Top 10 longest winning streaks in Women's Singles Tennis

It seems impossible for anyone to break Martina Navratilova's record.

We are into the finals of the Wimbledon and the excitement around Tennis is at its peak. The biggest news of this year’s Wimbledon till now (at least in the Women’s division) is the end of Iga Swiatek’s winning run. Swiatek’s run extended to 37 matches before coming to an end in the third round of this year’s Wimbledon.

The Women’s section has seen previously seen dominance like this by certain individuals. There have been many legendary players who went on in long winning runs over the years. Here is a look at the longest winning streaks in Women’s Singles Tennis:

10. Martina Navratilova (41 games)

Martina Navratilova is considered to be one of the greatest tennis players of all times. She has 18 singles Grand Slam titles to her name and 31 doubles Grand Slam titles to go on top of that. She has won the Wimbledon title a record 9 times. Her name is a recurrent one on this list. Navratilova was World No. 1 in singles for 332 weeks, the second highest in history. Her 41 games unbeaten streak came in 1982 and ended with her defeat against Pam Shriver in the 1982 US Open.

9. Chris Evert (41 games)

Chris Evert was one of the main rivals of Martina Navratilova back in the 70s and 80s. The American has 18 Grand Slam titles to her name. These 18 titles include a record seven French Open title wins and a joint highest 6 US open titles.  Like her rival she too has 41-game unbeaten streak which started in 1975 and was ended by Martina in 1976. Evert’s name too will feature again later on in the list.

8. Stefanie Graf (45 games)

Stefanie “Steffi” Graf is another one of the greats of the game. She was ranked World No. 1 for a record 377 weeks. She has 22 Grand Slam titles to her name, only behind Serena Williams and Margaret Court. The German is also the first tennis player to win the Golden Slam by winning all four Grand Slam titles   and the Olympic gold medal in the same year. Steffi’s 45 games winning streak came in 1987 and her streak too was ended by Martina Navratilova.

7. Stefanie Graf (46 games)

After her 45 game streak was ended by Navratilova in 1987, Steffi Graf came back with another streak in 1988. This time she won 46 matches in a row. Pam Shriver who ended Martina’s 41 match winning streak back in 1982 also ended Steffi Graf’s streak this time. Shriver got the better of Graf in the semifinals of the Virginia Slims Championships.

6. Martina Navratilova (54 games)

Navratilova’s 41 games winning run in 1982 was bettered by her in 1983. This time around the American went on a 54 match winning streak. This run included three Grand Slam title wins. Her winning streak finally came to an end when she lost against Hana Mandlikova in Oakland

 5. Chris Evert (55 games)

Martina’s closest rival Chris Evert’s career best winning streak came almost a decade earlier in 1974. Her 55 game winning streak was a record at that time and included French Open and Wimbledon, along with 14 other tournaments. The run finally came to an end when she was defeated in the Semi Finals of the US Open by Evonne Goolagong.

4. Margaret Court (57 games)

Margaret Court is the most decorated player in Tennis in terms of Grand Slam titles. She has won 24 singles Grand Slam titles in her career the highest by any player in history. On top of her singles titles 19 Grand Slam Women’s doubles titles and 21 Grand Slam Mixed doubles titles against her name. The Australian is also the first woman to win the singles Grand Slam when she won all the Grand Slam titles in 1970. She went on a winning streak of 57 games in 1972 which was finally ended by Billie Jean King in Indianapolis.

3. Martina Navratilova (58 games)

1987 was a year of dominance for Martina Navratilova.  She won both the Wimbledon and the US Open in that year. Navratilova went on a 58 games winning streak in that period that ended with her defeat in the Australian open final. Once again it was Mandlikova who ended her winning streak.

2. Stefanie Graf (66 games)

Steffi Graf’s loss against Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the French Open of 1989 was her last loss in 1989. Her next loss was in 1990 to Monica Seles in Berlin after a 66 match winning run. In that period she won the US Open, Wimbledon and the Australian Open among other trophies.

1. Martina Navratilova (74 games)

The all time longest win streak belongs to Martina Navratilova. Martina was almost untouchable in the first part of the 80s. After a change in her exercise plan and her racquet the American became almost ubeatable. Her unbeaten streak lasted from 1983 to 1984 in which period she won all the Grand Slam titles there were to win. Her 74 games winning streak only came to a halt in the last Grand Slam title of 1984, The Australian Open. She lost in the semifinals to Helena Sukova who came back from one set down to end the streak and advance into the finals.

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