Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and All the No. 1 Women’s Tennis Players, by Number of Weeks
Steffi Graf, Greatest Women’s Tennis Player of All Time
Steffi Graf is probabaly, at least by the numbers, the greatest female tennis player of all time. She just edges out Martina Navratilova, and then Chris Evert, a trailing third, to claim such a title.
Graf has the most major wins of the Open Era (22), and that’s regardless of gender (Roger Federer has 17 on the men’s side). She also held the No. 1 ranking for the longest number of weeks total: 377 (Federer is at 291 and counting).
Twenty-two ladies have held the top spot since the ranking system was introduced in late 1975. Here’s a list of all of them, ranked by number of weeks at No. 1.
What about the men? Sports List of the Day has you covered: Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and All the No. 1 Tennis Players, by Number of Weeks.
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| PLAYER | COUNTRY | TOTAL CAREER WEEKS AT NO. 1 | |
| 1. | Steffi Graf | Germany | 377 |
| 2. | Martina Navratilova | USA | 332 |
| 3. | Chris Evert | USA | 260 |
| 4. | Martina Hingis | Switzerland | 209 |
| 5. | Monica Seles | USA | 178 |
| 6. | Serena Williams | USA | 123 |
| 7. | Justine Henin | Belgium | 117 |
| 8. | Lindsay Davenport | USA | 98 |
| 9. | Caroline Wozniacki | Denmark | 67 |
| 10. | Amélie Mauresmo | France | 39 |
| 11. | Dinara Safina | Russia | 26 |
| 12. | Victoria Azarenka | Belarus | 25 (Current No. 1) |
| 13. | Tracy Austin | USA | 21 |
| 13. | Maria Sharapova | Russia | 21 |
| 15. | Kim Clijsters | Belarus | 20 |
| 16. | Victoria Azarenka | Belarus | 19 |
| 17. | Jelena Jankovic | Serbia | 18 |
| 18. | Jennifer Capriati | USA | 17 |
| 19. | Arantxa Sánchez Vicario | Spain | 12 |
| 19. | Ana Ivanovic | Serbia | 12 |
| 21. | Venus Williams | USA | 11 |
| 22. | Evonne Goolagong Cawley | Australia | 2 |
Photo: blog.seniorennet.be
Posted on August 9, 2012, in Tennis and tagged evert, graf, List, longest, most, navratilova, No. 1, rank, tennis, total, weeks, women, wta. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
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