
| 47 | Russia | Maria Sharapova, Dinara Safina |
| 39 | France | Amélie Mauresmo |
| 25 | Japan | Naomi Osaka |
| 16 | Spain | Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Garbiñe Muguruza |
| 8 | Czech Republic | Karolína Plíšková |
Weeks are updated automatically.
* Monica Seles is included twice due to change of citizenship.
- World number 1 ranked female tennis players (includes rankings before 1975)
- ITF World Champions
- List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players
- List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players
- List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players
- Current WTA rankings
- Top ten ranked female tennis players
- Top ten ranked female tennis players (1921–1974)
- List of highest ranked tennis players per country
- ^ 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]
- ^ a b c "2012 WTA Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 15, 2012.
- ^ "WTA Singles Rankings". Archived from the original on February 8, 2014. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
- ^ "Seles is back in the limelight". The Irish Times. June 26, 1996. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
- ^ "Joint Statement by the International Governing Bodies of Tennis". wtatennis.com. March 1, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
- ^ "WTA Press Center – Weeks at No. 1". Archived from the original on November 3, 2012.
- ^ "WTA Notes & Netcords". Archived from the original on January 17, 2012.