23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams describes herself as a self-perfectionist and admits sometimes her desire to be perfect on the court hinders her game.
The former world No.1 eased into the third round of the US Open on Thursday with a 6-2, 6-4, win over Russia’s Margarita Gasparyan at the Arthur Ashe Arena. Extending her record wins at the tournament to 103. During her latest clash the American hit 27 winners against 16 unforced errors and she broke her opponent six times overall.
“I think I competed well. I’m just here to continue to compete, so I feel like I did that pretty well. It was pretty good,” Williams commented on her latest victory.
“I feel like every day I’m on a new journey, and in this tournament in particular and this year, it’s just a new journey. So I feel really good. I feel like I’m on that journey and I’m going in the right direction.” She added.
Heading into the Grand Slam Williams had recorded mixed results in her lead-up tournaments with a quarter-final appearance at the Top Seed Open followed by a second round loss at the Cincinnati Open, which was moved to New York this year. Furthermore, all five of those matches were in three sets as she at times struggled for consistency on the court.
Trying to pinpoint the reason for her at times erratic play, the 38-year-old says the mental part of her game plays a big role in it. Explaining that the only thing that gets her flustered in matches is herself. Although she is now trying to erase her own self-critiques as she bids to equal Margaret Court’s all-time Grand Slam record in the future.
“The only thing that gets me flustered is really me, like, because I always feel like I’m not winning every point,” Williams explained.
“I have been going back and looking at me and that’s not what I normally do. Usually I’m just calm. And I just think with the pressure and everything that I felt, I felt like I just needed to be perfect. I always feel like I’m not perfect unless I’m perfect. That’s not a fun way to live your career and live your life.
“So it doesn’t matter if I lose 20 points in a row now. I just feel like, it’s OK, it’s fine, I’m here, and I’m happy. I get to play tennis after all these years. So just looking at it this way — it’s nothing, really. It’s really just me and my mental.”
Williams’ desire to be a perfectionist is something she believes goes all the way back to her childhood where she would work for hours until she mastered the alphabet. A trait she is now seeing in her daughter as well.
“I would cry and then I would erase it and redo it and redo it. I remember I woke up the next day and I didn’t finish my homework because I kept erasing it. That’s been really the story of my life,” Williams said.
“It’s so, so crazy because my daughter does the exact same thing. I’m, like, Oh, my goodness. It is just something that’s innate, and I just always have done. It’s, like, Okay, Serena, stop. Perfection is — only Jesus was perfect, so just stop.”
At Flushing Meadows Williams will next play Sloane Stephens in what will be a battle of the former US Open champions. Stephens defeated Olga Govortsova 6-2, 6-2, to record back-to-back wins in a tournament for the first time since the Wuhan Open last year. The upcoming meeting will be the sixth between the two and their first since 2015. Williams leads their head-to-head 5-1.
