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The 2008 world junior No 1 lost her throne this season to French Open champion Kristina Mladenovic of France. But Noppawan climbed three spots from No 4 to the pinnacle after upsetting Mladenovic in the girls' singles final at the All England Club then going on to win the doubles trophy along with Australian partner Sally Peers.

The 17-year-old has finally proved she deserves the No 1 ranking after finishing top in 2008 without winning a Major singles title. She was a runner-up in the Wimbledon singles last year and won the US Open doubles title.

"I know that some people had questioned my position. But now I've proved that I truly deserve to be No 1. I can't stop people from thinking the way they do, but the Wimbledon singles title spoke for me," said Noppawan who has 1,322.50 points against second-place Mladenovic's 1,313.75 points.

Noppawan is expected to get a huge welcome from fans and media when she returns to Bangkok this afternoon. She said she is looking forward to eating her father's northern cooking as soon as she gets home.

"My dad's food is the best. It's so good that I can't stop eating it and I often put on weight when I'm at home. But I think I'll also be very busy with other stuff," said Noppawan, who has a tight schedule, with newspapers, magazines and television stations waiting to interview the new junior tennis queen.

Elsewhere, Danai Udomchoke's return to the ATP tour in Newport, USA, was cut short on Monday when he lost to India's Prakash Amritraj |6-1 6-4 in the first round of the US$500,000 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.