The American soared to 17th in the world after she defeated France's Marion Bartoli to claim her fourth singles title at the All England Club on Saturday night.
Williams's ranking had nose-dived after injury restricted her to just six events in 2006.
Despite entering Wimbledon ranked 31st in the world and seeded 23, she walked away with the top prize.
Bartoli also reaped the benefits of her surprise run to the final by jumping eight places to a career-high 11th.
There was no change in the top three with Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova and Jelena Jankovic preserving their places.
In the men's standings led by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, Wimbledon semi-finalists Novak Djokovic and Richard Gasquet are both enjoying career-high rankings.
While Serbian Djokovic leapfrogged Andy Roddick and Nikolay Davydenko into third, France's Gasquet entered the top 10 for the first time at number seven. © 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
