List of WTA number 1 ranked tennis players

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about number-one ranked players since 1975. For the all-time list, see World number 1 ranked female tennis players.
Ashleigh Barty, currently ranked no. 1 in women's singles
Elise Mertens, currently ranked no. 1 in women's doubles

The list of WTA number 1 ranked players shows the professional women's tennis players who have been or currently are ranked world No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association, along with the dates of first reaching and losing that spot. Since the WTA began producing computerised rankings on 3 November 1975, 27 women have reached the highest singles ranking and 43 women the highest doubles ranking. The WTA rankings are a merit-based method for determining the rankings in women's tennis and the WTA releases ranking points weekly based on how players fared during the previous 52 weeks.

Singles[]

World No. 1 ranked 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]

Steffi Graf spent 377 weeks at the top of the WTA ranking, the most of any player.
No. Country Player Start date End date weeks total
1  USA Chris Evert (1) Nov 3, 1975 Apr 25, 1976 25 25
2  AUS Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1) Apr 26, 1976 May 9, 1976 2 2
 USA Chris Evert (2) May 10, 1976 Jul 9, 1978 113 138
3  USA Martina Navratilova (1) Jul 10, 1978 Jan 13, 1979 26 26
 USA Chris Evert (3) Jan 14, 1979 Jan 27, 1979 2 140
 USA Martina Navratilova (2) Jan 28, 1979 Feb 24, 1979 4 30
 USA Chris Evert (4) Feb 25, 1979 Apr 15, 1979 7 147
 USA Martina Navratilova (3) Apr 16, 1979 Jun 24, 1979 10 40
 USA Chris Evert (5) Jun 25, 1979 Sep 9, 1979 11 158
 USA Martina Navratilova (4) Sep 10, 1979 Apr 6, 1980 31 71
4  USA Tracy Austin (1) Apr 7, 1980 Apr 20, 1980 2 2
 USA Martina Navratilova (5) Apr 21, 1980 Jul 6, 1980 11 82
 USA Tracy Austin (2) Jul 7, 1980 Nov 17, 1980 19 21
 USA Chris Evert (6) Nov 18, 1980 May 2, 1982 76 234
 USA Martina Navratilova (6) May 3, 1982 May 16, 1982 2 84
 USA Chris Evert (7) May 17, 1982 Jun 13, 1982 4 238
 USA Martina Navratilova (7) Jun 14, 1982 Jun 9, 1985 156 240
 USA Chris Evert (8) Jun 10, 1985 Oct 13, 1985 18 256
 USA Martina Navratilova (8) Oct 14, 1985 Oct 27, 1985 2 242
 USA Chris Evert (9) Oct 28, 1985 Nov 24, 1985 4 260
 USA Martina Navratilova (9) Nov 25, 1985 Aug 16, 1987 90 332
5  FRG/GER Steffi Graf (1) Aug 17, 1987 Mar 10, 1991 186 ↑ 186
6  YUG Monica Seles (1) Mar 11, 1991 Aug 4, 1991 21 21
 GER Steffi Graf (2) Aug 5, 1991 Aug 11, 1991 1 187
 YUG Monica Seles (2) Aug 12, 1991 Aug 18, 1991 1 22
 GER Steffi Graf (3) Aug 19, 1991 Sep 8, 1991 3 190
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia/ YUG Monica Seles (3) [n 1] Sep 9, 1991 Jun 6, 1993 91 113
 GER Steffi Graf (4) Jun 7, 1993 Feb 5, 1995 87 277
7  ESP Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (1) Feb 6, 1995 Feb 19, 1995 2 2
 GER Steffi Graf (5) Feb 20, 1995 Feb 26, 1995 1 278
 ESP Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (2) Feb 27, 1995 Apr 9, 1995 6 8
 GER Steffi Graf (6) Apr 10, 1995 May 14, 1995 5 283
 ESP Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (3) May 15, 1995 Jun 11, 1995 4 12
 GER Steffi Graf (7) Jun 12, 1995 Aug 14, 1995 9 292
 GER
 USA		 Steffi Graf (7)
Monica Seles[n 1] (4)		 Aug 15, 1995 Nov 3, 1996 64 356
177
 GER Steffi Graf (7) Nov 4, 1996 Nov 17, 1996 2 358
 GER
 USA		 Steffi Graf (7)
Monica Seles (5)		 Nov 18, 1996 Nov 24, 1996 1 359
178
 GER Steffi Graf (7) Nov 25, 1996 Mar 30, 1997 18 377 ↑
8   SUI Martina Hingis (1) Mar 31, 1997 Oct 11, 1998 80 80
9  USA Lindsay Davenport (1) Oct 12, 1998 Feb 7, 1999 17 17
  SUI Martina Hingis (2) Feb 8, 1999 Jul 4, 1999 21 101
 USA Lindsay Davenport (2) Jul 5, 1999 Aug 8, 1999 5 22
  SUI Martina Hingis (3) Aug 9, 1999 Apr 2, 2000 34 135
 USA Lindsay Davenport (3) Apr 3, 2000 May 7, 2000 5 27
  SUI Martina Hingis (4) May 8, 2000 May 14, 2000 1 136
 USA Lindsay Davenport (4) May 15, 2000 May 21, 2000 1 28
  SUI Martina Hingis (5) May 22, 2000 Oct 14, 2001 73 209
10  USA Jennifer Capriati (1) Oct 15, 2001 Nov 4, 2001 3 3
 USA Lindsay Davenport (5) Nov 5, 2001 Jan 13, 2002 10 38
 USA Jennifer Capriati (2) Jan 14, 2002 Feb 24, 2002 6 9
11  USA Venus Williams (1) Feb 25, 2002 Mar 17, 2002 3 3
 USA Jennifer Capriati (3) Mar 18, 2002 Apr 21, 2002 5 14
 USA Venus Williams (2) Apr 22, 2002 May 19, 2002 4 7
 USA Jennifer Capriati (4) May 20, 2002 Jun 9, 2002 3 17
 USA Venus Williams (3) Jun 10, 2002 Jul 7, 2002 4 11
12  USA Serena Williams (1) Jul 8, 2002 Aug 10, 2003 57 57
13  BEL Kim Clijsters (1) Aug 11, 2003 Oct 19, 2003 10 10
14  BEL Justine Henin (1) Oct 20, 2003 Oct 26, 2003 1 1
 BEL Kim Clijsters (2) Oct 27, 2003 Nov 9, 2003 2 12
 BEL Justine Henin (2) Nov 10, 2003 Sep 12, 2004 44 45
15  FRA Amélie Mauresmo (1) Sep 13, 2004 Oct 17, 2004 5 5
 USA Lindsay Davenport (6) Oct 18, 2004 Aug 21, 2005 44 82
16  RUS Maria Sharapova (1) Aug 22, 2005 Aug 28, 2005 1 1
 USA Lindsay Davenport (7) Aug 29, 2005 Sep 11, 2005 2 84
 RUS Maria Sharapova (2) Sep 12, 2005 Oct 23, 2005 6 7
 USA Lindsay Davenport (8) Oct 24, 2005 Jan 29, 2006 14 98
 BEL Kim Clijsters (3) Jan 30, 2006 Mar 19, 2006 7 19
 FRA Amélie Mauresmo (2) Mar 20, 2006 Nov 12, 2006 34 39
 BEL Justine Henin (3) Nov 13, 2006 Jan 28, 2007 11 56
 RUS Maria Sharapova (3) Jan 29, 2007 Mar 18, 2007 7 14
 BEL Justine Henin (4) Mar 19, 2007 May 18, 2008 61 117
 RUS Maria Sharapova (4) May 19, 2008 Jun 8, 2008 3 17
17  SRB Ana Ivanovic (1) Jun 9, 2008 Aug 10, 2008 9 9
18  SRB Jelena Janković (1) Aug 11, 2008 Aug 17, 2008 1 1
 SRB Ana Ivanovic (2) Aug 18, 2008 Sep 7, 2008 3 12
 USA Serena Williams (2) Sep 8, 2008 Oct 5, 2008 4 61
 SRB Jelena Janković (2) Oct 6, 2008 Feb 1, 2009 17 18
 USA Serena Williams (3) Feb 2, 2009 Apr 19, 2009 11 72
19  RUS Dinara Safina (1) Apr 20, 2009 Oct 11, 2009 25 25
 USA Serena Williams (4) Oct 12, 2009 Oct 25, 2009 2 74
 RUS Dinara Safina (2) Oct 26, 2009 Nov 1, 2009 1 26
 USA Serena Williams (5) Nov 2, 2009 Oct 10, 2010 49 123
20  DEN Caroline Wozniacki (1) Oct 11, 2010 Feb 13, 2011 18 18
 BEL Kim Clijsters (4) Feb 14, 2011 Feb 20, 2011 1 20
 DEN Caroline Wozniacki (2) Feb 21, 2011 Jan 29, 2012 49 67
21  BLR Victoria Azarenka (1) Jan 30, 2012 Jun 10, 2012 19 19
 RUS Maria Sharapova (5) Jun 11, 2012 Jul 8, 2012 4 21
 BLR Victoria Azarenka (2) Jul 9, 2012 Feb 17, 2013 32 51
 USA Serena Williams (6) Feb 18, 2013 Sep 11, 2016 186 ↑ 309
22  GER Angelique Kerber (1) Sep 12, 2016 Jan 29, 2017 20 20
 USA Serena Williams (7) Jan 30, 2017 Mar 19, 2017 7 316
 GER Angelique Kerber (2) Mar 20, 2017 Apr 23, 2017 5 25
 USA Serena Williams (8) Apr 24, 2017 May 14, 2017 3 319
 GER Angelique Kerber (3) May 15, 2017 Jul 16, 2017 9 34
23  CZE Karolína Plíšková (1) Jul 17, 2017 Sep 10, 2017 8 8
24  ESP Garbiñe Muguruza (1) Sep 11, 2017 Oct 8, 2017 4 4
25  ROU Simona Halep (1) Oct 9, 2017 Jan 28, 2018 16 16
 DEN Caroline Wozniacki (3) Jan 29, 2018 Feb 25, 2018 4 71
 ROU Simona Halep (2) Feb 26, 2018 Jan 27, 2019 48 64
26  JPN Naomi Osaka (1) Jan 28, 2019 Jun 23, 2019 21 21
27  AUS Ashleigh Barty (1) Jun 24, 2019 Aug 11, 2019 7 7
 JPN Naomi Osaka (2) Aug 12, 2019 Sep 8, 2019 4 25
 AUS Ashleigh Barty (2) Sep 9, 2019 Mar 22, 2020 28 35
Rankings frozen
 Mar 23, 2020 Aug 9, 2020 20
 AUS Ashleigh Barty (2) Aug 10, 2020 Present 58 93
Key
↑ Open-era record
No. 1 player as of September 13, 2021
Note
  1. ^ Jump up to: 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[]

as of September 13, 2021[4][5]
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[]

# Weeks leader Date achieved Duration Record
1. United States Chris Evert 3 November 1975  9 years, 6 months 238
2. United States Martina Navratilova 27 May 1985  0 months 240
3. United States Chris Evert 24 June 1985  9 months 260
4. United States Martina Navratilova 31 March 1986  10 years, 1 month 332
5, Germany Steffi Graf 21 May 1996  25 years, 3 months 377

Current record in bold.

Weeks at No. 1 by country[]

Rank Country Number of 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 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro/Serbia Yugoslavia/Serbia 3 143 Monica Seles*, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Janković
5  Belgium 2 137 Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin
6  Australia 2 95 Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Ashleigh Barty
7  Denmark 1 71 Caroline Wozniacki
8  Romania 1 64 Simona Halep
9  Belarus 1 51 Victoria Azarenka
10  Russia 2 47 Maria Sharapova, Dinara Safina
11  France 1 39 Amélie Mauresmo
12  Japan 1 25 Naomi Osaka
13  Spain 2 16 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Garbiñe Muguruza
14  Czech Republic 1 8 Karolína Plíšková

as of September 13, 2021; current No. 1 player in bold
* Monica Seles is included twice due to change of citizenship.

Year-end No. 1 players[]

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

Per player[]

Country Player #
 GER Steffi Graf 8
 USA Martina Navratilova 7
 USA Chris Evert 5
 USA Serena Williams
 USA Lindsay Davenport 4
 YUG/ USA Monica Seles 3
  SUI Martina Hingis
 BEL Justine Henin
 DEN Caroline Wozniacki 2
 ROU Simona Halep
 AUS Ashleigh Barty
 SRB Jelena Janković 1
 BLR Victoria Azarenka
 GER Angelique Kerber

Players who became No. 1 before winning their first Grand Slam title[]

Player Date of first No. 1 position First Grand Slam final reached First Grand Slam title
Belgium Kim Clijsters August 11, 2003 2001 French Open (June 2001) (1st of 8) 2005 US Open (1st of 4, retired in 2020)
France Amélie Mauresmo September 13, 2004 1999 Australian Open (January 1999) (1st of 3) 2006 Australian Open (1st of 2, retired in 2009)
Serbia Jelena Janković August 11, 2008 2008 US Open (September 2008) (only final) None (retired in 2017)
Russia Dinara Safina April 20, 2009 2008 French Open (June 2008) (1st of 3) None (retired in 2014)
Denmark Caroline Wozniacki October 11, 2010 2009 US Open (September 2009) (1st of 3) 2018 Australian Open (only title, retired in 2020)
Czech Republic Karolína Plíšková July 17, 2017 2016 US Open (September 2016) (1st of 2) None (still active)
Romania Simona Halep October 9, 2017 2014 French Open (June 2014) (1st of 5) 2018 French Open (1st of 2, still active)

Weeks at No. 1 by decade[]

Doubles[]

World No. 1 ranked players[]

The source for the following table through the week of January 6, 2012, is the 2012 WTA Tour Official Guide, page 172.[1]

Martina Navratilova was world No. 1 in doubles for a record 237 weeks
New
No. 1 		Country Player Start date End date weeks total
1  USA Martina Navratilova (1) Sep 4, 1984 Mar 17, 1985 27 27
2  USA Pam Shriver (1) Mar 18, 1985 Jan 19, 1986 44 44
 USA Martina Navratilova (2) Jan 20, 1986 Jul 20, 1986 26 53
 USA Pam Shriver (2) Jul 21, 1986 Aug 17, 1986 4 48
 USA Martina Navratilova (3) Aug 18, 1986 Feb 4, 1990 181 ↑ 234
3  TCH Helena Suková (1) Feb 5, 1990 Feb 18, 1990 2 2
 USA Martina Navratilova (4) Feb 19, 1990 Mar 4, 1990 2 236
 TCH Helena Suková (2) Mar 5, 1990 May 6, 1990 9 11
 USA Martina Navratilova (5) May 7, 1990 May 13, 1990 1 237 ↑
 TCH Helena Suková (3) May 14, 1990 Aug 26, 1990 15 26
4  TCH Jana Novotná (1) Aug 27, 1990 Oct 14, 1990 7 7
 TCH Helena Suková (4) Oct 15, 1990 Feb 17, 1991 18 44
 TCH Jana Novotná (2) Feb 18, 1991 Mar 3, 1991 2 9
5  USA Gigi Fernández (1) Mar 4, 1991 Mar 10, 1991 1 1
 TCH Jana Novotná (3) Mar 11, 1991 Mar 31, 1991 3 12
 USA Gigi Fernández (2) Apr 1, 1991 Apr 7, 1991 1 2
 TCH Helena Suková (5) Apr 8, 1991 Jun 9, 1991 9 53
 USA Gigi Fernández (3) Jun 10, 1991 Sept 8, 1991 13 15
 CZE Jana Novotná (4) Sept 9, 1991 Oct 6, 1991 4 16
6  URS Natasha Zvereva (1) Oct 7, 1991 Oct 13, 1991 1 1
 CZE Jana Novotná (5) Oct 14, 1991 Jan 26, 1992 15 31
7  LAT Larisa Neiland (1) Jan 27, 1992 Feb 2, 1992 1 1
 CZE Jana Novotná (6) Feb 3, 1992 Feb 16, 1992 2 33
 LAT Larisa Neiland (2) Feb 17, 1992 Feb 23, 1992 1 2
 CZE Jana Novotná (7) Feb 24, 1992 Mar 22, 1992 4 37
 LAT Larisa Neiland (3) Mar 23, 1992 Apr 5, 1992 2 4
 CZE Jana Novotná (8) Apr 6, 1992 Jun 14, 1992 11 48
 BLR Natasha Zvereva (2) Jun 15, 1992 Jun 21, 1992 1 2
 CZE Jana Novotná (9) Jun 22, 1992 Oct 11, 1992 15 63
 BLR Natasha Zvereva (3) Oct 12, 1992 Oct 18, 1992 1 3
8  ESP Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (1) Oct 19, 1992 Nov 15, 1992 4 4
 BLR Natasha Zvereva (4) Nov 16, 1992 Nov 22, 1992 1 4
 CZE Helena Suková (6) Nov 23, 1992 Jan 10, 1993 7 60
 BLR Natasha Zvereva (5) Jan 11, 1993 Apr 4, 1993 12 16
 USA Gigi Fernández (4) Apr 5, 1993 Sep 12, 1993 23 38
 CZE Helena Suková (7) Sep 13, 1993 Oct 31, 1993 7 67
 USA Gigi Fernández (5) Nov 1, 1993 Nov 14, 1993 2 40
 CZE Helena Suková (8) Nov 15, 1993 Nov 21, 1993 1 68
 USA Gigi Fernández (6) Nov 22, 1993 Aug 14, 1994 38 78
 BLR Natasha Zvereva (6) Aug 15, 1994 Feb 12, 1995 26 42
 ESP Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (2) Feb 13, 1995 Feb 26, 1995 2 6
 BLR Natasha Zvereva (7) Feb 27, 1995 Mar 5, 1995 1 43
 USA Gigi Fernández (7) Mar 6, 1995 Mar 12, 1995 1 79
 BLR Natasha Zvereva (8) Mar 13, 1995 Mar 26, 1995 2 45
 ESP Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (3) Mar 27, 1995 Nov 5, 1995 32 38
 USA Gigi Fernández (8) Nov 6, 1995 Nov 12, 1995 1 80
 ESP Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (4) Nov 13, 1995 Apr 6, 1997 73 111
 BLR Natasha Zvereva (9) Apr 7, 1997 Oct 19, 1997 29 74
9  USA Lindsay Davenport (1) Oct 20, 1997 Nov 2, 1997 2 2
 BLR Natasha Zvereva (10) Nov 3, 1997 Jan 25, 1998 12 86
 USA Lindsay Davenport (2) Jan 26, 1998 Apr 12, 1998 11 13
 BLR Natasha Zvereva (11) Apr 13, 1998 Jun 7, 1998 8 94
10   SUI Martina Hingis (1) Jun 8, 1998 Aug 2, 1998 8 8
 CZE Jana Novotná (10) Aug 3, 1998 Aug 9, 1998 1 64
 USA Lindsay Davenport (3) Aug 10, 1998 Aug 16, 1998 1 14
  SUI Martina Hingis (2) Aug 17, 1998 Oct 25, 1998 10 18
 BLR Natasha Zvereva (12) Oct 26, 1998 Nov 1, 1998 1 95
  SUI Martina Hingis (3) Nov 2, 1998 Nov 22, 1998 3 21
 BLR Natasha Zvereva (13) Nov 23,1998 May 16, 1999 25 120
 CZE Jana Novotná (11) May 17, 1999 Jun 6, 1999 3 67
  SUI Martina Hingis (4) Jun 7, 1999 Jul 4, 1999 4 25
 BLR Natasha Zvereva (14) Jul 5, 1999 Aug 1, 1999 4 124
  SUI Martina Hingis (5) Aug 2, 1999 Aug 22, 1999 3 28
 USA Lindsay Davenport (4) Aug 23, 1999 Nov 21, 1999 13 27
11  RUS Anna Kournikova (1) Nov 22, 1999 Jan 30, 2000 10 10
  SUI Martina Hingis (6) Jan 31, 2000 Mar 19, 2000 7 35
 USA Lindsay Davenport (5) Mar 20, 2000 Apr 2, 2000 2 29
12  USA Corina Morariu (1) Apr 3, 2000 Apr 16, 2000 2 2
 USA Lindsay Davenport (6) Apr 17, 2000 May 7, 2000 3 32
 USA Corina Morariu (2) May 8, 2000 Jun 11, 2000 5 7
13  USA Lisa Raymond (1) Jun 12, 2000 Aug 20, 2000 10 10
14  USA
 AUS		 Lisa Raymond (1)
Rennae Stubbs (1) 		Aug 21, 2000 Sep 10, 2000 3 13
3
15  FRA Julie Halard-Decugis (1) Sep 11, 2000 Oct 22, 2000 6 6
16  JPN Ai Sugiyama (1) Oct 23, 2000 Oct 29, 2000 1 1
 FRA Julie Halard-Decugis (2) Oct 30, 2000 Dec 24, 2000 8 14
 JPN Ai Sugiyama (2) Dec 25, 2000 Aug 26, 2001 35 36
 USA Lisa Raymond (2) Aug 27, 2001 Sep 8, 2002 54 67
17  ARG Paola Suárez (1) Sep 9, 2002 Aug 3, 2003 47 47
18  BEL Kim Clijsters (1) Aug 4, 2003 Aug 10, 2003 1 1
 JPN Ai Sugiyama (3) Aug 11, 2003 Aug 17, 2003 1 37
 BEL Kim Clijsters (2) Aug 18, 2003 Sep 7, 2003 3 4
19  ESP Virginia Ruano Pascual (1) Sep 8, 2003 Sep 14, 2003 1 1
 JPN Ai Sugiyama (4) Sep 15, 2003 Nov 9, 2003 8 45
 ARG Paola Suárez (2) Nov 10, 2003 Jul 25, 2004 37 84
 ESP Virginia Ruano Pascual (2) Jul 26, 2004 Aug 1, 2004 1 2
 ESP
 ARG		 Virginia Ruano Pascual (2)
Paola Suárez (3)		 Aug 2, 2004 Aug 22, 2004 3 5
87
 ESP Virginia Ruano Pascual (2) Aug 23, 2004 Oct 16, 2005 60 65
20  ZIM Cara Black (1) Oct 17, 2005 Feb 5, 2006 16 16
21  AUS Samantha Stosur (1) Feb 6, 2006 Jul 6, 2006 22 22
 USA
 AUS		 Lisa Raymond (3)
Samantha Stosur (1)		 Jul 7, 2006 Apr 8, 2007 39 106
61
 USA Lisa Raymond (3) Apr 9, 2007 Jun 10, 2007 9 115
 ZIM Cara Black (2) Jun 11, 2007 Jun 24, 2007 2 18
 USA Lisa Raymond (4) Jun 25, 2007 Jul 8, 2007 2 117
 ZIM Cara Black (3) Jul 9, 2007 Nov 11, 2007 18 36
22  ZIM
 USA		 Cara Black (3)
Liezel Huber (1) 		Nov 12, 2007 Apr 18, 2010 127 163
127
 USA Liezel Huber (1) Apr 19, 2010 Jun 6, 2010 7 134
23
24		  USA
 USA		 Serena Williams (1)
Venus Williams (1) 		Jun 7, 2010 Aug 1, 2010 8 8
8
 USA Liezel Huber (2) Aug 2, 2010 Oct 31, 2010 13 147
25  ARG Gisela Dulko (1) Nov 1, 2010 Feb 27, 2011 17 17
26  ARG
 ITA		 Gisela Dulko (1)
Flavia Pennetta (1) 		Feb 28, 2011 Apr 17, 2011 7 24
7
   ITA Flavia Pennetta (1) Apr 18, 2011 Jul 4, 2011 11 18
27
28		  CZE
 SLO		 Květa Peschke (1)
Katarina Srebotnik (1) 		Jul 4, 2011 Sep 11, 2011 10 10
10
 USA Liezel Huber (3) Sep 12, 2011 Apr 22, 2012 32 179
   USA
 USA		 Liezel Huber (3)
Lisa Raymond (5)		 Apr 23, 2012 Sep 9, 2012 20 199
137
29  ITA Sara Errani (1) Sep 10, 2012 Oct 14, 2012 5 5
30  ITA Roberta Vinci (1) Oct 15, 2012 Apr 28, 2013 28 28
   ITA
 ITA		 Roberta Vinci (1)
Sara Errani (2)		 Apr 29, 2013 Feb 16, 2014 42 70
47
31  CHN Peng Shuai (1) Feb 17, 2014 May 11, 2014 12 12
32  CHN
 TPE		 Peng Shuai (1)
Hsieh Su-wei (1) 		May 12, 2014 May 18, 2014 1 13
1
   CHN Peng Shuai (1) May 19, 2014 Jun 8, 2014 3 16
   CHN
 TPE		 Peng Shuai (1)
Hsieh Su-wei (2)		 Jun 9, 2014 Jul 6, 2014 4 20
5
   ITA
 ITA		 Roberta Vinci (2)
Sara Errani (3)		 Jul 7, 2014 Apr 12, 2015 40 110
87
33  IND Sania Mirza (1) Apr 13, 2015 Jan 17, 2016 40 40
   IND
  SUI		 Sania Mirza (1)
Martina Hingis (7)		 Jan 18, 2016 Aug 21, 2016 31 71
66
   IND Sania Mirza (1) Aug 22, 2016 Jan 8, 2017 20 91
34  USA Bethanie Mattek-Sands (1) Jan 9, 2017 Aug 20, 2017 32 32
35  CZE Lucie Šafářová (1) Aug 21, 2017 Oct 1, 2017 6 6
    SUI Martina Hingis (8) Oct 2, 2017 Oct 22, 2017 3 69
36   SUI
 TPE		 Martina Hingis (8)
Latisha Chan (1) 		Oct 23, 2017 Mar 18, 2018 21 90
21
   TPE Latisha Chan (1) Mar 19, 2018 Jun 10, 2018 12 33
37
38		  RUS
 RUS		 Ekaterina Makarova (1)
Elena Vesnina (1) 		Jun 11, 2018 Jul 15, 2018 5 5
5
39  HUN Tímea Babos (1) Jul 16, 2018 Aug 12, 2018 4 4
   TPE Latisha Chan (2) Aug 13, 2018 Aug 19, 2018 1 34
   HUN Tímea Babos (2) Aug 20, 2018 Oct 21, 2018 9 13
40
41		  CZE
 CZE		 Barbora Krejčíková (1)
Kateřina Siniaková (1) 		Oct 22, 2018 Jan 13, 2019 12 12
12
   CZE Kateřina Siniaková (1) Jan 14, 2019 Jun 9, 2019 21 33
42  FRA Kristina Mladenovic (1) Jun 10, 2019 Jul 14, 2019 5 5
43  CZE Barbora Strýcová (1) Jul 15, 2019 Oct 6, 2019 12 12
   FRA Kristina Mladenovic (2) Oct 7, 2019 Oct 20, 2019 2 7
   CZE Barbora Strýcová (2) Oct 21, 2019 Feb 2, 2020 15 27
   TPE Hsieh Su-wei (3) Feb 3, 2020 Feb 23, 2020 3 8
   FRA Kristina Mladenovic (3) Feb 24, 2020 Mar 1, 2020 1 8
   TPE Hsieh Su-wei (4) Mar 2, 2020 Mar 22, 2020 3 11
Rankings frozen
 March 23, 2020 August 9, 2020 20
   TPE Hsieh Su-wei (4) Aug 10, 2020 Feb 21, 2021 28 39
44  BLR Aryna Sabalenka (1) Feb 22, 2021 Apr 4, 2021 6 6
   TPE Hsieh Su-wei (5) Apr 5, 2021 May 9, 2021 4 43
45  BEL Elise Mertens (1) May 10, 2021 May 16, 2021 1 1
   FRA Kristina Mladenovic (4) May 17, 2021 June 13, 2021 4 12
   CZE Barbora Krejčíková (2) June 14, 2021 July 11, 2021 4 16
   BEL Elise Mertens (2) July 12, 2021 Present 9 10
Key
↑ Open-era record
No. 1 player(s) as of September 6, 2021
Note

Weeks at No. 1[]

as of August 23, 2021[4][5]

Weeks at No. 1 leaders timeline[]

# Weeks leaders Date achieved Duration Record
1. United States Martina Navratilova September 4, 1984 1 year 27
2. United States Pam Shriver September 30, 1985 7 months 44
3. United States Martina Navratilova May 26, 1986 35 years, 3 months 237

Current record in bold.

Weeks at No. 1 by country[]

Rank Country Number of Players
players weeks
1  United States 10 788 Martina Navratilova, Pam Shriver, Gigi Fernández, Lindsay Davenport, Corina Morariu, Lisa Raymond, Liezel Huber, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Bethanie Mattek-Sands
2  Czechoslovakia
 Czech Republic		 7 227 Helena Suková, Jana Novotná, Květa Peschke, Lucie Šafářová, Barbora Krejčíková, Kateřina Siniaková, Barbora Strýcová
3  Italy 3 215 Flavia Pennetta, Sara Errani, Roberta Vinci
4  Spain 2 176 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Virginia Ruano Pascual
5  Zimbabwe 1 163 Cara Black
6  Belarus 2 130 Natasha Zvereva*, Aryna Sabalenka
7  Argentina 2 111 Paola Suárez, Gisela Dulko
8  India 1 91 Sania Mirza
9   Switzerland 1 90 Martina Hingis
10  Chinese Taipei 2 77 Hsieh Su-wei, Latisha Chan
11  Australia 2 64 Rennae Stubbs, Samantha Stosur
12  Japan 1 45 Ai Sugiyama
13  France 2 26 Julie Halard-Decugis, Kristina Mladenovic
14  China 1 20 Peng Shuai
 Russia 3 Anna Kournikova, Ekaterina Makarova, Elena Vesnina
16  Hungary 1 13 Tímea Babos
17  Belgium 2 14 Kim Clijsters, Elise Mertens
18  Slovenia 1 10 Katarina Srebotnik
19  Latvia 1 4 Larisa Neiland
20  Soviet Union 1 1 Natasha Zvereva*

as of September 6, 2021 – current No. 1 player(s) in bold

* Belarusian Natasha Zvereva spent one week at number one while playing for the Soviet Union

Year-end No. 1 players[]

Players who became No. 1 before they won their first Grand Slam title[]

Player Date of first No. 1 position First Grand Slam final reached First Grand Slam title
Argentina Gisela Dulko November 1, 2010 2011 Australian Open (January 2011) (only final) 2011 Australian Open (only title)
India Sania Mirza April 13, 2015 2011 French Open (June 2011) (1st of 4) 2015 Wimbledon (1st of 3, still active)

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "2012 WTA Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-15.
  2. ^ "WTA Singles Rankings". Archived from the original on 8 February 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  3. ^ "Seles is back in the limelight". The Irish Times. 26 June 1996. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "WTA Press Center – Weeks at No. 1". Archived from the original on 2012-11-03.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "WTA Notes & Netcords". Archived from the original on 2012-01-17.
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