All-time tennis records – Women's singles

This article 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, 1986 for the Australian Open, and 2020 for Wimbledon. The Australian Open is the first 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 in the same calendar year, as a individual or as part of a doubles team, 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 Golden 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 tournaments, "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 not a definitive list due to the time periods involved. Active streaks and active players are in boldface.

Grand Slam tournament records

Grand Slam singles totals

Grand Slam tournament consecutive streaks

This section is for consecutive streaks across all Grand Slam tournaments. If a player skips a tournament the streak ends.

(3) Denotes multiple streaks within one category

active streaks in boldface

TitlesStart–end#
1. Maureen Connolly1952 WM–1953 US6
Margaret Court1969 US–1971 AU
/ Martina Navratilova1983 WM–1984 US
4. Steffi Graf1988 AU–1989 AU5
5./ Molla Mallory1915 US–1918 US4
Steffi Graf (2)1993 FR–1994 AU
Serena Williams2002 FR–2003 AU
Serena Williams (2)2014 US–2015 WM
9. Helen Wills1928 FR–1928 US3
Helen Wills (2)1929 FR–1929 US
Pauline Betz1942 US–1944 US
Shirley Fry1956 WM–1957 AU
Margaret Court (2)1965 WM–1966 AU
Billie Jean King1967 WM–1968 AU
Billie Jean King (2)1972 FR–1972 US
/ Martina Navratilova (2)1981 AU–1982 WM
Chris Evert1982 US–1983 FR
Steffi Graf (3)1989 WM–1990 AU
/ Monica Seles1991 US–1992 FR
Steffi Graf (4)1995 FR–1995 US
Steffi Graf (5)1996 FR–1996 US
Martina Hingis1997 WM–1998 AU
FinalsStart–end#
1. Steffi Graf1987 FR–1990 FR13[8]
2./ Martina Navratilova1985 FR–1987 US11
3. Maureen Connolly1952 WM–1953 US6
Margaret Court1969 US–1971 AU
/ Martina Navratilova (2)1983 WM–1984 US
Chris Evert1984 FR–1985 WM
/ Monica Seles1991 US–1993 AU
8. Pauline Betz1941 US–1945 US5
Margaret Court (2)1963 WM–1964 WM
Margaret Court (3)1965 AU–1966 AU
Steffi Graf (2)1993 AU–1994 AU
Martina Hingis1997 AU–1998 AU
SemifinalsStart–end#
1./ Martina Navratilova1983 WM–1988 AU19
2. Steffi Graf1987 FR–1990 US15
3. Chris Evert1984 FR–1986 US11
Martina Hingis1996 US–1999 FR
5. Serena Williams2014 US–2017 AU10
6. Margaret Court1969 AU–1971 AU9
Chris Evert (2)1981 FR–1983 FR
8. Maria Bueno1964 FR–1965 US7
Margaret Court (2)1965 AU–1966 WM
Billie Jean King1967 WM–1969 AU
Chris Evert (3)1973 FR–1974 US
QuarterfinalsStart–end#
1./ Martina Navratilova1983 WM–1988 AU19
Steffi Graf
3. Gabriela Sabatini1990 WM–1994 AU15
4. Margaret Court1968 WM–1971 AU11
Billie Jean King1967 FR–1969 US
Chris Evert
Martina Hingis
8. Lindsay Davenport10
Serena Williams
10./ Martina Navratilova (2)9
Chris Evert (2)
Steffi Graf (2)
Serena Williams (2)
Match winsStart–end#
1./ Martina Navratilova1983 WM–1984 AU45
2. Steffi Graf1988 AU–1989 FR40
3. Margaret Court1969 US–1971 FR35
4. Maureen Connolly1952 WM–1953 US33
Serena Williams2002 FR–2003 FR
Serena Williams (2)2014 US–2015 US
7. Steffi Graf (2)1993 FR–1994 FR32
8. Steffi Graf (3)1989 WM–1990 FR27
/ Monica Seles1991 US–1992 WM
Appearances#
1. Ai Sugiyama[9]62
2. Francesca Schiavone61
3. Alizé Cornet60
4. Jelena Janković56
5. Nathalie Dechy54
Elena Likhovtseva
7. Patty Schnyder52
8. Angelique Kerber49
9. Ana Ivanovic48
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Grand Slam match winning percentages

* Not all sources agree with one of Wills' losses. She did not play two matches because of appendicitis, causing her to miss the 1926 Wimbledon Championships. Wimbledon did not assign a loss to her or a win to her opponent. The other tournament gave her a loss instead of a default to her and a walkover to her opponent, neither of which count as a loss or a win. It is unknown why the tournament chose to assign a loss to her. Taking these facts into consideration, her adjusted win percentage would be 125–3 = 97.66%.

Grand Slam, Golden Slam and Super Slam
Career Grand Slam * Event of completion
Maureen Connolly1953 French International Championships
Doris Hart1954 U. S. National Championships
Shirley Fry Irvin1957 Australian National Championships
Margaret Court1963 Wimbledon Championships
Billie Jean King1972 French Open
Chris Evert1982 Australian Open
/ Martina Navratilova1983 US Open
Steffi Graf1988 US Open
Serena Williams2003 Australian Open
Maria Sharapova2012 French Open
* each Grand Slam title at least once
Career Golden Slam * Event of completion
Steffi Graf1988 Olympics
Serena Williams2012 Olympics
* Career Slam + Olympic Gold (since 1988)
Career Super Slam * Event of completion
Steffi Graf1988 Olympics
Serena Williams2012 Olympics
* Career Golden Slam + Year-End Championship (since 1970)

Winning tournament without losing a set
  • Minimum 2
# Player Majors
13 Helen Wills Moody1927 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 Martina Navratilova1983 WM, 1983 US, 1984 WM, 1986 WM, 1987 US, 1990 WM
Serena Williams2002 WM, 2002 US, 2008 US, 2010 WM, 2014 US, 2017 AU
5 Suzanne Lenglen1922 WM, 1923 WM, 1925 FR, 1925 WM, 1926 FR
Maureen Connolly1953 AU, 1953 WM, 1953 US, 1954 FR, 1954 WM
Margaret Court1961 AU, 1962 AU, 1963 AU, 1965 WM, 1966 AU
Chris Evert1974 FR, 1976 US, 1977 US, 1978 US, 1981 WM
Steffi Graf1988 AU, 1988 FR, 1989 AU, 1994 AU, 1996 US
4 Nancye Wynne Bolton1946 AU, 1947 AU, 1948 AU, 1951 AU
Evonne Goolagong Cowley1971 FR, 1975 AU, 1976 AU, 1977 AU
3 Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling1935 FR, 1936 AU, 1937 FR
Billie Jean King1971 US, 1972 FR, 1972 US
Lindsay Davenport1998 US, 1999 WM, 2000 AU
Justine Henin2006 FR, 2007 FR, 2007 US
2 Doris Hart1951 WM, 1952 FR
Martina Hingis1997 AU, 1997 US
Venus Williams2001 US, 2008 WM

Youngest and oldest winners
Titles per tournament
  • Minimum 3 titles
Consecutive titles per tournament
  • The French Open was only a Grand Slam tournament from 1925 onwards
  • (3) Denotes multiple times

Bold: Active players

Finals per tournament

Bold: Active players

Match wins per tournament
Match win streaks per tournament

A streak does not end if a player skips one or more tournaments between two wins.

Winning percentage per tournament
  • ** 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
Steffi Graf1988 Olympics
* The Grand Slam + Olympic Gold

Four majors

Three majors

Consecutive majors

Four

Australian/French/Wimbledon/United StatesYear
Maureen Connolly1953
Margaret Court1970
Steffi Graf1988

Three

Two

Best single season

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

Titles by court surface type
  • Note - Incomplete. Many pre-Open Era titles missing.

Consecutive match streaks

Winning percentage by surface
  • Note - Incomplete. This only contains Open Era data.
  • 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.
All surfacesW–L% *
1. Suzanne Lenglen341–797.99[31]
2. Helen Wills398–3591.91
3. Margaret Court1180–10791.68 [32]
4. Chris Evert1309–14689.96
5. Steffi Graf902–11588.69
6./ Martina Navratilova1442–21986.81
7. Serena Williams843–14785.15
8. Monica Seles595–12282.98
9. Justine Henin525–11582.03
10. Billie Jean King**695–15581.76
* Minimum + 300 wins
** King's 695–155 record does not include the estimated 500 matches
she played before the open era began in April 1968.

Best single season

The Year-end Championships
  • (1970 – present)

WTA Tier I, Premier Mandatory and Premier 5
  • Overall totals include Tier I, Premier Mandatory, and Premier 5 tournaments only.
  • Tier I tournaments were played on 3 surfaces, (carpet) ceased as a surface after 1995.

Titles by court type

Match wins/ percentages

Rankings
For all-time world No. 1 players for each year as ranked by various official and unofficial ranking authorities, see World number 1 ranked female tennis players.
For the list of all world no. 1s in the official WTA rankings system since 1975, see List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players.
For all-time top ten rankings for each year, see Top ten ranked female tennis players and Top ten ranked female tennis players (1921–1974).
See also: Open Era tennis records – Women's singles § WTA rankings achievements

WTA Prize money leaders

See WTA Tour records#WTA career prize money leaders. As prize money has increased strongly in recent decades, the lists of prize money leaders all-time and for the WTA Tour period (since 1973) are the same.

See also

References
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