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MELBOURNE, Australia Australian Open champions Roger Federer and Serena Williams will maintain their No.1 rankings when new ATP and WTA rankings are released Monday.
Federer, who beat Britain's Andy Murray in the Australian Open men's final in straight sets Sunday, will begin his 268th week as No.1 and match Jimmy Connors, currently in third place, for total number of weeks as world No.1.
Pete Sampras leads the career list with 286 weeks at No.1, followed by Ivan Lendl with 270.
ATP projections have Novak Djokovic taking over No.2, Murray third and injured Rafael Nadal dropping to No.4. It marks the first time that Nadal will drop out of the world's top three since his debut there in June 2005.
"It is not important for me, the ranking issue and losing a few spots - that's normal when you are not able to compete," Nadal said.
There will be movement on the women's side, with Li Na becoming the first Chinese player ever to enter the top 10 when she reaches a career-high No.10 following her semifinal run here.
Justine Henin, who was unranked and playing on a wild-card entry at her first major in two years, still needs to play another tournament before she gets an official ranking.
Williams, who beat Henin in Saturday's Australian Open final, has extended her current stretch at No.1 to 15 weeks. Projections provided by the WTA show Williams will begin her 88th career week as the top-ranked player.
Li said after her quarterfinal win against Venus Williams that her goal was the top 10, but she might have to revise her expectations higher.
"So exciting, maybe I will have a beer tonight," said Li, who lost in the semifinals to Serena Williams. "My goal this year was top 10, but it's only January, and it's come quickly."
