List of WTA number 1 ranked players.html



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This is a list of WTA number 1 ranked players. That is, players who have been or currently are ranked World Number 1, along with the dates of first reaching and losing that spot. Since the WTA began producing computerized rankings in 1975, 18 women have reached the highest singles ranking. The WTA releases ranking points weekly based on how players fared in the latest tournaments versus how they fared one year ago.

No. 1 ranked players

Country	Name	Start Date	End Date	# of weeks	Cumulative # of weeks
	Chris Evert (1)	Nov 03, 1975	Apr 25, 1976	26	26
	Evonne Goolagong Cawley (2)	Apr 26, 1976	May 09, 1976	2	2
	Chris Evert	May 10, 1976	Jul 09, 1978	112	138
	Martina Navratilova (3)	Jul 10, 1978	Jan 13, 1979	27	27
	Chris Evert	Jan 14, 1979	Jan 27, 1979	2	140
	Martina Navratilova	Jan 28, 1979	Feb 24, 1979	4	31
	Chris Evert	Feb 25, 1979	Apr 15, 1979	7	147
	Martina Navratilova	Apr 16, 1979	Jun 24, 1979	10	41
	Chris Evert	Jun 25, 1979	Sep 09, 1979	11	158
	Martina Navratilova	Sep 10, 1979	Apr 06, 1980	30	71
	Tracy Austin (4)	Apr 07, 1980	Apr 20, 1980	2	2
	Martina Navratilova	Apr 21, 1980	Jun 30, 1980	10	81
	Tracy Austin	Jul 01, 1980	Nov 17, 1980	20	22
	Chris Evert	Nov 18, 1980	May 02, 1982	76	234
	Martina Navratilova	May 03, 1982	May 16, 1982	2	83
	Chris Evert	May 17, 1982	Jun 13, 1982	4	238
	Martina Navratilova	Jun 14, 1982	Jun 09, 1985	156	239
	Chris Evert	Jun 10, 1985	Oct 13, 1985	18	256
	Martina Navratilova	Oct 14, 1985	Oct 27, 1985	2	241
	Chris Evert	Oct 28, 1985	Nov 24, 1985	4	260
	Martina Navratilova	Nov 25, 1985	Aug 16, 1987	90	331
	Steffi Graf (5)	Aug 17, 1987	Mar 10, 1991	186 (record)	186
	Monica Seles (6)	Mar 11, 1991	Aug 04, 1991	21	21
	Steffi Graf	Aug 05, 1991	Aug 11, 1991	1	187
	Monica Seles	Aug 12, 1991	Aug 18, 1991	1	22
	Steffi Graf	Aug 19, 1991	Sep 08, 1991	3	190
	Monica Seles	Sep 09, 1991	Jun 06, 1993	91	113
	Steffi Graf	Jun 07, 1993	Feb 05, 1995	87	277
	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (7)	Feb 06, 1995	Feb 19, 1995	2	2
	Steffi Graf	Feb 20, 1995	Feb 26, 1995	1	278
	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Feb 27, 1995	Apr 09, 1995	6	8
	Steffi Graf	Apr 10, 1995	May 14, 1995	5	283
	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	May 15, 1995	Jun 11, 1995	4	12
	Steffi Graf	Jun 12, 1995	Aug 14, 1995	9	292
	Steffi Graf & Monica Seles	Aug 15, 1995	Nov 03, 1996	64	356 & 177
	Steffi Graf	Nov 04, 1996	Nov 17, 1996	2	358
	Steffi Graf & Monica Seles	Nov 18, 1996	Nov 24, 1996	1	359 & 178
	Steffi Graf	Nov 25, 1996	Mar 30, 1997	18	377 (record)
	Martina Hingis (8)	Mar 31, 1997	Oct 11, 1998	80	80
	Lindsay Davenport (9)	Oct 12, 1998	Feb 07, 1999	17	17
	Martina Hingis	Feb 08, 1999	Jul 04, 1999	21	101
	Lindsay Davenport	Jul 05, 1999	Aug 08, 1999	5	22
	Martina Hingis	Aug 09, 1999	Apr 02, 2000	34	135
	Lindsay Davenport	Apr 03, 2000	May 07, 2000	5	27
	Martina Hingis	May 08, 2000	May 14, 2000	1	136
	Lindsay Davenport	May 15, 2000	May 21, 2000	1	28
	Martina Hingis	May 22, 2000	Oct 14, 2001	73	209
	Jennifer Capriati (10)	Oct 15, 2001	Nov 04, 2001	3	3
	Lindsay Davenport	Nov 05, 2001	Jan 13, 2002	10	38
	Jennifer Capriati	Jan 14, 2002	Feb 24, 2002	6	9
	Venus Williams (11)	Feb 25, 2002	Mar 17, 2002	3	3
	Jennifer Capriati	Mar 18, 2002	Apr 21, 2002	5	14
	Venus Williams	Apr 22, 2002	May 19, 2002	4	7
	Jennifer Capriati	May 20, 2002	Jun 09, 2002	3	17
	Venus Williams	Jun 10, 2002	Jul 07, 2002	4	11
	Serena Williams (12)	Jul 08, 2002	Aug 10, 2003	57	57
	Kim Clijsters (13)	Aug 11, 2003	Oct 19, 2003	10	10
	Justine Henin (14)	Oct 20, 2003	Oct 26, 2003	1	1
	Kim Clijsters	Oct 27, 2003	Nov 09, 2003	2	12
	Justine Henin	Nov 10, 2003	Sep 12, 2004	44	45
	Amélie Mauresmo (15)	Sep 13, 2004	Oct 17, 2004	5	5
	Lindsay Davenport	Oct 18, 2004	Aug 21, 2005	44	82
	Maria Sharapova (16)	Aug 22, 2005	Aug 28, 2005	1	1
	Lindsay Davenport	Aug 29, 2005	Sep 11, 2005	2	84
	Maria Sharapova	Sep 12, 2005	Oct 23, 2005	6	7
	Lindsay Davenport	Oct 24, 2005	Jan 29, 2006	14	98
	Kim Clijsters	Jan 30, 2006	Mar 19, 2006	7	19
	Amélie Mauresmo	Mar 20, 2006	Nov 12, 2006	34	39
	Justine Henin	Nov 13, 2006	Jan 28, 2007	11	56
	Maria Sharapova	Jan 29, 2007	Mar 18, 2007	7	14
	Justine Henin	Mar 19, 2007	May 18, 2008	61	117
	Maria Sharapova	May 19, 2008	June 8, 2008	3	17
	Ana Ivanović (17)	Jun 9, 2008	Aug 10, 2008	9	9
	Jelena Janković (18)	Aug 11, 2008	Aug 17, 2008	1	1
	Ana Ivanović	Aug 18, 2008	Sep 7, 2008	3	12
	Serena Williams	Sep 8, 2008	Oct 5, 2008	4	61
	Jelena Janković	Oct 6, 2008		14	15

Updated January 5, 2009.

Current World No. 1 in bold.

Weeks at No. 1

Total Rank Nat. Player # Weeks 1. Steffi Graf 377 2. / Martina Navratilova 331 3. Chris Evert 260 4. Martina Hingis 209 5. / Monica Seles 178 6. Justine Henin 117 7. Lindsay Davenport 98 8. Serena Williams 61 9. Amélie Mauresmo 39 10. Tracy Austin 22 11. Kim Clijsters 19 12. Jennifer Capriati 17 = Maria Sharapova 17 14. Jelena Jankovic 15 15. Ana Ivanović 12 = Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 12 17 Venus Williams 11 18 Evonne Goolagong Cawley 2 Current No. 1 in bold.

Consecutive Rank Nat. Player # Weeks 1 Steffi Graf 186 2 Martina Navratilova 156 3 Chris Evert 112 4 Steffi Graf (2) 94 5 Monica Seles 91 6 Martina Navratilova (2) 90 7 Steffi Graf (3) 87 8 Martina Hingis 80 9 Chris Evert (2) 76 10 Martina Hingis (2) 73 11 Steffi Graf (4) 64 = Monica Seles (2) 64 13 Justine Henin 61 14 Serena Williams 57 15 Justine Henin (2) 44 = Lindsay Davenport 44 17 Martina Hingis (3) 34 = Amélie Mauresmo 34 19 Martina Navratilova (3) 30

Year end No. 1 players

Country	Player	No. of Times
GER	Steffi Graf	8
TCH/ USA	Martina Navratilova	7
USA	Chris Evert	5
USA	Lindsay Davenport	4
BEL	Justine Henin	3
SUI	Martina Hingis
YUG/ USA	Monica Seles
USA	Serena Williams	1
SRB	Jelena Janković

Year	Country	Player
1975	United States	Chris Evert (1)
1976	USA	Chris Evert
1977	USA	Chris Evert
1978	TCH	Martina Navratilova (2)
1979	TCH	Martina Navratilova
1980	USA	Chris Evert
1981	USA	Chris Evert
1982	USA	Martina Navratilova
1983	USA	Martina Navratilova
1984	USA	Martina Navratilova
1985	USA	Martina Navratilova
1986	USA	Martina Navratilova
1987	GER	Steffi Graf (3)
1988	GER	Steffi Graf
1989	GER	Steffi Graf
1990	GER	Steffi Graf
1991	YUG	Monica Seles (4)
1992	YUG	Monica Seles
1993	GER	Steffi Graf
1994	GER	Steffi Graf
1995	GER USA	Steffi Graf Monica Seles
1996	GER	Steffi Graf
1997	SUI	Martina Hingis (5)
1998	USA	Lindsay Davenport (6)
1999	SUI	Martina Hingis
2000	SUI	Martina Hingis
2001	USA	Lindsay Davenport
2002	USA	Serena Williams (7)
2003	BEL	Justine Henin (8)
2004	USA	Lindsay Davenport
2005	USA	Lindsay Davenport
2006	BEL	Justine Henin
2007	BEL	Justine Henin
2008	SRB	Jelena Janković (9)

Players who were ranked World No. 1 without having won a Grand-Slam Tournament

Country	Player	Date of First Number 1 Position	First Grand-Slam Final Reached	First Grand-Slam Title
BEL	Kim Clijsters	August 11, 2003	2001 French Open (June, 2001)	2005 US Open
FRA	Amélie Mauresmo	September 13, 2004	1999 Australian Open (January, 1999)	2006 Australian Open
SRB	Jelena Janković	August 11, 2008	2008 US Open (September, 2008)	N/A

_{*NOTE: Ana Ivanovic was unofficially ranked World No.1 after winning her semi-final at the 2008 French Open, en route to her first Grand-Slam title.}

Players who were ranked World No. 5 or higher but never World No. 1

The following is a list of players who were ranked World No. 5 or higher by the Women's Tennis Association but never World No. 1:

Player First date reached No. 2s Virginia Wade November 3, 1975 Andrea Jaeger August 17, 1981 Conchita Martínez October 30, 1995 Jana Novotná July 7, 1997 Anastasia Myskina September 13, 2004 Svetlana Kuznetsova September 10, 2007 Dinara Safina October 13, 2008

Player First date reached No. 3s Pam Shriver March 20, 1984 / Hana Mandlikova April 30, 1984 Wendy Turnbull January 7, 1985 Manuela Maleeva February 4, 1985 Gabriela Sabatini February 27, 1989 Mary Pierce January 30, 1995 Amanda Coetzer November 3, 1997 Nathalie Tauziat May 8, 2000 Nadia Petrova May 5, 2006

Player First date reached No. 4s Sue Barker March 20, 1977 Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat March 19, 1979 Helena Suková March 18, 1985 Claudia Kohde-Kilsch September 2, 1985 Zina Garrison Jackson November 20, 1989 Mary Joe Fernandez October 22, 1990 Kimiko Date May 13, 1995 Magdalena Maleeva January 29, 1996 Iva Majoli February 5, 1996 Anke Huber October 14, 1996 Jelena Dokić August 19, 2002 Elena Dementieva October 25, 2004

Player First date reached No. 5s Rosemary Casals September 13, 1976 Margaret Court February 21, 1977 Betty Stove July 3, 1977 Sylvia Hanika September 12, 1983 Kathy Jordan March 19, 1984 Jo Durie April 29, 1984 Natasha Zvereva May 22, 1989 Daniela Hantuchová January 27, 2003 Anna Chakvetadze September 10, 2007

Points Distribution

The organization releases a weekly ranking of the players's performance in the tour. Players' ranking points are counted how they fare on individual rounds of a tournament (round points). The following table gives the distribution of "round points" (note that these values were changed for the 2007 season):

(*) "+H" indicates that Hospitality is provided

A player's point total is calculated on a weekly basis, counting only tournaments played within the last year. The top 17 tournaments of the past year count toward a player's point total, with the lowest of the player's scores being dropped from the total. The exceptions are the four grand slam tournaments and the mandatory Tier I tournament Miami Masters, which always count toward the player's point total, even if their score in the slam is lower than another score achieved in a non-slam tournament. All players who qualify by ranking for acceptance into the main draw of a Grand Slam or the mandatory Tier I tournament will be entered automatically. Any player who is accepted into one of these tournaments and subsequently withdraws will automatically receive zero points for the tournament and will have it count as one of their best 17 tournament results.

In 1996, the WTA started awarding players "quality points", which were calculated based on the rankings of players they defeated in tournaments. This would give more points to a player who beat a top ranked player than one who beat a lower ranked player. Quality points were discontinued after the 2005 season and are no longer used.

See also

• List of ATP number 1 ranked players