But there are some benefits to being a perfectionist.
Instead of kicking back and enjoying another amazing title run, Serena kept her nose to the grindstone and finally, after a season of hard work that wasn't yielding the results she desired, broke her own glass ceiling by winning her third U.S. Open title with an entertaining 6-4, 7-5 victory over Jelena Jankovic in the tournament final.
"If Serena stops trying to stay perfect, I think she'll win more and easier because she can be difficult to work with," said her father and coach, Richard. "No one is perfect. If you lose, take your ass to the next match. To sit there and dwell over a match, that doesn't make a lot of sense."
There were moments at the end of the second set when it looked like Serena's legs might give in as Jankovic was delighting in quick-handed blows and full sprints from sideline to sideline, but the gutsier player with more self-belief came though to her ninth Grand Slam title.
"She's between a pit bull, a young Mike Tyson and an alligator, and that's what it took for her to win tonight," Richard said. "I just tell her to compete like hell, win or lose. Compete like Jimmy Connors."
Serena celebrates in a different way than the combustible U.S. legend Connors but has the same roar and love of the battle.
Oh sure, she'll say she likes to win her matches easy, but that's not what created her own legend. It's how she gets in the trenches, grits her teeth and gets downright mean when the chips are down.
When she was huffing and puffing deep in the second set against Jankovic, her sweaty and sore back could have melted against the blue court.
But after she won the two-hour, four-minute contest, fighting off four set points in the second set, she was downright ebullient, taking a page out of her sister Venus' celebration book and jumping up and down like a pogo stick.
"I've never known Serena to be very excited, only to be mean and arrogant, and if she doesn't like what your saying, she might try to hit you with the ball, even when she was young," Richard said. "She might have a soft side, but I've never seen it except toward me."
That may be just a taskmaster's view, because Serena can be downright charming off the court. It's just that on the court, she takes a hard-nosed dictator's attitude.
She came into the tournament pining for a major title in 2008 and was by no means the out and out favorite. She had to survive 10 set points against her sister, Venus, in the quarterfinals, the red hot Dinara Safina in the semifinals and then Jankovic, the fleet-footed Serbian backboard in the final.
The two were facing off for the world No. 1 ranking and entered the match with their head-to-head record locked at 3-3. There were very closely matched, with Serena depending on her big serve, scalding return and sure-handed net game to keep herself out of endless rallies with the Serbian diva, an ambitious shotmaker who likes nothing more than a big audience.
And Jankovic almost stole the evening, doing splits, smiling widely and engaging with the crowd after spectacular winners.
But there's a reason why Serena has a much more impressive resume than the 23-year-old Jankovic — she knows how to compose herself on the big points and stop messing around.
After the resourceful Jankovic broke to cut Serena's lead to 5-4 in the first set, the three-time U.S. Open champ bore down and broke back, pushing Jankovic into a forehand error.
Serena knew that she had to attack Jankovic's second serves if she was to avoid a marathon, and she did. She also knew that Jankovic would rally and make her legs hurt from the baseline, and she accepted it.
Gunning for her first Grand Slam title, Jankovic broke Serena to take a 4-3 lead. Jankovic then held to reach 5-3, but that's when Williams gritted her teeth.
She fought off three set points with a gorgeous backhand down the line winner, a crisp overhead and then watched Jankovic push a backhand wide to hold at 5-4.
"I let it go," Jankovic said. "I had it a lot of chances. Second set I had a lot of set points, and I didn't do the right things. I let her come back."
Serena then threw down the gauntlet in a thrilling, no-holds-bared game that featured a fourth set point for the Serbian (where, incredibly, she double faulted) and six break points for Serena, which the American finally won with a searing forehand down the line.
The match wasn't over there — not by a long shot — but Serena knew she had a chance to close and had better do so then, or she might be locked into a three-hour battle with a woman who doesn't mind running marathons.
Serving again, Serena held for a 6-5 lead with a lunging stab backhand volley. And with Jankovic serving the next game, she grabbed her second match point by the throat with a beautiful crosscourt backhand winner that sealed the deal.
"She has some tough matches and losses," Richard said. "Her desire is unbelievable. This title meant more to her than any she's ever won."
It was Serena's first Grand Slam since the 2007 Australian Open, a year and eight months ago.
Her 2008 season had a few highlights prior to New York, including titles in Bangalore, Miami, Charleston and the Olympic gold in doubles with Venus, but also included a defeat to Jankovic at the Australian Open, another one to Katarina Srebotnik at the French Open, another to Venus in the Wimbledon final and then one more to Elena Dementieva in the Olympics singles.
Serena hadn't always committed to the tour grind, but she did this year and wanted some payback.
"I've been working so hard all year," she said. "Sometimes I wake up at like six in the morning to go practice, and it's too dark. I have to wait until it gets light out. It's just paying off. No one really, really knows the work that an athlete puts in. It's worth it. And then I felt like, 'Gosh, I've been working the hardest. I should win.' "
Serena already can be called the greatest player of her generation and with the victory, tied Serbian-American Monica Seles with nine major titles while standing three behind her former Fed Cup coach Billie Jean King, who owns 12. She will likely never catch Chris Evert or Martina Navratilova, who have 18, as she'll turn 27 at the end of September, and it's increasingly rare to see player past the age of 29 win Slam after Slam.
But don't count Serena out in going around the block once more and taking titles at the other Slams. She may be too much of a perfectionist for her father, but she's a whole lot smarter than the kid who beat down Martina Hingis in New York in 1999 and has a whole lot more variety in her game. Plus, she relishes the battles as much as any other woman out there.
"I want to get double digits," Serena said. "I like that I'm at nine because I'm pushing for 10, and I feel like I can do it. I obviously play well all the time in Australia, so that's coming up soon. I have to win another French Open, and I love Wimbledon. I definitely had the game to do it. I love winning Grand Slams, so I look forward to it."
