Getting to the topmost rung of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranking emphasises the need for talent, dedication, hard work, and consistency. It also demands a fair share of mental toughness if one has to survive the competitive world of tennis.

Attaining the top ranking in the WTA is a long journey that requires a substantial dose of determination if a player is serious about reaching the top. Then to stay there for a considerable period requires resolve, tenacity and a fire within.

Here we take a look at the top 14 women’s singles players with most weeks at World No. 1 in WTA rankings.

Victoria Azarenka is a professional tennis player and a Belarus native. Azarenka claimed the top ranking for the first time in January 2012 and finished the year on top. She has held the top ranking for a combined total of 51 weeks and is currently ranked World No. 19.

The Belarusian has 21 WTA Tour singles titles to her name, including two back-to-back Australian Open titles, which she won in 2012 and 2013. Azarenka is a three-time US Open finalist reaching the finals in 2012, 2013 and 2020. She was runner-up to Serena Williams in 2012 and 2013 and Naomi Osaka in 2020.

Simona Halep is Romania’s top-ranked female tennis player and is a former World No. 1. She has two grand slam titles at Wimbledon and the French Open under her belt. In all, Halep has won 24 tour-level titles, finished 2017 and 2018 as No. 1 in the world and spent a total of 64 weeks at the top between 2017 and 2019.

Caroline Wozniacki is currently tied with Iga Swiatek for time spent at the top — 71 weeks. Since turning pro in 2005, the Dane has won 30 singles titles, including the 2018 Australian Open and securing the No. 1 ranking that came with the victory.

Wozniacki is currently on her comeback trail after retiring in 2021 as she struggled to keep up with the demands of the game and the toll it took on her body. She recently received a wildcard entry into the main draw of the National Bank Open 2023 in Montreal.

The unassuming Lindsay Davenport had spent 98 weeks as the top-ranked women’s player. Davenport is one of only five female players with the distinction of winding up the year as World No. 1 four times. She is in illustrious company, with the others on the list being Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Serena Williams. The three-time grand slam winner finished 1998, 2001, 2004, and 2005 at the top of the rankings.

Justine Henin made good use of her strong serve and powerful one-handed backhand to propel herself to the top of the women’s game and the WTA rankings. In a career spanning little more than a decade, she bagged herself seven major titles, including three consecutive wins at Roland Garros from 2005 to 2007. Henin’s versatile game further earned her 117 weeks at the top of the WTA rankings and was the year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007.

Ashleigh Barty is the second Australian to be ranked World No. 1 after Evonne Goolagong Cawley. Barty held the ranking for 121 weeks and was also a top 10 player in the doubles format, having achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 5.

She is a three-time Grand Slam singles champion, having claimed victory at the 2019 French Open, the 2021 Wimbledon Championships, and the 2022 Australian Open.

Iga Swiatek, who hails from Poland, made her WTA tour debut in 2019 and reached her first-ever tour-level final the same year at the women’s event in Lugano, Switzerland. She became the first Polish to win a Grand Slam singles title, claiming the French Open crown by dismantling Sofia Kenin’s 6-4 6-1. The Polish was just 19 at the time and the youngest champion at Roland Garros since Rafael Nadal in 2005.

The Pole finished the 2022 season as the World No.1, a year in which she won eight singles titles, including two majors at Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows. Swiatek has so far spent 122 weeks at the top of the WTA ranking and is currently World No. #1.

Monica Seles held on to the No. 1 ranking for 178 weeks, which is the sixth-most all-time. Seles attained the top ranking for the first time in 1991, becoming the youngest at the time, now the second youngest, having been passed by Martina Hingis. She won 53 tour-level titles, including nine Grand Slam singles tournaments.

Martina Hingis toppled more than a few records in her tennis career. She was both the singles and doubles World No. 1 for 209 and 90 weeks respectively, simultaneously holding the top ranking for 29 weeks in both formats. In 1996, she became the youngest winner at a major when she was just shy of 16 years, winning the Wimbledon doubles title.

The Swiss won the 1997 Australian Open at 16 years and three months, becoming the youngest winner at Melbourne and followed it up by becoming the youngest World No. 1 three months later.

Chris Evert’s claim to fame, apart from being ranked World No. 1 for 260 weeks, is her 18 major singles titles. These include seven French Open titles and six US Open titles which she shares as a joint record with Serena Williams. Evert was the year-end World No. 1 for seven years. Chris Evert dominated women’s tennis for much of the 1970s and 1980s alongside her greatest rival, Martina Navratilova.

Serena Williams can perhaps be considered the greatest women’s tennis player and greatest athlete of all time. She has 23 Grand Slam titles to her name and is the only player to have achieved a Golden Slam in both singles and doubles. Williams also held on to the WTA No. 1 ranking for 319 weeks, which included 186 consecutive weeks – a joint record with Steffi Graf.

Martina Navratilova, a former World No. 1, was a Czech-American tennis player who dominated women’s tennis in the late 1970s and the ’80s. Navratilova had the distinction of being ranked world number one in the WTA rankings for 332 weeks, second only to Steffi Graf.

She even held sway over the doubles tour and was ranked as No. 1 for 237 weeks. This made her the only player in history to have the top spot for over 200 weeks in both forms of the game.

Steffi Graf burst onto the tennis scene in 1983 and virtually dominated the game for the next decade and a half. The German is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of the Open Era. She held on to the WTA World No. 1 ranking for a record 377 weeks and bagged 22 major singles titles throughout her stellar career.

Graf went on to bag a Golden Slam in 1988 when she won all four majors and an Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year. Her greatest success was on the grass courts of Wimbledon, on which she won three titles back-to-back and seven overall.

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