The fans besieging London's Savoy Hotel in the small hours of Monday morning, clutching autograph books and cameras, said it all.

It was 1.30 in the morning and a throng of bright-eyed fanatics of all ages were waiting for just a glimpse of Maria Sharapova.

The Russian champion, a silver lining to a sodden, rain-hit Wimbledon, evokes extreme passion.

Guests at the Champions Ball were caught in a log-jam as they tried to leave the post-Wimbledon party and the fans who had waited hours to see the 17-year-old Siberian jostled for photographs and autographs.

Nobody was complaining, though, for the 1.83-metre Sharapova has created a welcome tidal wave of interest in tennis, something missing in recent years.

Not since another ice-cool, blond-haired player, Bjorn Borg, walked through the gates of the All England Club in 1973 has there been such public hysteria surrounding a tennis player.

Then it was excited teenage girls hounding the Swede with a fervour usually reserved for pop stars.

HIGHEST QUALITY

Not even Anna Kournikova evoked such passion when she broke on to the scene. To look good on court is one thing, but Sharapova can actually play the game too. Extremely well.

She proved it over 13 days at the world's most prestigious tournament. Playing tennis of the highest quality throughout, the Russian's triumph not only lifted the tournament from fits of rain-induced depression but also salvaged the season for the women's tour, desperately missing its two leading players Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters.

Sharapova was given no easy ride in the tournament, having to beat 1999 champion Lindsay Davenport in the semi-finals and twice-champion Serena Williams for the title.

Neither caused her much concern, her victory over Williams exemplifying her determination and lack of nerves.

"I don't remember too much about the final," Sharapova giggled. "I was in my own place."

She will find it increasingly hard to find any place to call her own from now on after advertisers identified her as the most marketable woman in sport.

In Russia she is sensational news. She headlined the news bulletins and was telephoned by former president Boris Yeltsin after her triumph.

PECKING ORDER

The 6-1, 6-4 victory was incredible. It was the most one-sided loss suffered by Williams for 210 matches, going back to a 6-2, 6-1 loss to Mary Pierce in March 2000.

There could hardly have been a more emphatic way to announce a change in the pecking order of the women's game.

Sharapova will return to her adoptive Florida home knowing life will never be the same again.

But the girl who arrived in the United States aged seven with her father and just $700 (382.6 pounds) is determined not to let fame and riches detract from her number one love, tennis.

"I know things will start coming up and that many more things will want to get involved, but I want to keep my head cool and play tennis," she said.

"I don't know how this is going to change my life but I hope it doesn't change the person who I am right now. I don't really want that to happen."