Women's Tennis: 5 players who spent the most consecutive weeks as WTA World Number 1

#=1 Serena Williams

Serena Williams - the only active player on the list

The only active player on the list is American Serena Williams. Serena despite winning her very first Grand Slam at the US Open of 1999 rose to the top of the WTA rankings only on July 8th, 2002 following her triumph at the All England Club over her elder sister Venus Williams. The year 2002 was a special one in Serena's career as she won 3 of the 4 Grand Slam titles on offer and following her triumph at the 2003 Australian Open, held all 4 Grand Slams at the same time. Although Grand Slams and WTA titles followed, Serena became the number 1 again only 5 years later in 2008.

Serena's 6th spell at the top of the WTA rankings was between February 18th, 2013 to September 11th, 2016 - 186 weeks. What is even more remarkable is that this spell came when she was well over 30 years of age. It was during this time that she again held all 4 Grand Slams at the same time and came close to winning all 4 in the same calendar year. Serena has spent a total of 319 weeks at the top and a will be looking to come good in 2019 and probably go past Navratilova in the all-time charts.