Maria wants to be No1 !

"I want to be No 1," was Maria Sharapova's reply, one that she has repeated many times in public.

The 17-year-old Russian, still coming to terms with winning Wimbledon three months ago, seemed to have the final in the bag.

Like Germany's Boris Becker, US's Michael Chang and Monica Seles, and Switzerland's Martina Hingis before her, all of whom won a grand-slam title before being old enough to vote, beautiful Maria is discovering that early achievement has to be handled with caution.

(BBC TV had to pull out all the stops to gain only 12 minutes with Maria last week for December's Sports Personality of the Year show.)

"I hope I've shown people why I won Wimbledon," Maria Sharapova said that after telling the media all week that she wants to forget about the past and "move on".