Halep celebrates seven consecutive years ranked in the Top 10

With the 2021 Australian Open only a few weeks away, Simona Halep already has reason to celebrate. The former World No.1 made her Top 10 debut in the WTA Rankings exactly seven years ago, and has been a consistent fixture ever since.

The Romanian has now been ranked inside the Top 10 for 346 consecutive weeks, the 8th best streak in WTA history. The mark is only topped by Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Stefanie Graf, Gabriela Sabatini, Pam Shriver, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, and Hana Mandlikova.

"This news is huge, it's an honor," Halep told WTA Insider this week from Adelaide, Australia, as she prepares for the start of her 2021 season. "This will make me smile all day today, maybe all week."

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Among the current Top 10, the next closest streak for consecutive weeks in the Top 10 belongs to Karolina Pliskova (209, since the week of September 12, 2016) and Elina Svitolina (173, since the week of May 22, 2017).

Halep made her Top 10 debut on January 24, 2014 following her maiden appearance at a Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open. Since then, the 29-year old has reached the No.1 or No.2 ranking and posted a Top 5 finish at the end of each year. Furthermore, she has won 16 WTA singles titles, including two Grand Slams and eight WTA 1000 events.

"My goal was not just to win a tournament or a Slam," Halep revealed. "Of course, every player in the top wants to win a Grand Slam. I wanted that badly. I wanted to be No.1 badly. But it came as a package, not as the one focus. I think that's why I could be consistent over the years."