5 oldest tennis players to be ranked number 1 in the world

In the history of tennis, there have been many players who have gone on to be ranked No.1 on more than one occasion. Only a handful, however, have achieved the distinction at the fag end of their careers.We take a look 5 of the oldest tennis players to be ranked number one in the world.

#5 Lindsay Davenport

Lindsay Davenport

The 1996 Olympic Gold medalist became World No. 1 in January 2006 at the age of 29 years, 7 months and 8 days. Winner of 3 Grand Slams, Davenport became the fourth player after Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert to finish the year ranked No. 1 four different times. She achieved this feat at the end of 2005.

Over her entire career, Davenport was ranked number 1 on eight different occasions.

#4 Martina Navratilova

Martina Navratilova

One of the all-time greats, Martina Navratilova became World No. 1 in August 1987 at the age of 30 years, 9 months, 29 days.

Navratilova had a great rivalry with Chris Evert that lasted for 15 years from 1973 to 1988. Evert and Navratilova faced off in 80 matches during this period, including 61 tournament finals. Navratilova emerged as the winner in 43 of those. She eventually ended her career with a whopping 167 WTA titles.

#3 Chris Evert

Chris Evert

The American became the oldest tennis player to become World No. 1 in November 1985, at the age of 30 years 11 months and 3 days.

In her 17-year career, Evert wasn’t knocked out in the first or second round in any of the Grand Slams, and she won 157 titles in all.

#2 Serena Williams

Serena Williams

The younger of the 2 Williams sisters, Serena became World No. 1 in February 2013 at the age of 31 years,4 months and 24 days. This was the sixth time in her career that the American had ascended to the number 1 position in the world.

Out of all the instances, however, the sixth time held a larger significance as with that she displaced fellow American Chris Evert as the oldest player to be ranked number 1 in the world.

Now aged 33 years and 30 days, Williams still holds the No. 1 ranking and will end 2014 as the numero uno WTA player.

#1 Andre Agassi

Andre Agassi

The 8-time Grand Slam became the oldest tennis player in the history of the game to become World No. 1 in 2003 at the age of 33 years and 13 days. Agassi beat Xavier Malisse in the quarter-final of the Queens Championships in London in April 2003 to reclaim the top spot, displacing Aussie Lleyton Hewitt.

The Australian went on to regain that spot a fortnight later, only to be replaced by the American again in June that year.The 4-time Australian Open champion was eventually replaced by Juan Carlos Ferrero, who beat him in the semi-finals of the US Open later that year.

In his 20-year career, Agassi held on to the World no.1 ranking for a period of 101 weeks. When he eventually finished his career in 2006, he was ranked 112th in the world.