Murray's Big 3 shadow, Venus' short stays—The 5 Most Underrated No. 1s

From career titles and winning streaks to ranking breakthroughs and in-match numbers, tennis is a stat-lover’s playground. And with so many big names achieving so many big things seemingly every week, many of the sport's most incredible stats are forgotten as time goes by—underrated, if you will.

Since tour rankings began in the 1970s, there have been 53 world No. 1s: 26 men and 27 women. And with so many names to remember, some of the most deserving ones aren’t always given the credit they’re due.

As part of Underrated Week, here are five of the most underrated No. 1s in tennis history:

When Clijsters first rose to No. 1 on August 11, 2003, it was after a 12-month stretch that saw her reach 15 finals, claim nine titles and win 92 of 105 matches. But there was one thing missing: a major. The Belgian was the first of several No. 1s without a major in the women’s game, and she spent the first 12 of her 20 career weeks atop the WTA rankings without a Grand Slam title to her name.

Fast forward to today, and she’s one of the most uniquely accomplished No. 1s in history.

After finally winning her first major at the 2005 US Open, she added another seven weeks at No. 1 in 2006, and then—after spending a few years in retirement and having her first child—she won three more majors as a mom, at the 2009 US Open, 2010 US Open and 2011 Australian Open.

Clijsters returned to No. 1 on February 14, 2011, seven-and-a-half years after her first ascent. She's the first and only mom ever to reach the top spot.

It was only for one week, but it remains in history books forever.

“I think for everything, there’s a time and a place,” Clijsters said. “Maybe it wasn’t my time yet in my first Grand Slam finals. Those motivate you to work harder, though. And sometimes I got a little frustrated when I got asked about not winning a Grand Slam in press conferences, but I just kept working hard.”

At the turn of the century, Rafter was one of the best tennis players in the world—he won the US Open in 1997 and 1998, reached two Wimbledon finals in 2000 and 2001, and also won a Grand Slam doubles title at the 1999 Australian Open. But with just one career week at No. 1—the shortest stay at No. 1 in the history of tennis, male or female—he’s most certainly one of the most overlooked greats of the game.

In fact, nobody ever saw him play a match as No. 1—because he didn’t.

The 12 months that led Rafter to No. 1 began in 1998, where he swept the three biggest titles of the summer hardcourt season—back-to-back Masters events in Canada and Cincinnati, and then the US Open. Shortly after reaching the Wimbledon semifinals the next summer, he rose to No. 1 on July 26, 1999—but seven days later, Pete Sampras won a tournament in L.A. and replaced him.

Rafter didn’t play that week.

“I always joke with the players,” the Australian said. “They say, ‘Congratulations, mate, you made No. 1.’ I say, ‘Yeah, one week.’ They say, ‘At least you bloody got it. At least you can say you got there.’”

Rafter is also the only ATP No. 1 ever to win more Grand Slam titles than the number of weeks spent at No. 1. And the only WTA No. 1 to pull that off is next up on the countdown…

It’s one thing to win seven Grand Slam titles and only spend two weeks at No. 1—but what if you didn’t even know you were No. 1 until over 30 years later? That’s what happened to Goolagong, whose two weeks at No. 1—from April 26 to May 9, 1976—weren’t even discovered until 2007.

The discovery happened when paper records of the WTA rankings between April and July 1976 were uncovered, and they showed that Goolagong had in fact been No. 1 for two weeks.

“It’s something that I’m very, very proud of,” an overjoyed Goolagong said upon hearing the news. “I was on a roll for that stretch in 1976. It was a great surprise to hear after all these years.”

Goolagong’s seven majors—four Australian Opens, one French Open and two Wimbledons—are just the tip of the iceberg of an incredible career. She reached another 11 major finals, captured two year-end championship titles, and even won her last Grand Slam title at 1980 Wimbledon as a mother.

In one stretch from 1973 to 1977, she won or reached the final at 10 of the 11 majors she played.

But alas, Goolagong went her whole career—as well as the first 22 years of her retirement—not even knowing she was a No. 1. She wasn’t just an underrated No. 1, she was an unknown No. 1.

“To have it recognized after so long makes it even more special,” the Australian added.

Serena was the first Williams to win a major, at the 1999 US Open, but for the next few years, it was Venus who was often regarded as the best player in the world, at one point winning four of six majors—Wimbledon and the US Open in 2000, then Wimbledon and the US Open again in 2001.

Because she didn’t play week-in, week-out like a lot of the other top players, Venus didn’t get to No. 1 in either 2000 or 2001. But after a 12-month period that saw her win nine tournaments—including those last two majors—and 56 of 61 matches, she finally rose to No. 1 on February 25, 2002.

“You don’t aspire to be No. 3 or No. 2. Normally you do your best to become the best,” she said. “At this point I’m the best player in the world, so that’s exciting, and it’s going to be mine at least a week.”

Venus would spend a total of 11 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1, bouncing back and forth with Jennifer Capriati until Serena knocked them both out for good on July 8, 2002, after Wimbledon. She would go on to win three more majors, all at Wimbledon, in 2005, 2007 and 2008.

Out of the 27 women who’ve reached No. 1, Venus is tied for sixth-most Grand Slam titles, alongside Goolagong and Justine Henin—but she’s ranked fourth-lowest for total weeks at No. 1.

Her emphasis on Grand Slams over rankings has always been evident, though.

“I think if I had been No. 1 and not won any Grand Slams, it would be less of a significance. But having won Grand Slams, that really makes it a lot more enjoyable, and I just feel like I deserve it.”

When the three greatest players of all time are all playing in your era and you get to No. 1, that time at the top is worth so much more—and that’s exactly why Murray is at the top of this list.

The Big 3 of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have each won more majors than any other men in tennis history with 20, 19 and 17, respectively, and the bulk of that haul has come in the last 15 years—they’ve won 52 of the last 60 majors. They’ve also had an almost complete stranglehold on the No. 1 ranking, hoarding it for all but 41 weeks since Federer first got there over 16 years ago on February 2, 2004.

The player who took No. 1 away from the Big 3 for 41 weeks was Murray. It's even more impressive when you consider that he’s the only player other than the Big 3 to even be in the Top 2 since July 25, 2005.

Murray isn’t just the only man to storm the Big 3’s castle, he sat on their throne.

“I’ve had a lot of hard losses. It’s not easy losing your first four Slam finals,” he said. “I had a lot of questions asked of my mental state in big matches. But I just kept working, kept trying to find ways to get better. So it’s been hard, but I’ve enjoyed it. I just tried to keep learning all the time.”

Murray’s a three-time major champion, winning the US Open in 2012 and two Wimbledons in 2013 and 2016. He’s also been a runner-up eight times—five times at the Australian Open and once at each of the other majors. He also has two Olympic gold medals in singles, at London in 2012 and Rio in 2016—by contrast, the Big 3 have one gold medal in singles between them (Nadal at Beijing in 2008).

He spent his 41 weeks at No. 1 from November 7, 2016 to August 20, 2017. In any other era, it probably would’ve been for a lot longer.

He'll have to settle for No. 1—forever—on our list.

UNDERRATED TRAITS OF THE GREATS: Roger Federer—Winning ugly | Simona Halep—Boldness | Rafael Nadal—When to come to net | Sofia Kenin—Variety | Pete Sampras—Movement | Serena Williams—Plan B | Novak Djokovic—Forehand versatility | Chris Evert—Athleticism | Daniil Medvedev—Reading the room | Naomi Osaka—Return of serve

RANKINGS: The five most underrated tennis stats | The five most underrated No. 1s | The five most underrated Grand Slam runs

YOUR GAME: Why mental strength is underrated | Five underrated tennis tactics