“I’m a Perfectionist”: Serena Williams on Being Too Hard on Herself

Serena Williams is ready to make history in US Open 2020. If she wins this major, she will be tied up with Margaret Court with 24 titles, most titles won by any player in history. Judging from her form in the tournament, she is going great. Williams defeated Margarita Gasparyan in straight sets of 6-2, 6-4 in the second round of the tournament.

After the match, Serena did a press conference where she talked about various things. She revealed how she feels frustrated if she does not win “every point.” Although she agrees that is not how one should be in life or career, but she can’t help it.

Serena Williams Wants To Be Perfect At Any Cost

Then Serena was asked if this aspiration for perfection gets a little nerve-wracking at times. The legend revealed that this is how she has been since childhood.

“Yeah, E. And I remember some of my earliest memories were going, practicing, doing — I must have been, like, two or three or four, maybe four, and I was going to school and doing, like, the alphabet and it wasn’t perfect. I just stayed up — I stayed up and kept erasing it until I got it perfect.”

She said it took a toll on her emotional state as she cried at times. Sometimes, the work itself was not done because of her “perfectionism.”

“Then 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.”

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At the end of this anecdote, Serena revealed that her 3-year-old daughter Alexis Olympia is a perfectionist like her.

“It’s so, so crazy because my daughter does the exact same thing. I’m, like, Oh, my goodness. Like, so, yeah, 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.”

After her shocking exit from Cincinnati Open last week, Serena put her entire focus to win her seventh US Open title and 24th Grand Slam. She will face Sloane Stephens in the third round of the Grand Slam tomorrow.