The 5 players to win first Grand Slam title after reaching world No 1 – ft Ivan Lendl, Kim Clijsters
Winning a Grand Slam title and reaching world No 1 are the two greatest feats any tennis player can achieve.
Only a select few have been able to do both in the Open Era, with players often winning their first Slam before peaking at the top of the ATP or WTA Rankings.
However, a few have taken the alternative route to greatness.
Here, we look at the five players who reached the world No 1 ranking and then went on to lift their first major title.
Ivan Lendl
Lendl made history in February 1983 by becoming the first player – male or female – to reach world No 1 having not won a Grand Slam singles title.
The Czech had been the runner-up in two Grand Slam singles finals by that point and would go on to lose the US Open and Australian Open finals later that season.
However, after four final losses, he memorably captured his first Slam by coming from two sets down to beat John McEnroe in the 1984 French Open final.
Lendl would go on to win eight Grand Slam titles in total, alongside spending 270 weeks at the top of the ATP Rankings.
Kim Clijsters
In August 2003, Clijsters became the first ever Belgian player to be ranked world No 1, and the first woman to reach the top spot despite not winning a major.
Clijsters had lost two French Open finals before rising to the top spot, and would then be beaten in the 2003 US Open – while still No 1 – and 2004 Australian Open finals by compatriot Justine Henin.
Having fallen 0-4 in major finals, she would finally claim her first Grand Slam title at the 2005 US Open, defeating Mary Pierce in the final.
After returning in 2009, she won three more majors, and in total spent 20 weeks as the WTA world No 1.
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Amelie Mauresmo
Mauresmo followed in Clijsters footsteps by becoming just the second woman to reach the top spot without having won a Grand Slam.
The Frenchwoman held the top ranking for five weeks across September and October 2004, over five years after reaching her first major final at the Australian Open in 1999.
Seven years on from her first final, Mauresmo finally claimed her first Slam at the Australian Open in 2006 and, having recaptured the No 1 ranking, then won Wimbledon that summer – defeating Henin in both finals.
Mauresmo retired in 2009 with those two Slams under her belt, alongside 39 weeks as the world No 1.
Caroline Wozniacki
Wozniacki holds the record for the biggest gap between becoming the world No 1 and then winning her first Grand Slam title.
The Dane was just 20 when she became No 1 for the first time in October 2010 and held the top spot for 67 of the next 68 weeks until January 2012.
Having lost the 2009 and 2014 US Open finals – to Clijsters and Serena Williams respectively – she captured her sole major title at the 2018 Australian Open, beating Simona Halep.
Wozniacki returned to the top of the rankings for four weeks after that triumph, bringing her total weeks as world No 1 up to 71.
Simona Halep
Halep is the most recent player to lift a major title after already achieving the world No 1 ranking, doing so at the French Open in 2018.
The Romanian first reached the Roland Garros final in 2014, losing to Maria Sharapova, and was then beaten in a significant upset by Jelena Ostapenko in the 2017 final.
Halep first rose to world No 1 in October 2017 though could not end her Grand Slam wait straight away, losing to Wozniacki in Melbourne at the start of 2018.
However, after wrestling the No 1 ranking back, she beat Sloane Stephens to triumph in Paris and then won Wimbledon in 2019 – alongside 64 weeks atop the WTA Rankings.
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