List of world number one in women's tennis (individual)

Ashleigh Barty , the current world number one

Steffi Graf , with 377 weeks the longest world number one

The list of world number one in women's tennis (individual) will list all the leaders in the individual competition of the WTA - world ranking on since the introduction of rankings on November 3 1,975th

The page first lists all the leaders in chronological order. In further tables the world number one at the end of the year is shown as well as the individual players who occupied the number 1 position, sorted by number of weeks at the top of the ranking list.

A total of 27 players have occupied the top spot since the world ranking was introduced. The first world leader was the American Chris Evert , the current leader is Ashleigh Barty . Steffi Graf from Germany holds the records for most weeks at the top of the world rankings - both in total (377) and (together with Serena Williams ) in a row (186 each). In addition, she finished eight seasons as the world's number one; no other player came up with so many.

World number one in the course of the year

Player: indicates the name of the player. The number in brackets after the player's name indicates how many players she was at the top of the world rankings.
from: indicates the day on which the player reached the top position.
to: indicates the day on which the player was last leader of the world rankings within the respective series. Number of weeks
: indicates the number of weeks that the player topped the world rankings within the respective series.

Player	from	to	Week number
Chris Evert (1)	3rd November 1975	April 25, 1976	025th
Evonne Goolagong Cawley (2)	April 26, 1976	May 9, 1976	002
Chris Evert	May 10, 1976	July 9, 1978	113
Martina Navrátilová (3)	July 10, 1978	January 13, 1979	026th
Chris Evert	January 14, 1979	January 27, 1979	002
Martina Navrátilová	January 28, 1979	February 24, 1979	004th
Chris Evert	February 25, 1979	April 15, 1979	007th
Martina Navrátilová	April 16, 1979	June 24, 1979	010
Chris Evert	June 25, 1979	September 9, 1979	011
Martina Navrátilová	September 10, 1979	April 6, 1980	031
Tracy Austin (4)	April 7, 1980	April 20, 1980	002
Martina Navrátilová	April 21, 1980	July 6, 1980	011
Tracy Austin	0July 7, 1980	17th November 1980	019th
Chris Evert	November 18, 1980	May 2, 1982	076
Martina Navratilova	May 3, 1982	May 16, 1982	002
Chris Evert	May 17, 1982	June 13, 1982	004th
Martina Navratilova	June 14, 1982	June 9, 1985	156
Chris Evert	June 10, 1985	October 13, 1985	018th
Martina Navratilova	October 14, 1985	October 27, 1985	002
Chris Evert	October 28, 1985	November 24, 1985	004th
Martina Navratilova	November 25, 1985	August 16, 1987	090
Steffi Graf (5)	17th August 1987	March 10, 1991	186
Monika Seleš (6)	March 11, 1991	4th August 1991	021st
Steffi Graf	5th August 1991	August 11, 1991	001
Monika Seleš	August 12, 1991	August 18, 1991	001
Steffi Graf	August 19, 1991	September 8, 1991	003
/ Monika Seleš	September 9, 1991	June 6, 1993	091
Steffi Graf	0June 7, 1993	5th February 1995	087
Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (7)	February 6, 1995	February 19, 1995	002
Steffi Graf	February 20, 1995	February 26, 1995	001
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	February 27, 1995	April 9, 1995	006th
Steffi Graf	April 10, 1995	May 14, 1995	005
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	May 15, 1995	June 11, 1995	004th
Steffi Graf	June 12, 1995	March 30, 1997	094
Monica Seles	September 15, 1995	November 3, 1996	064
Monica Seles	November 18, 1996	November 24, 1996	001
Martina Hingis (8)	March 31, 1997	October 11, 1998	080
Lindsay Davenport (9)	October 12, 1998	February 7, 1999	017th
Martina Hingis	February 8, 1999	4th July 1999	021st
Lindsay Davenport	July 5, 1999	August 8, 1999	005
Martina Hingis	August 9, 1999	April 2, 2000	034
Lindsay Davenport	April 3, 2000	May 7, 2000	005
Martina Hingis	May 8, 2000	May 14, 2000	001
Lindsay Davenport	May 15, 2000	May 21, 2000	001
Martina Hingis	May 22, 2000	October 14, 2001	073
Jennifer Capriati (10)	October 15, 2001	November 4, 2001	003
Lindsay Davenport	November 5, 2001	January 13, 2002	010
Jennifer Capriati	January 14, 2002	February 24, 2002	006th
Venus Williams (11)	February 25, 2002	March 17, 2002	003
Jennifer Capriati	March 18, 2002	April 21, 2002	005
Venus Williams	April 22, 2002	May 19, 2002	004th
Jennifer Capriati	May 20, 2002	June 9, 2002	003
Venus Williams	June 10, 2002	July 7, 2002	004th
Serena Williams (12)	July 8, 2002	August 10, 2003	057
Kim Clijsters (13)	August 11, 2003	October 19, 2003	010
Justine Henin-Hardenne (14)	October 20, 2003	October 26, 2003	001
Kim Clijsters	October 27, 2003	November 9, 2003	002
Justine Henin-Hardenne	November 10, 2003	September 12, 2004	044
Amélie Mauresmo (15)	September 13, 2004	October 17, 2004	005
Lindsay Davenport	October 18, 2004	August 21, 2005	044
Maria Sharapova (16)	August 22, 2005	August 28, 2005	001
Lindsay Davenport	August 29, 2005	September 11, 2005	002
Maria Sharapova	September 12, 2005	October 23, 2005	006th
Lindsay Davenport	October 24, 2005	January 29, 2006	014th
Kim Clijsters	January 30, 2006	March 19, 2006	007th
Amélie Mauresmo	March 20, 2006	November 12, 2006	034
Justine Henin (-Hardenne)	November 13, 2006	January 28, 2007	011
Maria Sharapova	January 29, 2007	March 18, 2007	007th
Justine Henin	March 19, 2007	May 18, 2008	061
Maria Sharapova	May 19, 2008	June 8, 2008	003
Ana Ivanović (17)	June 9, 2008	August 10, 2008	009
Jelena Janković (18)	August 11, 2008	August 17, 2008	001
Ana Ivanović	August 18, 2008	September 7, 2008	003
Serena Williams	September 8, 2008	October 5, 2008	004th
Jelena Janković	October 6, 2008	February 1, 2009	017th
Serena Williams	February 2, 2009	April 19, 2009	011
Dinara Safina (19)	April 20, 2009	October 11, 2009	025th
Serena Williams	October 12, 2009	October 25, 2009	002
Dinara Safina	October 26, 2009	November 1, 2009	001
Serena Williams	November 2, 2009	October 10, 2010	049
Caroline Wozniacki (20)	October 11, 2010	February 13, 2011	018th
Kim Clijsters	February 14, 2011	February 20, 2011	001
Caroline Wozniacki	February 21, 2011	January 29, 2012	049
Viktoriya Azaranka (21)	January 30, 2012	June 10, 2012	019th
Maria Sharapova	June 11, 2012	July 8, 2012	004th
Viktoriya Azaranka	July 9, 2012	17th February 2013	032
Serena Williams	February 18, 2013	11th September 2016	186
Angelique Kerber (22)	September 12, 2016	29th January 2017	020th
Serena Williams	January 30, 2017	19th March 2017	007th
Angelique Kerber	20th March 2017	April 23, 2017	005
Serena Williams	April 24, 2017	May 14, 2017	003
Angelique Kerber	15th May 2017	July 16, 2017	009
Karolína Plíšková (23)	17th July 2017	10th September 2017	008th
Garbiñe Muguruza (24)	11th September 2017	October 8, 2017	004th
Simona Halep (25)	October 9, 2017	January 28, 2018	016
Caroline Wozniacki	29th January 2018	February 25, 2018	004th
Simona Halep	February 26, 2018	January 27, 2019	048
Naomi Osaka (26)	January 28, 2019	June 23, 2019	021st
Ashleigh Barty (27)	June 24, 2019	11th August 2019	007th
Naomi Osaka	August 12, 2019	September 8, 2019	004th
Ashleigh Barty	September 9, 2019	March 22, 2020	028
Ranking frozen	March 23, 2020	August 9, 2020	020th
Ashleigh Barty	August 10, 2020	current	004th

Status: August 31, 2020 (from March 16 to August 9, 2020 the WTA Tour will be interrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic)

World number one at the end of the season

Note: The number in brackets after the player's name indicates how many times the player was able to finish a season at the top of the world rankings at any given time.

year	Player	year	Player	year	Player
1975	Chris Evert	1990	Steffi Graf (4)	2005	Lindsay Davenport (4)
1976	Chris Evert (2)	1991	Monika Seleš	2006	Justine Henin-Hardenne (2)
1977	Chris Evert (3)	1992	Monika Seleš (2)	2007	Justine Henin (3)
1978	Martina Navrátilová	1993	Steffi Graf (5)	2008	Jelena Janković
1979	Martina Navrátilová (2)	1994	Steffi Graf (6)	2009	Serena Williams (2)
1980	Chris Evert (4)	1995	Steffi Graf (7) Monica Seles (3)	2010	Caroline Wozniacki
1981	Chris Evert (5)	1996	Steffi Graf (8)	2011	Caroline Wozniacki (2)
1982	Martina Navratilova (3)	1997	Martina Hingis	2012	Viktoriya Azaranka
1983	Martina Navratilova (4)	1998	Lindsay Davenport	2013	Serena Williams (3)
1984	Martina Navratilova (5)	1999	Martina Hingis (2)	2014	Serena Williams (4)
1985	Martina Navratilova (6)	2000	Martina Hingis (3)	2015	Serena Williams (5)
1986	Martina Navratilova (7)	2001	Lindsay Davenport (2)	2016	Angelique Kerber
1987	Steffi Graf	2002	Serena Williams	2017	Simona Halep
1988	Steffi Graf (2)	2003	Justine Henin-Hardenne	2018	Simona Halep (2)
1989	Steffi Graf (3)	2004	Lindsay Davenport (3)	2019	Ashleigh Barty

Players at the top of the world rankings after weeks

Player : indicates the name of the player. If the player changes name, the name with which she was at the top of the world rankings for the last time will be used. The current leader is highlighted in bold .
first time on : indicates the date on which the player first topped the world rankings.
Weeks : indicates the total number of weeks that the player was at the top of the world rankings. The position in the table is also based on this value.
Streak : indicates the number of weeks the player was at the top of the world rankings during her longest streak.

	Player	first on	Weeks	series
1.	Steffi Graf	17th August 1987	377	186
2.	Martina Navratilova	July 10, 1978	332	156
3.	Serena Williams	July 8, 2002	319	186
4th	Chris Evert	3rd November 1975	260	113
5.	Martina Hingis	March 31, 1997	209	080
6th	/ Monica Seles	March 11, 1991	178	091
7th	Justine Henin	October 20, 2003	117	061
8th.	Lindsay Davenport	October 12, 1998	098	044
9.	Caroline Wozniacki	October 11, 2010	071	049
10.	Simona Halep	October 9, 2017	064	048
11.	Viktoriya Azaranka	January 30, 2012	051	032
12.	Amélie Mauresmo	September 13, 2004	039	034
12.	Ashleigh Barty	June 24, 2019	039	032
14th	Angelique Kerber	September 12, 2016	034	020th
15th	Dinara Safina	April 20, 2009	026th	025th
16.	Naomi Osaka	January 28, 2019	025th	021st
17th	Tracy Austin	April 7, 1980	021st	019th
17th	Maria Sharapova	August 22, 2005	021st	007th
19th	Kim Clijsters	August 11, 2003	020th	010
20th	Jelena Janković	August 11, 2008	018th	017th
21st	Jennifer Capriati	October 15, 2001	017th	006th
22nd	Ana Ivanović	June 9, 2008	012	009
22nd	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	February 6, 1995	012	006th
24.	Venus Williams	February 25, 2002	011	004th
25th	Karolína Plíšková	17th July 2017	008th	008th
26th	Garbiñe Muguruza	11th September 2017	004th	004th
27.	Evonne Goolagong Cawley	April 26, 1976	002	002

As of August 31, 2020

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Karolina Pliskova becomes the 23rd player in history of the WTA to earn the No.1 ranking. wtatennis.com, July 11, 2017, accessed July 19, 2017 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Martina Navrátilová took US citizenship in 1981 after having previously lived in the United States with a green card . From this point on, your name will be given in the Americanized spelling.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Monika Seleš became a US citizen in 1994. From this point on, your name will be given in the Americanized spelling.
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Monica Seles was named after her return to the WTA Tour with the consent of the world number one at that time, Steffi Graf, from August 15, 1995 to November 3, 1996 and from November 18, 1996 to November 24, 1996 as " Co-Nr.-1 “to enable her to participate in all tournaments. After she was assassinated by a Steffi Graf fan, Seles did not play a tournament for two years. At the time of the attack, Seles had topped the world rankings.
5. ↑ The WTA Tour Media Guide 2012 (p. 171; PDF; 14.7 MB) gives this series as 38 weeks. However, the period from October 18, 2004 to August 21, 2005 is 44 weeks.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Justine Henin gave up in January 2007 after the divorce from her husband the double name Henin-Hardenne , which she had worn since their wedding in 2002, and took her maiden name Henin again .

Web links

• Ranking page of the WTA Tour (English)