ROME, Italy (AFP) — Jannik Sinner said Wednesday that winning the Australian Open has not changed him and he now has ambitions to be No. 1 in the world.

"I'm the same boy I was before I won the title," he insisted on his return to Rome.

"Feeling the warmth of the people, their enthusiasm, that pleases me, but I'm the same 'ragazzo' (lad) I was a fortnight ago," said the first Italian to win the Australian Open at a press conference at the headquarters of the Italian Tennis Federation.

His dramatic win over Daniil Medvedev on Sunday, which saw him come back from two sets down to win in five, sparked a wave of "Sinnermania" in Italy but the 22-year-old is keeping his feet firmly on the ground. 

"I'm taking this popularity in my stride," he said.

"I'm happy to share all these emotions but it was only one tournament, and it's possible that my results won't be as good" in the future, smiled the man who ended a 48-year Grand Slam drought for Italian men's tennis.

He is the first Italian man to win a major since Adriano Panatta — the only man to beat Bjorn Borg on the red clay of Roland Garros — beat Harold Solomon in the final of the 1976 French Open.

Since arriving in Rome from Melbourne on Tuesday, Sinner has met with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. He will be received by President Sergio Mattarella on Thursday with the Italian team that won the 2023 Davis Cup.