As Victoria Azarenka wakes today to a new world order that officially declares her the 21st women's No1 in rankings history, the Australian Open champion has declared there is ''no limit'' to how much she can improve in a year that has already delivered her maiden Grand Slam title during an unbeaten opening month.
And her best chance to win a second major?
''Well, the next one is the French Open, so I'm definitely going to work my butt off to get that one,'' Azarenka, a two-time Roland Garros quarter-finalist, said yesterday.
After her 6-3, 6-0 finals rout of triple major winner Maria Sharapova, the Belarusian restated her determination to continue as she is, for her greater mental strength has been widely credited for her breakthrough. Yet Azarenka also acknowledged how much has now changed - just as it did for Li Na, Petra Kvitova and Sam Stosur, the three first-timers to win singles Slams immediately before her, who have all struggled since. Indeed, in the past decade only Serena Williams, Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters have won back-to-back majors.
''I think a lot more people will have more motivation to beat me and there's going to be certain pressure from media,'' Azarenka said.
''People are going to look up and have higher expectations. So I think it's really exciting to go on the court and you have somebody on the other side who really, really wants to beat you. I enjoy that challenge so much.''
There have been others, of course, notably the period of doubt after a poor first-round loss to Daniela Hantuchova in Doha last February.
The time, famously, when Azarenka considered quitting the sport and going to university instead.
''But I was kind-of building my mountain, rock by rock, climbing, climbing, climbing, so it doesn't matter how I got here really. I enjoyed the whole journey,'' she said.
''And I just want to enjoy it all the way to the end of my career.''
In some respects, the 22-year-old is now in the middle stages, for the youngest Open champion since Sharapova in 2008 played her first senior tournament at the age of 13.
Until this fortnight, her best Slam result was a Wimbledon semi-final loss, but as Sharapova pointed out, Azarenka has won a premier level event [Miami] and last year reached the final of the WTA Championships, so if her experience had not been on the biggest stages, it was accumulating, bit by bit.
And Azarenka has already learned of the dangers of jumping too far ahead. Back in 2009, she won her first three WTA titles and made the last eight at Roland Garros and Wimbledon to enter the top 10 for the first time.
''I was young. I think I didn't really handle that success too well. I was thinking: 'Oh my God I achieved so much'. I didn't really think that I needed to improve more.
''Maybe at some point at a [sub]conscious level ... maybe somewhere deep inside I was really satisfied with that. Now I have a different approach. I'm never satisfied. I'm very hungry and I want to be better and better every day I step on the court. And not only on the court - when I do work in the gym, or when we do different things.''
Her coach of two years, Frenchman Sam Sumyk, has been a positive influence, although it was under his predecessor Antonio van Grichen that she made such impressive gains in 2009.
''Sam is a completely different coach with completely different approach and mentality,'' Azarenka said post-match.
''I had a really great partnership with Antonio, too. We achieved a lot of things.
''Sam, I feel like he was not pushing me, but guiding me towards that mental approach, to that winning attitude. He helped me to find my way, not pushing his way or something. So I owe him a lot for that, you know, for educating me. I think it's important, especially for the young players, to have that education. That you have to learn how to do it yourself, because in the end of the day you're the one who's holding the racquet. Nobody else is going to do that for you.''
Azarenka identifies Kvitova as one of her biggest rivals, but there is a broad spread of talent at the top end of the women's game, with five different winners of the past five majors, Serena Williams still lurking, and Sharapova recovering from her serious shoulder injury to figure in two of the past three finals.
''I really think that women's tennis is at a great stage right now,'' Azarenka said.
''We see so many good athletes, different Grand Slam winners. Somebody like Li Na who brought so much for China. For the world, for women's tennis it's amazing to see, like Sam Stosur - nobody I think really thought she would win a Grand slam and after a few years she really won, and how she did it, it was amazing.
''And Petra, at Wimbledon, and we see Serena back, Kim's back. I think it's a great stage to be at... It's exciting to see who's going to get that crown.
''I just want to keep improving. I feel like there is no limit, really... that's what my mentality is.''
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