All-time tennis records – women's singles

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search

Overall tennis records – women's singles covers the period 1884 to present.

Before the beginning of the Open era in April 1968, only amateurs were allowed to compete in established tennis tournaments, including the four Grand Slams. Wimbledon, the oldest of the Majors, was founded in 1877, followed by the US Open in 1881, the French Open in 1891, and the Australian Open in 1905. Beginning in 1905 and continuing to the present day, all four majors have been played yearly, with the exception of the two World Wars and 1986 for the Australian Open. The Australian Open is the 1st Major of the year (January), followed by the French Open (May–June), Wimbledon (June–July), and US Open (August–September). There was no prize money and players were compensated for travel expenses only. A player who wins all four current major tournaments, as a single or as part of a doubles team, in the same calendar year is said to have achieved the "Grand Slam". If the player wins all four consecutively, but not in the same calendar year, it is called a "Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam". Winning all four at some point in a career, even if not consecutively, is referred to as a "Career Grand Slam". Winning the four Majors and a gold medal in tennis at the Summer Olympics has been called a "Golden Slam" since 1988.[1] Winning all four plus gold at some point in a career, even if not consecutively, is referred to as a "Career Golden Slam". Winning the Year-End Championship also having won a Gonden Slam is referred to as a "Super Slam".[2][3][4] Winning the four Majors in all three disciplines a player is eligible for – singles, doubles, and mixed doubles – is considered winning a "boxed set" of Grand Slam titles. The current Grand Slams are the four most prestigious tournaments in the world held every year, they are distinguished by participation from almost every top player and by their two-week duration, 128-player draw in women's singles. It's extremely rare for a player to win all four events, "the Grand Slam", in one calendar year. This was only achieved three times since 1888 by Maureen Connolly, Margaret Court and Steffi Graf, the latter of whom stands alone in winning the "Golden Slam".

These are some of the important records since the start of women's tennis in 1884.

Most statistics are based on the data at the WTA Tour and International Tennis Federation, the official websites of each respective Grand Slam tournament and published sources though this is no a definitive list due to the time period's involved.

Active streaks and active players are in boldface.

Grand Slam tournament records

Grand Slam Singles totals

Grand Slam tournament streaks

  • (3) Denotes multiple streaks

active streaks in boldface

Grand Slam match winning percentages

** Not all sources agree with two of Wills' losses. She did not play the matches because of appendicitis, and did not appear at the 1926 Wimbledon Championships, the tournaments gave her defaults instead of the typical walkovers (which do not count as wins or losses). It is unknown why the tournaments chose to default, taking these facts into consideration her adjusted win percentage would be 123–3 = 97.61%.

Grand Slam career achievements

Grand Slam, Golden Slam and Super Slam

Winning tournament without losing a set

  • Minimum 2
# Player Majors
14 United States Helen Wills Moody 1927 WM, 1927 US, 1928 FR, 1928 WM, 1928 US, 1929 FR, 1929 WM, 1929 US, 1930 FR, 1930 WM, 1931 US, 1932 FR, 1932 WM, 1938 WM
6 United States Martina Navratilova 1983 WM, 1983 US, 1984 WM, 1986 WM, 1987 US, 1990 WM
5 France Suzanne Lenglen 1922 WM, 1923 WM, 1925 FR, 1925 WM, 1926 FR
United States Maureen Connolly 1953 AU, 1953 WM, 1953 US, 1957 FR, 1957 WM
Australia Margaret Court 1961 AU, 1962 AU, 1963 AU, 1965 WM, 1966 AU
West Germany Steffi Graf 1988 AU, 1988 FR, 1989 AU, 1994 AU, 1996 US
United States Serena Williams 2002 WM, 2002 US, 2008 US, 2010 WM, 2014 US
4 Australia Nancye Wynne Bolton 1946 AU, 1947 AU, 1948 AU, 1951 AU
Australia Evonne Goolagong 1971 FR, 1975 AU, 1976 AU, 1977 AU
3 Germany Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling 1935 FR, 1936 AU, 1937 FR
United StatesBillie Jean King 1971 US, 1972 FR, 1972 US
United States Lindsay Davenport 1998 US, 1999 WM, 2000 AU
Belgium Justine Henin 2006 FR, 2007 FR, 2007 US
2 United States Doris Hart 1951 WM, 1952 FR
United States Chris Evert 1974 FR, 1981 WM
Switzerland Martina Hingis 1997 AU, 1997 US
United States Venus Williams 2001 US, 2008 WM


Individual Major tournaments

Titles per event
  • Minimum 3 titles
Consecutive titles per event
  • The French Open was only a Grand Slam event from 1925 onwards
  • Wimbledon (10) other women have won at least 2 consecutive titles since 1884
  • (3) Denotes multiple times

Bold: Active players

Finals per event

Bold: Active players

Match wins per event
Match win streaks per event

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Winning percentages per event
  • ** both losses were actually "default", Suzanne Lenglen's adjusted win percentage would be 100%.

Season streaks

Title leaders by decade

minimum 2 titles

Calendar year achievements

Golden Grand Slam * Event of completion
West Germany Steffi Graf 1988 Olympics
* The Grand Slam + Olympic Gold

Four Majors

Three Majors

Consecutive Majors

Four

Australian Open French Open Wimbledon US Open Year
United StatesMaureen Connolly United States Maureen Connolly United States Maureen Connolly United StatesMaureen Connolly 1953
AustraliaMargaret Court AustraliaMargaret Court Australia Margaret Court AustraliaMargaret Court 1970
West GermanySteffi Graf West GermanySteffi Graf West GermanySteffi Graf West GermanySteffi Graf 1988

Three

Two

Non-consecutive Majors

Three

Two

Best single season

Match winning %* W–L Year
1. United States Maureen Connolly 100 20–0 1953
Australia Margaret Court 100 26–0 1970
West Germany Steffi Graf 100 27–0 1988
2. West Germany Steffi Graf (2) 100 21–0 1995
West Germany Steffi Graf (3) 100 21–0 1996
United States Serena Williams 100 21–0 2002
3. West Germany Steffi Graf (4) 96.43 27–1 1989
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Monica Seles 96.43 27–1 1992
Switzerland Martina Hingis 96.43 27–1 1997
6. West GermanySteffi Graf (5) 96.29 26–1 1993
7. United States Martina Navratilova 96.15 25–1 1984
8. Australia Margaret Court (2) 95.83 23–1 1965
Australia Margaret Court (3) 95.83 23–1 1969
Australia Margaret Court (4) 95.83 23–1 1973
United States Martina Navratilova (2) 95.83 23–1 1983
* minimum 20 wins

Career all tournament records

Singles titles and finals

Tournament streaks

  • Active players in bold

Most titles at a single tournament

Most finals at a single tournament

Note: Carpet has not been used since 2009.

Titles by court type

Titles by environment

Matches played/won

  • As of February 15, 2016

Consecutive match streaks

Match wins per court type

Matches won by environment

Winning percentage by surface

  • Note that the figures below represent career winning percentages of players that are retired (regular font) as well as current active players (boldface). The latter are subject to change and do not reflect the final figure.

Best single season

The Year-End Championships

  • (1970 – present)

WTA Tier One, Premier and Premier Mandatory

  • Overall totals include premier mandatory,premier five and tier one tournaments only.
  • Tier one events were played on 3 surfaces, (carpet) ceased as a surface in 1995.

Titles by court type

Match wins/ percentage's

Olympic tournaments (since 1900)

  • No women's event in 1904, 1916, 1928 –1984
Gold Medal winners
Name Year
United Kingdom Charlotte Cooper 1900
United Kingdom Dorothea Lambert-Chambers 1908
France Marguerite Broquedis 1912
France Suzanne Lenglen 1920
United States Helen Wills Moody 1924
West Germany Steffi Graf 1988
United States Jennifer Capriati 1992
United States Lindsay Davenport 1996
United States Venus Williams 2000
Belgium Justine Henin 2004
Russia Elena Dementieva 2008
United States Serena Williams 2012

Ranking records (since 1883)

Notes: 1883 –1920 rankings are more variable in nature because of limited sourcing from 1921 onwards more recent rankings are much better sourced are shown here World number 1 women tennis players. Before the open era of tennis arrived in 1968, rankings for amateur players were generally compiled only for a full year of play. Professional players were ranked by journalists, promoters, and players' associations usually at the end of the year. Even for amateurs, however, there was no single official overall ranking that encompassed the entire world. Instead, nation rankings were done by the national tennis association of each country, and world rankings were the preserve of tennis journalists. It was only with the introduction of computerized rankings in the open era that rankings were issued more frequently than once yearly. Even the end-of-year amateur rankings issued by official organizations such as the United States Lawn Tennis Association were based on judgments made by men and women and not on mathematical formulas assigning points for wins or losses.

Notes: Sources that are as authoritative as can be found in the men's article are also quoted in the women's can also be found here: ranking sources.

WTA Prize money leaders

See also

<templatestyles src="Div col/styles.css"/>

References

  1. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. Kay, Dimitri (22 November 2010). Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. 16.0 16.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. 22.0 22.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. 24.0 24.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. 2012 Official Guide to Professional Tennis, compiled by the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, page 253
  30. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.