The 9 women with most weeks inside top 2, featuring Navratilova, Graf, Williams, Swiatek
One player has spent more than 600 weeks in the top two of the WTA Rankings, two women have been ranked inside the top two for more than 500 weeks and one more for more than 400 weeks.
It won’t come as a big surprise that the great Martina Navratilova leads this particular list, while most of the all-time legends also feature.
Current world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka is currently in 13th place on 138 weeks (as of week of May 19), but she is set to move up another few spots ahead of Kim Clijsters (139 weeks), Justine Henin (141 weeks), Simona Halep (163) and even Swiatek.
Ashleigh Barty (127) and Caroline Wozniacki (125) are the other two women to have spent more than 100 weeks in the top 2 of the rankings.
The 9 women with the most weeks in the top 2 of the WTA Rankings:
9. Iga Swiatek – 165 weeks
Five-time Grand Slam winner Swiatek overtook Halep recently, but her run in the top two came to an end after the 2025 Italian Open as she dropped to No 5 in the WTA Rankings.
The Pole has spent 125 weeks at No 1 and 40 weeks at No 2.
8. Maria Sharapova – 184 weeks
Sharapova finds herself down in 19th place on the all-time list for most weeks spent at No 1 in the rankings as she played during Serena Williams’ dominant era and often had to play second fiddle.
The Russian spent only 21 weeks at No 1 and 163 weeks at No 2.
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7. Monica Seles – 230 weeks
For the great Yugoslav-born American it will always be a case of “What could have been?” as she missed several years after the stabbing incident in 1993.
In total, Seles spent 178 weeks at No 1 and the rest in second place in the WTA Rankings, most of that was No 2 weeks behind Steffi Graf.
6. Lindsay Davenport – 246 weeks
Three-time Grand Slam winner Davenport just missed out on 100 weeks at No 1 as she was top of the WTA Rankings for 98 weeks, which puts her 10th in the all-time list.
That means 148 weeks were spent at No 2, most of it behind Hingis.
5. Martina Hingis – 249 weeks
The Swiss Miss first reached No 1 in the world in March 1997 and stayed there until October the following year when Davenport replaced her.
She had another four spells at the top for a total of 209 weeks while she was 40 weeks at No 2 as she alternated with Davenport at the top.
4. Serena Williams – 404 weeks
Three hundred and 19 weeks of Williams’ total weekds in the top two were spent at No 1 as she at one stage looked like she would overtake Martina Hingis and threaten Steffi Graf’s all-time No 1 record.
Incredibly, Williams first hit the top in July 2002 and she stayed there for 57 consecutive weeks and only returned to No 1 in 2008 while her eighth and final May to June 2017.
3. Steffi Graf – 541 weeks
Tennis legend Graf remains at No 1 for most weeks at No 1 as she spent 377 weeks at the top with 186 of it coming consecutively in her first stint from 1987 to 1991.
Graf regularly top spot with the likes of Monica Seles and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the 1990s with 164 weeks spent at No 2.
2. Chris Evert – 585 weeks
18-time Grand Slam winner Evert spent more weeks at No 2 than at No 1 and that was largely due to her great rival and friend Martina Navratilova.
She is third for most weeks at No 1 with 260 weeks with 325 weeks spent at No 2, which is a record.
1. Martina Navratilova – 612 weeks
Tennis’ most decorated Grand Slam winner with 59 titles (18 singles, 31 women’s doubles, 10 mixed doubles) initially held the record for most weeks at No 1 as she was at the top for 332 weeks between 1978 and 1996 before eventually being replaced by Graf.
She also spent 280 weeks at No 2 as she regularly swapped with Evert in the top two of the rankings during the 70s and 80.
