WTA stands for Women's Tennis Association, and is also known as the WTA Tour, and is to women's tennis what the ATP is to men's tennis. In 2005 the WTA changed its name into The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
The Women's Tennis Association was begun in Houston, Texas when the inaugural Virginia Slims event was won on 23 September 1970. Billie Jean King was a major figure in the early days of the WTA.
Ranking
The organization releases a weekly ranking of the players's performance in the tour. This is a list of players who have achieved the number one position in singles since the rankings' inception in 1975:
Records
Title Leaders in the Open Era
- Martina Navratilova: 167
- Chris Evert: 154
- Steffi Graf: 107
- Margaret Court: 92
- Evonne Goolagong Cawley: 68
- Billy Jean King: 67
- Virginia Wade: 55
- Monica Seles: 53
- Lindsay Davenport: 46
- Martina Hingis: 40
- Conchita Martinez: 33
- Venus Williams: 31
- Tracy Austin: 30
Most Titles in a Season
- Margaret Court: 21 (1970)
- Margaret Court: 18 (1969, 1973)
- Bily Jean King: 17 1971
- Chris Evert: 16 (1974, 1975)
- Martina Navratilova: 16 (1983)
- Evonne Goolagong Cawley: 15 (1970)
- Martina Navratilova: 15 (1982)
Oldest Winners of a Title
- Billie Jean King: 39 yrs, 7 mos, 23 days (1983 Birmingham)
- Martina Navratilova: 37 yrs, 4 mos, 2 days (1994 Paris Indoors)
- Margaret Court: 34 yrs, 4 mos, 26 days (1976 Melbourne)
Youngest Winners of a Title
- Tracy Austin: 14 yrs, 28 days (1977 Portand)
- Andrea Jaeger: 14 yrs, 7 mos, 14 days (1980 Las Vegas)
- Kathy Rinaldi: 14 yrs, 6 mos, 24 days (1981 Kyoto)
Match Win Leaders in Open Era
- Martina Navratilova: 1442
- Chris Evert: 1304
- Steffi Graf: 900
- Virginia Wade: 839
- Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario: 759
- Conchita Martinez: 711
- Evonne Goolagong Cawley: 704
- Billy Jean King: 695
- Lindsay Davenport: 635
- Gabriela Sabatini: 632
- Pam Shriver: 625
- Helena Sukova: 614
- Nathalie Tauziat: 606
Longest Winning Streaks
- 74 - Martina Navratilova (1984)
- 66 - Steffi Graf (1989-90)
- 58 - Martina Navratilova (1986-87)
- 57 - Margaret Court (1972-73)
- 55 - Chris Evert (1974)
- 54 - Martina Navratilova (1983-84)
Calendar-year Grand Slams
- Maureen Connolly (United States) in 1953
- Margaret Court (Australia) in 1970
- Steffi Graf (Germany) in 1988
Non calendar-year Grand Slams
- Martina Navratilova (United States): 1983 Wimbledon, US Open, Australian Open & 1984 French Open
- Steffi Graf (Germany): 1993 French Open, Wimbledon, US Open, 1994 Australian Open
- Serena Williams (United States): 2002 French Open, Wimbledon, US Open, 2003 Australian Open
Career Grand Slams
(year indicates first victory in a particular Slam)
- Doris Hart (United States) - 1949 Australian Open, 1950 French Open, 1951 Wimbledon, 1954 US Open
- Shirley Fry (United States) - 1957 Australian Open, 1951 French Open, 1956 Wimbledon, 1956 US
- Billie Jean King (United States) - 1968 Australian Open, 1972 French Open, 1966 Wimbledon, 1967 US Open
- Chris Evert (United States) - 1982 Australian Open, 1974 French Open, 1974 Wimbledon, 1975 US
- Martina Navratilova (United States) - 1981 Australian Open, 1982 French Open, 1978 Wimbledon, 1983 US Open
- Serena Williams (United States) - 2003 Australian Open, 2002 French Open, 2002 Wimbledon, 1999 US Open
Grand Slam Title Leaders
| Player
| Australian Open
| French Open
| Wimbledon
| US Open
| Overall
| Total
|
| | S | D | MD | S | D | MD | S | D | MD | S | D | MD | S | D | MD |
|
| Margaret Smith Court | 11 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 24 | 19 | 19 | 62
|
| Martina Navratilova | 3 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 18 | 31 | 9 | 58
|
| Billie Jean King | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 11 | 39
|
| M. Osbourne Dupont | DNP | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 9 | 6 | 21 | 10 | 37
|
| Doris Hart | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 15 | 35
|
[S=Singles; D=Doubles; MD= Mixed Doubles]
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