Elena Rybakina has ended Aryna Sabalenka’s long stint at the top of the WTA Rankings as she has become the 30th world No 1 while she is now one of seven active players to have topped the rankings.
Sabalenka has dominated women’s tennis over the past few years as she started her second stint at the top on 21 October 2024 and spent 99 consecutive weeks at No 1 before Rybakina edged her down to No 2 after the US Open.
Rybakina’s historic moment, which has seen her become the first player from Kazakhstan to reach No 1 in the world, was confirmed on the back of her run to the semi-final at Flushing Meadows and she went on to win the season-ending Grand Slam at New York to open a handy lead over the Belarusian.
With Rybakina joining the list of No 1s, there are now seven WTA stars who have topped the rankings still competing on the tour.
*Although Victoria Azarenka has not officially retired, she is currently listed as inactive by the official WTA website with her last official match at the 2025 US Open.
The seven active world No 1’s on the WTA Tour
7. Elena Rybakina – 1 week
The newly-crowned US Open winner’s journey at the top has only just started and she is guaranteed to remain at No 1 for at least a couple of months thanks to a lead of more than 2,000 points over Sabalenka.
6. Karolina Pliskova – 8 weeks
The Czech is the only active player who has topped the rankings without winning a Grand Slam with her best performances in the majors seeing her finish runner-up at the US Open in 2016 and at Wimbledon in 2021.
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Pliskova – who has won 17 WTA singles titles with the last coming in February 2024 – spent eight consecutive weeks at No 1 from 17 July 2017 until 10 September 2017.
5. Venus Williams – 11 weeks
It is sometimes difficult to comprehend that Venus Williams spent only 11 weeks at the top of the rankings yet she has won seven Grand Slam titles.
Of course, the fact that she played in the same era as her sister, Serena, didn’t help her cause and her 11 weeks were spread across three stints with the first in February-March 2002, then April-May 2002 and June-July 2002.
On all three occasions, she was bumped off top spot by Jennifer Capriati.
4. Naomi Osaka – 25 weeks
Many believed Osaka would go on to spend at least 50 weeks at the top of the rankings after she won four Grand Slams in the space of three years.
The Japanese star first reached No 1 in the rankings on 28 January 2019, spending 21 consecutive weeks at the top before a second spell in August-September that year pushed her to 25 weeks.
She could still return to No 1 as she has made some steady progress in recent years and currently finds herself inside the top 20.
3. Aryna Sabalenka – 107 weeks
The 29th world No 1 first climbed to the top in September 2023, but that stint lasted only eight weeks as she was bumped down again by Iga Swiatek.
But the second spell was an impressive one that started in October 2024 and only came to an end after the 2025 US Open, totalling 99 weeks.
Sabalenka’s total of 107 weeks puts her 10th on the all-time list for most weeks at No 1, with Justine Henin in ninth place on 117 weeks in her sights.
2. Iga Swiatek – 125 weeks
The six-time Grand Slam winner sits seventh in the all-time list with the bulk of her 125 weeks coming from her first stint of 75 consecutive weeks, starting in April 2024.
Her second stint was 50 weeks, but she has struggled in recent years and is now close to exiting the top 10, but it only takes one good clay-court season for her to be back in the running.
1. Serena Williams – 319 weeks
The all-time great retired/evolved away from tennis in September 2022 and then unretired/evolved back in June this year.
Williams’ first spell at No 1 started in July 2002 and lasted 57 weeks while her longest spell from February 2018 to September 2016 was 186 weeks – a joint record with Steffi Graf.
The last of her eight stints ended in May 2017 and it is unlikely that she will add to her 319 weeks before officially retiring for good.
