Li Na hungry to clinch World No 1 ranking
Poster girl for Chinese stars of the future is eager to climb up the rankings to usurp Serena Williams at the top, but she needs more titles
Li Na said she was ready to work hard to become world No 1 yesterday after clinching a popular Australian Open victory, which looks set to accelerate China's tennis boom.
The Chinese star will return to third in the rankings when they are released today, just 11 points behind second-placed Victoria Azarenka, after downing Dominika Cibulkova for her - and Asia's - second grand slam singles title.
Li's third ranking is the highest achieved by an Asian player and she acknowledged she now had a chance of supplanting American great Serena Williams, winner of 17 grand slam titles, as world number one.
I'll show her one second, and then bring it to my house
"Of course, I have to win more matches or win more titles," she said, when asked about the prospect after her win at Rod Laver Arena.
"Now I'm pretty happy, I've just won the title. So I'll have a couple of days' rest, and then back to normal life training hard on the court again."
The 31-year-old added "everyone has a chance" to reach the top ranking, but she had a better opportunity than most after finally landing the Australian title after three appearances in the final.
Despite being favourite after the exits of Williams, Azarenka and Maria Sharapova, the fourth seed said many people underestimated how hard it was to win a grand slam.
"People don't know what you have to do to win the title, how many different things you have to prepare," she said.