Most weeks ranked No.1 in singles tennis (female)

Steffi Graf (Germany) logged 377 weeks at No.1 on the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) world rankings between 17 August 1987 and 30 March 1997. The first 186 weeks of her seven spells at No.1 (until 10 March 1991) were achieved consecutively – a female record that was equalled by Serena Williams (USA) between 18 February 2013 and 11 September 2016.

Graf held the overall WTA/ATP record for the most weeks at No.1 until Novak Djokovic (Serbia) spent a 378th week at the top of the Association of Tennis Professionals rankings on 6 February 2023. As of 12 June 2023, Graf remains in second place overall behind Djokovic (388 weeks), with Martina Navratilova (332), Serena Williams (319) and Roger Federer (310) the only other players – now all retired – to have amassed at least 300 weeks as world No.1.

Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles in 1987–99, including seven at Wimbledon. She was a women’s doubles semi-finalist (at worst) at all four majors and won three Olympic medals, including singles gold at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, that enabled her to become the first tennis player to win a “Golden Slam”.