Women's Tennis: 5 players who spent the most consecutive weeks as WTA World Number 1

The WTA rankings - a computerized rolling 52-week ranking of women professional tennis players was introduced for the first time on November 3rd, 1975. Since 1975 to 2018, 25 different women belonging to 14 different nations have been ranked World Number 1. Of the 25, 13 different women have gone on to finish the year as World Number 1. Only 3 women namely - Karolina Pliskova, Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic have been ranked World Number 1 but failed to win a Grand Slam title. Steffi Graf of Germany has finished as the Year End World Number 1 on 8 different occasions - an all-time record.

In the women's game, maximum points are up for grabs in the Grand Slams followed by the WTA Finals and the 4 Premier Mandatory WTA events at Indian Wells, Key Biscayne, Madrid and Beijing. Then comes the WTA Premier 5 tournaments in Doha, Rome, Cincinnati, Toronto/ Montreal and Wuhan. The two are analogous to the ATP Masters 1000 and ATP World Tour 500 events.

We take a look at 5 players who were at the top for the most weeks in succession:

#5 Monica Seles

Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship

No tennis athlete won more fame and laurels in teenage than Yugoslavian Monica Seles. If not for the unfortunate knife attack on her, Seles would have probably won a lot more Grand Slam titles than the 9 Majors that she won.

Following her maiden Grand Slam win at the Australian open of 1991, Seles became the World Number 1 for the first time at the tender age of just 17. She had a total of 5 stints at the top of the rankings. Between September 9th, 1991 to June 6th, 1993, Seles won 7 of her 9 Grand Slam titles and the Number 1 ranked player for a period of 91 consecutive weeks.

#4 Chris Evert

Chris Evert Lloyd - the first player to be ranked WTA Number 1 when the rankings were introduced in 1975

From the mid-1970s all through the 1980s, women's tennis was dominated by two of the greatest athletes - Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. The American duo won 18 Grand Slam titles each and their rivalry is among the most famous sporting rivalries of all-time.

Chris Evert Lloyd - without a doubt the greatest clay-court player that the women's game has ever seen was the first player to be ranked WTA World Number 1 when the rankings were first introduced in 1975.

Chris Evert had 9 spells as the World Number 1 - more than any of the 24 other players who rose to the summit of the rankings. Her longest stay at the top came from May 10th, 1976 to July 9th, 1978 - a total of 113 consecutive weeks.

#3 Martina Navratilova

Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship

Any all-time list that has Chris Evert will most likely have her contemporary - Martina Navratilova. That is the case here too. The pair met 59 times in 15 years with Navratilova edging the head- to-head 37-22.

Martina Navratilova one of only 3 women in sport to have won the 'Boxed Set' of Grand Slams - winning all 4 Grand Slams across Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles at least once, is the only woman in tennis to be ranked as Number 1 in both Singles and Doubles for over 200 weeks. Her 167 WTA Singles titles and 177 WTA Doubles titles are both all-time records.

Navratilova was ranked World Number 1 in Singles on 9 different occasions and her most productive spell was from June 14th, 1982 to June 9th, 1985 (just under 3 years). During this 156 week stay at the top of the WTA rankings, Navratilova won 8 of her 18 Grand Slam titles.

#=1 Steffi Graf

Steffi Graf was ranked World Numer 1 for a record 377 weeks in total

The golden girl of women's tennis in the 1990's was German Steffi Graf. Graf was such a dominant force that she is the only player till date to log at least 4 wins in each of the 4 Grand Slam tournaments. Aged just 18, Graf became the 5th player to head the WTA rankings on August 17th, 1987. She held that position till March 10th, 1991 - almost 3 and a half years.

Spending 186 consecutive weeks at the top, Graf kept on winning title after title during this fecund spell. Her most notable achievement was winning the 'Golden Slam' - all 4 Grand Slams and the Summer Olympic Gold medal at the Seoul Olympic Games of 1988. It was only on March 11th, 1991, that another prodigy, Monica Seles displaced Graf at the top. Graf also holds the record for having been World Number 1 for most weeks - 377 in total.

#=1 Serena Williams

Serena Williams - the only active player on the list

The only active player on the list is American Serena Williams. Serena despite winning her very first Grand Slam at the US Open of 1999 rose to the top of the WTA rankings only on July 8th, 2002 following her triumph at the All England Club over her elder sister Venus Williams. The year 2002 was a special one in Serena's career as she won 3 of the 4 Grand Slam titles on offer and following her triumph at the 2003 Australian Open, held all 4 Grand Slams at the same time. Although Grand Slams and WTA titles followed, Serena became the number 1 again only 5 years later in 2008.

Serena's 6th spell at the top of the WTA rankings was between February 18th, 2013 to September 11th, 2016 - 186 weeks. What is even more remarkable is that this spell came when she was well over 30 years of age. It was during this time that she again held all 4 Grand Slams at the same time and came close to winning all 4 in the same calendar year. Serena has spent a total of 319 weeks at the top and a will be looking to come good in 2019 and probably go past Navratilova in the all-time charts.