Very few players have competed in more matches than both Serena and Venus Williams.
Venus Williams is still playing tennis at 45 years old, and she has already been announced to compete at the WTA tournament in Auckland next year.
While her younger sister announced her retirement over three years ago, there have been some rumours about Serena coming back to tennis.
Serena has denied these rumours, but regardless of whether she does come back or not it seems very unlikely that she will play more matches than her compatriot who has never won a WTA title before.
Varvara Lepchenko: Has played more matches than the Williams sisters but never won a title
Only three WTA players have played more matches than Varvara Lepchenko (Martina Navratilova – 1661, Chris Evert -1455, Tatjana Maria – 1268), the American player who has now competed in 1244 matches in her career.
Lepchenko is still competing on the WTA Tour at 39 years old and has been a professional tennis player since 2001.
While she is now outside the top 140, Lepchenko has been ranked as high as world number 19, the career-high ranking she achieved in 2012.
Lepchenko has won 710 matches in her career, but she has never been able to get her hands on a main tour WTA title.
The closest she has come to this is at the Korea Open in 2014, where she reached the final before losing to Karolina Pliskova.
Lepchenko’s biggest career title came at the lower-level WTA 125 event in Charleston, where she won the title in 2021.
| Matches Played | Win-loss Record | WTA Titles Won | |
| Varvara Lepchenko | 1244 | 710-534 (57.1%) | 0 |
| Venus Williams | 1100 | 819-281 (74.5%) | 49 |
| Serena Williams | 1010 | 858-152 (85.0%) | 73 |
While they have both played fewer matches than Lepchenko in their careers, Serena and Venus Williams have won a combined 122 singles titles, with 30 of them being Grand Slams.
The Williams sisters have also won more matches than Lepchenko, who has a 57.1% win-loss record in her career.
What makes the number of matches Lepchenko has played even more remarkable is that she served a 21-month ban between August 2021 and May 2023 after testing positive for a banned substance.
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Lepchenko has made 46 Grand Slam main draw appearances in her career, with her best results coming at the French Open and the US Open where she reached the second week.
After facing her ban from tennis, Lepchenko was unable to qualify for the main draw of a Grand Slam until the 2024 US Open.
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Lepchenko was even able to reach the second round at the US Open last year, but has been unable to qualify for a Grand Slam main draw since then.
| Grand Slam | Varvara Lepchenko’s main draw appearances | Varvara Lepchenko’s Best Result |
| Australian Open | 11 | Third Round (2015 & 2016) |
| French Open | 14 | Fourth Round (2012) |
| Wimbledon | 10 | Third Round (2012) |
| US Open | 11 | Fourth Round (2015) |
The latest tournament Lepchenko played was at the WTA 125 event in Quito, Ecuador, where she lost in the second round.
Lepchenko has now finished her 2025 season as the world number 143, which means she will have to play qualifying again if she is to return to Grand Slam main draws at the Australian Open next year.
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