On this day 20 years ago, Venus Williams got to No. 1 in one of the toughest eras in women’s tennis

On February 25th, 2002, exactly 20 years ago to this day, Venus Williams rose to No. 1 on the WTA rankings, not only becoming the first African-American to reach No. 1 in either ATP or WTA rankings history—since 1973 and 1975, respectively—but also getting to the top spot in what was easily one of the toughest eras in the history of women’s tennis.

Including Venus, nine of the Top 10 women at the time were, had been or would become multiple Grand Slam champions and reach No. 1.

WTA TOP 10 ON FEBRUARY 25, 2002
1. Venus Williams
2. Jennifer Capriati
3. Lindsay Davenport
4. Kim Clijsters
5. Martina Hingis
6. Justine Henin
7. Monica Seles
8. Jelena Dokic
9. Serena Williams
10. Amelie Mauresmo

Five of the above players had already won multiple Grand Slam titles and reached No. 1 by then (Venus, Capriati, Davenport, Hingis and Seles). Four more would eventually achieve those things (Clijsters, Henin, Serena and Mauresmo). Dokic was still just 18 years old at the time, but had already had two huge runs at Wimbledon, reaching the quarterfinals as a 16-year-old in 1999 and the semifinals as a 17-year-old in 2000, and she would eventually make it as high as No. 4 on the WTA rankings.

Venus had to do a historic amount of winning to get to No. 1. She already had four majors at the time—Wimbledon and the US Open in 2000, then Wimbledon and the US Open again in 2001—and since the WTA rankings began in 1975, she’s the only woman to get to No. 1 after winning four majors, everyone else doing it after three or fewer.

That doesn’t include the first two No. 1s, Chris Evert and Evonne Goolagong, who both won their first four majors before the WTA rankings began in 1975.

In the 12-month period that led Venus to No. 1 she won nine titles, including Wimbledon and the US Open in 2001, as well as 56 of the 61 matches she played.

And though the official computer rankings only began in the 1970s, Venus pointed out that she wasn’t the first African-American to reach the top of the sport: “Well, it would be foolish to forget Althea Gibson, also,” Venus said. “She was the first.”

Gibson was a five-time Grand Slam champion, once at Roland Garros (1956) and twice each at Wimbledon (1957, 1958) and the US Open (1957, 1958).

Venus would win 24 of her next 28 matches over the next four and a half months, going back and forth at No. 1 with Capriati until Serena took over the top spot on July 8, 2002.

Today, both Williams sisters are still active, though they’ve both been out of action due to injury since last summer. Venus was ranked in the Top 10 as recently as 2018, and Serena was still in the elite as recently as last July.