Tennis remains one of the most popular global sports that over the span of one season covers the majority of the world. Mastering the sport is said to be one of the toughest jobs as the tournaments are held under different conditions and varying surfaces as per the best suitability for the sport.
While the majority of the events are played on outdoor hard courts, indoor hardcourts are also seen being used over the course of the season with a shift in Tour seen during the Golden Swing, when the matches are played on clay courts followed by the Grasscourt season. Players don’t often get enough time to prepare for different surfaces as the events are lined up back-to-back adding to the challenge the sport brings.
Managing a winning streak under these obstacles requires a great deal of focus, determination, hard work and a slice of little luck. Despite the numerous challenges, some of the finest women have etched their names in record books with historic winning streaks, some of which remain unbroken to date.
Top 15 longest winning streaks in Women’s Tennis
Martina Navratilova – 74
18-time singles Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova holds the record for the longest winning streak in women’s tennis with the Czechoslovakian turned American player winning 74 consecutive matches. Her streak started in February at the 1984 U.S. Indoor Championships and was snapped with a semi-final loss to Helena Suková in the 1986 Australian Open in December.
Steffi Graf – 66
22-time Grand Slam champion Steffi Graf, the only player to win all 4 Grand Slam titles and the Olympics Gold in the same year (1988) features second on the list for the longest winning streak with the German going undefeated in 66 matches with the streak starting mid-way in the 1989 season and extending to the 1990 season where she was defeated by Monica Seles in the finals of German Open in Berlin.
Martina Navratilova – 58
Martina Navratilova features once again in the list, this time in the 1986 and 1987 seasons. With the streak starting in ’86, Martina’s brilliance and dominance were again on display with the streak ending in the finals of the 1987 Australian Open when Hana Mandlikova got the better of Martina in the finals denying the American her 4th Australian Open title.
Margaret Court – 57
The greatest Grand Slam champion ever, Margaret Court was the first to win 50 matches on the trot with the legendary Australian player winning 57 matches before being defeated in Indianapolis in 1972 by Billie Jean King. The record stood for more than a decade before Martina snapped it in 1984-85.
Chris Evert – 55
American great Chris Evert came very close to breaking Court’s record of 57 wins in the 1974 season but she was stopped by Margaret’s compatriot Evonne Googalong Cawley in the semi-finals of the 1974 US Open. It was the first time Chris went on to claim more than 40 consecutive wins, a streak she repeated later in her career once again.
Martina Navratilova – 54
The 1980s are remembered as Martina’s decade for a variety of reasons and her winning streaks are part of them. Featuring in the list for the third time, the streak achieved during the 1983 and 84 seasons was the legendary player’s third streak when she racked up 50 consecutive wins. Hana Mandlikova defeated her in the finals of Oklahoma in January 1984 ending her streak and stopping her from drawing level with Evert’s record of 55 wins.
Stefi Graf – 46
Graf’s second appearance on the list comes with the courtesy of her 46-match unbeaten streak achieved during her Golden year in 1988 when she clinched all the majors and the Olympics Gold. The streak came to an end in the Virginia Slims Championships that year with Pam Shriver stopping Graf in her tracks from inching closer to a 50-match unbeaten streak.
Stefi Graf – 45
The brilliance in 1988 had been shown in the 1987 season by Stefi when she won 45 consecutive matches in the season with the Clay season seeing the best of the German. The streak came to an end in the finals of Wimbledon that year with Navratilova getting the better of the German to clinch her penultimate Wimbledon title.
Chris Evert – 41
Chris Evert breached the 40-match winning streak for the first time clinching 41 wins on the trot with the streak beginning in the 1975 season. Evert carried her form into the 1976 season with the streak coming to a halt in Houston by Martina Navratilova.
Martina Navratilova – 41
Martina Navratilova’s final appearance in the list comes with her run in the 1982 season when she was defeated by Pam Shriver in the 1982 US Open quarter-finals stopping Martina from overtaking Evert in the list who had achieved a similar feat 6 seasons ago that was stopped by the American herself.
Martina Hingis – 37
Former World No. 1 and 5-time Grand Slam champion Martina Hingis won 37 matches on the trot during the 1997 season with her streak starting in Australia and ending in the finals of the 1997 French Open where Iva Majoli defeated her in straight-sets. It was the only loss in Grand Slams in the year for Hingis who won all 3 majors that season with only the Roland Garros eluding her, a brilliant season that she had before turning 17 years old.
Iga Swiatek – 37
Iga Swiatek became the first woman in the 21st century to win 36 matches on the trot with the Pole achieving the feat by winning her first-round match at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships. Her streak started at the 2022 Qatar Open in Doha and ended in the 3rd round of the 2022 Wimbledon losing to Alize Cornet. During the run, she captured 6 consecutive titles, one Grand Slam in Paris, four WTA-1000 titles in Qatar, Indian Wells, Miami and Rome along with the WTA-500 Stuttgart Open on Clay.
Monica Seles – 36
Aged 16, Seles went on a 36-match unbeaten streak. She won 6 titles during the run including the 1990 French Open which made her the youngest champion at the Grand Slam, a record that remains unmatched to date. Her streak came to an end in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon that year but not without declaring that a new champion had stepped on the court.
Venus Williams – 35
Venus Williams winning 35 consecutive matches on the trot starting from the 2002 Wimbledon to the 2002 Linz Open remains the longest winning streak achieved in the 21st century. The run saw her clinch the Wimbledon title, the US Open title, and Olympic Gold in Singles. She had also claimed the Wimbledon doubles and Olympics Gold in Doubles along with sister Serena during the record-breaking run. Venus’ streak came to an end with a defeat in the finals of Linz by Lindsay Davenport.
Serena Williams – 34
Serena Williams also makes her mark on the list with her 34-match winning run achieved in the 2013 season. She was 78-4 for the season with the streak starting in the Miami Open and continuing till Wimbledon where she looked favourite for a successful title defence. She however lost in the fourth round to Sabine Lisicki, ending 1 match shy of matching her sister’s record.
