Thirty women have been ranked No. 1 since the WTA’s computer rankings began on 3 November 1975, with Chris Evert at the top of the first list. The newest is Elena Rybakina, who began her first week at No. 1 on 14 September 2026 after beating Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open final. She is the first player from Kazakhstan, man or woman, to lead the rankings.
The table below lists all 30 in order of total weeks at No. 1, with the week each first reached the top and the number of seasons she finished as year-end No. 1 through 2025. Sabalenka’s total runs to the end of her second spell in September 2026. Rybakina’s total is still running.
The Full List
| # | Player | First week at No. 1 | Total weeks at No. 1 | Year-end No. 1 finishes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steffi Graf | 17 Aug 1987 | 377 | 8 |
| 2 | Martina Navratilova | 10 Jul 1978 | 332 | 7 |
| 3 | Serena Williams | 8 Jul 2002 | 319 | 5 |
| 4 | Chris Evert | 3 Nov 1975 | 260 | 5 |
| 5 | Martina Hingis | 31 Mar 1997 | 209 | 3 |
| 6 | Monica Seles | 11 Mar 1991 | 178* | 2 |
| 7 | Iga Swiatek | 4 Apr 2022 | 125 | 2 |
| 8 | Ashleigh Barty | 24 Jun 2019 | 121 | 3 |
| 9 | Justine Henin | 20 Oct 2003 | 117 | 3 |
| 10 | Aryna Sabalenka | 11 Sep 2023 | 107 | 2 |
| 11 | Lindsay Davenport | 12 Oct 1998 | 98 | 4 |
| 12 | Caroline Wozniacki | 11 Oct 2010 | 71 | 2 |
| 13 | Simona Halep | 9 Oct 2017 | 64 | 2 |
| 14 | Victoria Azarenka | 30 Jan 2012 | 51 | 1 |
| 15 | Amélie Mauresmo | 13 Sep 2004 | 39 | 0 |
| 16 | Angelique Kerber | 12 Sep 2016 | 34 | 1 |
| 17 | Dinara Safina | 20 Apr 2009 | 26 | 0 |
| 18 | Naomi Osaka | 28 Jan 2019 | 25 | 0 |
| 19= | Tracy Austin | 7 Apr 1980 | 21 | 0 |
| 19= | Maria Sharapova | 22 Aug 2005 | 21 | 0 |
| 21 | Kim Clijsters | 11 Aug 2003 | 20 | 0 |
| 22 | Jelena Jankovic | 11 Aug 2008 | 18 | 1 |
| 23 | Jennifer Capriati | 15 Oct 2001 | 17 | 0 |
| 24= | Ana Ivanovic | 9 Jun 2008 | 12 | 0 |
| 24= | Arantxa Sánchez Vicario | 6 Feb 1995 | 12 | 0 |
| 26 | Venus Williams | 25 Feb 2002 | 11 | 0 |
| 27 | Karolina Pliskova | 17 Jul 2017 | 8 | 0 |
| 28 | Garbiñe Muguruza | 11 Sep 2017 | 4 | 0 |
| 29 | Evonne Goolagong | 26 Apr 1976 | 2 | 0 |
| 30 | Elena Rybakina | 14 Sep 2026 | Current | — |
The Records Inside the Table
Graf’s 377 weeks are the most at No. 1, and her eight year-end No. 1 finishes are also a record, one more than Navratilova. Graf and Serena Williams share the longest single run, 186 consecutive weeks each, ahead of Navratilova’s 156, Barty’s 114 and Evert’s 113. Navratilova also spent 103 weeks ranked No. 1 in singles and doubles at the same time, the most of any player.
Hingis is the youngest woman to reach No. 1, at 16 years and 182 days in March 1997. Kerber is the oldest to make her No. 1 debut, at 28 years and 238 days in September 2016, and Rybakina, at 27 years and 89 days, is the second oldest. Serena Williams is the oldest woman to hold the ranking, at 35 years and 230 days in May 2017. Caroline Wozniacki went six years between spells at No. 1, the longest gap of any player.
Sixteen of the 30 have finished at least one season at No. 1. Thirteen others reached the top without ending a year there, from Goolagong, whose two weeks in 1976 are the fewest on the list, to Mauresmo, who spent 39 weeks at No. 1 without a year-end finish. Rybakina’s first chance to join the 16 comes at the end of this season.
How No. 1 Is Decided
The WTA ranking is a rolling total of points earned over the previous 52 weeks, so a player can reach No. 1 on the strength of results from the previous season as well as the current one. GTN’s rankings explainer covers how the points are counted, and the WTA Finals qualification explainer covers the separate race for the season-ending event.
Season Snapshot — 3 October 2026
- World No. 1: Elena Rybakina, since 14 September 2026. She beat Sabalenka in the finals of both the Australian Open and the US Open this season.
- Aryna Sabalenka: 107 weeks at No. 1 across two spells, the 10th most in WTA history. Her second spell lasted 99 weeks and ended after the US Open.
- Rybakina and Sabalenka are the top two seeds at the China Open in Beijing (30 September to 11 October). The Wuhan Open follows from 12 to 18 October.
This snapshot is dated and will change. The career record above does not.
