Ranking Reaction: Ons Jabeur kicks off milestone 100th career week in the Top 10

On October 18th, 2021, after reaching the semifinals of the fall edition of Indian Wells that year, Ons Jabeur rose from No. 14 to No. 8 on the WTA rankings, and it was groundbreaking—she was the first Arab player to reach the Top 10 in either WTA or ATP rankings history.

Today, she reaches another milestone in her historic career—this week is her 100th career week in the Top 10 of the WTA rankings.

The Tunisian trailblazer spent 15 straight weeks in the Top 10 from October 18th, 2021 to January 30th, 2022, then dipped to No. 11 for just one week before moving back to No. 10 on February 7th, 2022, and this week is her 85th straight week in the elite since then.

Over half of her weeks in the Top 10 have been spent in the Top 5, 54 of them to be exact—including 22 weeks at a career-high of No. 2.

And by reaching No. 2 last June, Jabeur made even more history, becoming the highest-ranked player from Africa in either ATP or WTA rankings history. She surpassed South Africa’s Amanda Coetzer, who reached a career-high of No. 3 on the WTA rankings in 1997.

“I’m honestly living the dream,” Jabeur said at Wimbledon last year after reaching No. 2 for the first time. “I always wanted to achieve, always wanted to be in this level, always wanted to inspire players from my country, my continent. It’s very important. Honestly, I didn’t know I’m the first one to be No. 1 in African continent. I just read that. I’m like, ‘Wow, I’m really one step away from being No. 1.’

"I hope I inspire so many people from my country. One of my dreams is to see more players from the Arab world, from Africa. Hopefully let’s have, maybe in the next five years, more and more players.”

JABEUR’S 100 CAREER WEEKS IN THE TOP 10 BY RANKING:
No. 2: 22 weeks
No. 3: 4 weeks
No. 4: 10 weeks
No. 5: 18 weeks
No. 6: 10 weeks
No. 7: 10 weeks [including this week]
No. 8: 2 weeks
No. 9: 1 week
No. 10: 23 weeks

Speaking of former No. 2s and the Top 10, Barbora Krejcikova—who also reached a career-high of No. 2 in 2022—returns to the Top 10 this week, rising from No. 13 to No. 10 after capturing her second WTA title of the year in San Diego. She also won the doubles title at the WTA 500 event, making her the first woman to sweep singles and doubles at an event at the WTA 500 level or higher since the first week of the 2022 season, when Ashleigh Barty did it at the WTA 500 in Adelaide.

Three American women are also on the rise after big-time runs: Emma Navarro rises from No. 61 to No. 49, her Top 50 debut, after reaching the biggest semifinal of her career in San Diego; former No. 4 Sofia Kenin soars 40 spots from No. 93 to No. 53 after reaching the final there, her first final since 2020 Roland Garros; and 19-year-old Ashlyn Krueger soars 50 spots from No. 123 to No. 73, her Top 100 debut, after capturing the first WTA title of her career in Osaka.

Last but not least, Australian Kimberly Birrell makes her Top 100 debut, rising from No. 103 to No. 100, ending a rare four-week period without any Australian women in the Top 100 (since recently-injured Ajla Tomljanovic fell out of the Top 100 in August).

There are no major moves on the ATP rankings this week as it was a Davis Cup week without any ATP events.