On April 23, the International Table Tennis Federation announced a new edition of the world rankings, and Sun Yingsha unexpectedly continued to lead the women's singles rankings, so that she has accumulated 100 weeks at the top of the rankings.
On February 1, 2022, Sun Yingsha's world ranking surpassed Chen Meng and sat on the top spot of the women's singles world ranking for the first time. Seven weeks later, Chen Meng regained the top spot. However, Sun Yingsha did not give up her determination to regain the top, and on July 19 of that year, she once again rushed to the top of the rankings and has maintained her lead ever since. As of this week, Sun Yingsha's cumulative time at the top of the women's singles ranking has reached exactly 100 weeks.
Since October 1991, the International Table Tennis Federation has adopted computer rankings, during which 11 players have tasted the taste of the world No. 1 women's singles rankings, and 5 of the 11 famous players are Grand Slam winners: Deng Yaping, Wang Nan, Zhang Yining, Li Xiaoxia, Ding Ning. Although the other six are not Grand Slam winners, they have all won singles world championships, they are Guo Yue, Guo Yan, Liu Shiwen, Zhu Yuling, Chen Meng, and Sun Yingsha.
According to the cumulative ranking time, Sun Yingsha temporarily ranked seventh with a performance of 100 weeks, and the six people in front of her were: Deng Yaping, Zhang Yining, Ding Ning, Wang Nan, Chen Meng, and Liu Shiwen. Sun Yingsha's final rush to the top spot will be a highlight of her athletic career.
Among the six players who did not win the Grand Slam title, Guo Yue, Guo Yan, Liu Shiwen and Zhu Yuling have retired, while Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha still have a chance to achieve Grand Slam greatness.
There are all kinds of indications that Sun Yingsha, who is in the prime of her career, is likely to become the sixth women's Grand Slam winner in history. Sasha won her first World Cup women's singles title last Sunday and is now just one Grand Slam away from the Olympic women's singles title. In contrast, Chen Meng's chances of hitting the Grand Slam are not great, although her Grand Slam puzzle is currently missing the World Championships women's singles title, but she has only won the women's singles championship in international competitions once since the 2022 season, and Sun Yingsha has won the championship 12 times during this period.
The Paris Olympics will kick off in three months, can the Paris Games become a witness to the highlight moments of Sun Yingsha's sports career?