What the top 10 in the WTA rankings looked like 25 years ago including the coach of current world number nine

Follow us on Google Discover

The WTA rankings look very different to how they did 25 years ago at the start of the millennium.

Aryna Sabalenka has finished 2025 as the world number one for a second consecutive season, being rewarded for winning the US Open and three other titles.

Closely following the Belarusian are Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek and French Open winner Coco Gauff.

Another of the current top 10 players is Mirra Andreeva, whose coach was also a top 10 player 25 years ago.

What the WTA rankings looked like 25 years ago

Current world number one Sabalenka has 10,870 ranking points, with tournaments now offering more in 2025.

This is over 4,000 more points than the world number one in November 2000, with Martina Hingis ending the year at the top of the WTA rankings for a third time.

Hingis had an over 1,000 point lead over Lindsay Davenport, who was the Australian Open champion at the time, and there was an even greater distance to world number three Venus Williams.

Nine-time Grand Slam champion Monica Seles was fourth in the rankings, with Conchita Martinez and Serena Williams following.

Making up the top 10 in the rankings at the time were Mary Pierce, Anna Kournikova, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Nathalie Tauziat.

Despite being 25 years ago, Venus Williams is still an active WTA player at 45 years old and won her first match in 16 months at the Washington Open back in July.

Williams is not the only player who still features on the WTA Tour, with Martinez now the coach of world number nine Mirra Andreeva.

Conchita Martinez’s achievements as a coach on the WTA Tour

Martinez is a Tennis Hall of Famer, having found her biggest success when she won the Wimbledon singles title in 1994.

The Spaniard has since made the tricky transition to becoming a coach, which started during a trial run with Garbine Muguruza, who is the only player to have beaten both Williams sisters in major finals.

Martinez first joined Muguruza’s team at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships, helping her compatriot win a second Grand Slam title.

After a successful 16-month period with former world number one Karolina Pliskova, Martinez became Muguruza’s coach on a permanent basis.

Martinez helped Muguruza win three more titles including the WTA Finals, and was subsequently named the Coach of the Year in 2021.

In April 2024, Martinez became the coach of teenage sensation Andreeva, and their partnership is still ongoing.

Andreeva has won all three of her WTA titles under Martinez, including 1000 level tournaments in Dubai and Indian Wells, and looks set to continue this relationship going forward.