A few weeks back in my weekend blog I had written about men’s tennis players who had spent a maximum number of weeks at the top. In today’s blog, I am writing about women tennis players who spent the maximum number of weeks on top, since the WTA ranking started 45 years ago. Listed below are five women tennis players who have spent the most combined time at the top of the WTA rankings:
5 Martina Hingis- 209 weeks
The Swiss star achieved the top stop on 31st March 1997 at just 16 years old. This was soon after she won her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. She held on to the number-one ranking for 80 consecutive weeks until she was overtaken by Lindsay Davenport. This was a month after losing to Lindsay in the US Open final. She reclaimed the number one spot from Lindsay in Feb 1999, the two women traded first and second in the rankings a further five times until Hingis took it once more for a streak of 73 weeks between May 2000 and October 2001. This took Swiss’s tally of weeks atop rankings up to 209.
4 Chris Evert- 260 weeks
She holds the honour of being the first woman to officially be recognized as world number 1. Over nine spells at the top of the women’s tennis, she accumulated 260 weeks at the top. Her longest streak came during her second spell, as between May 1976 and July 1978 she spent 113 consecutive weeks in the top spot. During that longest streak, she played just 6 slams, she won four of these six, three successive US Open titles (1976-78), and Wimbledon 1976. She reached the semi-finals of the other two slams. From 1976 until 1987, Evert was in a constant battle for the top spot with Martina Navratilova, with Tracy Austin sneaking a two-week reign atop the rankings in 1980. Otherwise, one of Evert or Navratilova was ranked first between May 1976 and August 1987.
3 Serena Williams-319 weeks
The 23-time slam champion first summated the top ranking when she was 20 years old on 8th July 2002. This was soon after claiming her second slam title. She then held the top position for 57 weeks, while she won Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open consecutively before adding second Wimbledon, bringing her slam tally to five. From August 2003 to September 2008, She was not ranked number one at all. Meanwhile, the top spot changed hands 19 times between seven different women. During this time she added two more Australian Open titles, and a US Open title to her kitty, the latter bringing her back to number one for a month or so. Overall, She enjoyed eight spells atop the WTA rankings, her longest streak coming between Feb 2013 and September 2012, for 186 weeks. This streak is the joint longest, shared with Steffi Graf. During this streak, she added seven for Slam titles to bring her total to 22.
2 Martina Navratilova- 332 weeks
The 18-time Slam champion first achieved the top ranking in July 1978. She would go on to enjoy nine overall spells at world number one, last being ranked in that position in August 1987 while on the tally of 16 Slam titles. The Czech American’s longest stint in the first spot came between June 1982 and June 1985. That is 156 weeks, nearly three whole years exactly, in the first spot. Only Serena Williams and Steffi Graf can boast a longer consecutive stretch at the top of WTA rankings.
1 Steffi Graf-377 weeks
The 22-time Slam champion holds both the longest streak and the most accumulated total weeks atop the rankings. She first reached the top position in August 1987. After breaking the duopoly of Evert and Navratilova, she enjoyed 186 weeks in the top position on her first spell. In that time, she first completed the calendar golden Slam of winning all four Slams and the Olympic Gold in 1988 and then winning the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open in 1989, plus the Australian Open in 1990 before falling from the top spot. Thus she won eight of ten available Slams in her first streak at world number one, an incredible feat. Overall seven total runs at number one, Graf accrued 377 weeks in the top spot, more than seven years in total, a record which will be very difficult to break.
Waiting for your views on this blog.
Anil Mali
Mumbai, India
19th November 2022