Even in defeat, it’s all about Serena.

Though Australia’s Sam Stosur played a tactically immaculate match and recorded what has to be considered one of the monumental upsets in the history of women’s tennis when she defeated the great Serena Williams in shockingly easy fashion on Sunday, 6-2, 6-3, it was Serena’s tantrums – again – during the U.S. Open final that will likely be remembered for some time.  

It was yet another case of déjà vu at the 2011 U.S. Open. On Saturday it was the agony of Roger Federer not converting two match points against Novak Djokovic for the second consecutive year. And on Sunday it was Serena losing her temper for her second consecutive U.S. Open (Serena was injured and missed the 2010 championships).

Recall that during the 2009 Open semifinals, Serena had a meltdown while playing her good friend and eventual champion Kim Clijsters. Unleashing invectives and spewing venom at a lineswoman during that match, Serena was eventually given a point penalty on match point and exited Ashe Stadium to a cascade of boos. It was unquestionably the most inglorious moment of her extraordinary career.

Though her outburst on Sunday was not nearly as profane or venomous as the one she unleashed in 2009, it nonetheless gave fodder to her many critics that she can be, for lack of a better word, a bully.

The situation in the final unfolded in the opening game of the second set. With Serena serving on break point, she delivered a superb first serve that Stosur returned to midcourt. Serena moved forward and nailed a forehand to Stosur’s backhand side for what looked like to be a sure winner. While the ball was on the “up-bounce,” before Stosur put a racquet on the ball, Serena exhorted herself with a “come on” as she assumed the point was hers. But since she created a hindrance before Stosur struck the ball, it was considered interference and Stosur was awarded the point, and therefore the game.

The umpire was clearly correct in her interpretation of the hindrance rule and in fact, earlier in the tournament, there was point penalty given to Marion Bartoli for a similar offense.

Immediately following the infraction, and then during the next changeover two games later, Serena lit into chair umpire Eva Asderak with unflattering remarks delivered in her usual disdainful and angry tone, all the while making sure Asderak was mindful of what “happened to her” two years earlier. There were no profanities uttered or vulgar, threatening gestures like in the Clijsters match two years ago, such as when she physically threatened a lineswoman.

This time Serena opted for a cleaner tirade, saying such things as “You’re just unattractive inside”, and “don’t look my way, don’t’ even look at me,” and the truly ironic, “and I never complain.” For her actions, which resulted in a code violation, Serena will surely receive a fine and possible other punishments.

Now, one can easily argue the merit of the hindrance rule, especially since Stosur was likely not even going to get the ball back into play. Perhaps a let should be called instead of a point penalty. But for Serena to seem like she was so wronged, playing the victim again was a tiresome reminder of how her immense talent is often shrouded in behavior unbecoming of a champion.

After the match, when queried about whether she regretted her behavior toward the chair umpire, Serena responded with a typical non-answer stating, “I just am really excited to be here really and to have gotten so far. To get here has been a really great experience for me. I regret losing, but I think there was nothing I could do today."

When pressed further, Serena again pleaded ignorance of what she had said, replying, “I don't even remember what I said. It was just so intense out there. It's the final for me, and I was just - I have to go - I guess I'll see it on YouTube. I don't know.”

But Serena is well aware of her behavior and her words. And she knows how intimidating she can be, via her superlative ability and her sheer presence. Serena was asked during the tournament if she thought she was intimidating on court, as other players had suggested. Serena jokingly mentioned that she used her “Crip walk” as a way of reinforcing it. Obviously it wasn’t meant to be taken seriously, but it does give her detractors firepower when describing her as a sometime bully. And it makes it hard to imagine that she truly views herself as a victim of ruthless umpires when she knows what a force she is once the competition starts.

To her credit Serena admits that she was outplayed today and made it known that Stosur deserved the victory and the point controversy had no bearing on the outcome of the match. Serena also didn’t use the excuse of her sore foot affecting the result.

And it was truly a great victory for Stosur. The Australian came out with a plan to hit as many inside-out topspin forehands to Serena’s backhand, pulling Serena off the court just enough to allow Stosur to maintain aggression from the baseline. The strategy worked to perfection. Also consider that Stosur had played more than four more hours of tennis during the event than Serena, including the longest ever women’s tiebreaker ever contested in Flushing.

Stosur’s western forehand, which generates the topspin, is the norm in men’s tennis. But among the women she’s one of the few practitioners and that likely threw off Serena’s timing slightly in the final. After playing against the typical flat-hitting players that predominate in the monotonous world of women’s tennis, the adjustment to Stosur’s strokes was more troubling than Serena anticipated. That, in addition to uncharacteristic first serving woes – she managed a terrible 35 percent in the opening set - proved to be Serena’s undoing.

Serena also made the mistake of playing into Stosur’s hands by relying far too much on cross court forehand-to-forehand rallies. Serena would have been better off trying to pin Stosur in the backhand corner and not feed into her strengths.

No matter how mentally strong Serena is, even she was feeling some nerves Sunday as she so desperately wanted to hoist the trophy at day’s end and secure her first Slam title in over a year. Sometimes such an obvious yearning in sports can be too much for the occasion. All athletes get tight and Serena was Sunday.

Australia, with the exception of the United States, is the birthplace of more Slam titles than any other nation, with a lineage including Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Patrick Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt. In winning on Sunday, Stosur became the first woman Slam champion from Australian since Evonne Goolagong won Wimbledon in 1980. It’s refreshing to see a player come into her own at the relatively advanced age of 27.

On the other hand, Serena makes it so difficult to fully embrace her. This is an athlete of rare gifts, combining extraordinary physical ability with also being one of the great clutch players of her – or any – sport. She is a fierce competitor and a great American story. Even with her vast wealth and her prolific winning ways, she remains as hungry as she was when she first appeared more than a decade ago. Ennui doesn’t exist with Serena, rather a consuming competitive drive.

But then there’s the other side of Serena, the one that was on full display on Arthur Ashe Stadium during the final. A nasty, accusatory, selfish and rude aspect that seeps in far too often.

Serena is now 29. She has vowed to play several more years and will likely be mentioned in the company of Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova as the finest players of the Open Era when all is said and done. One hopes that she elevates not only her game but her on-court demeanor in the near future so as not to infringe upon her singular legacy. Anything less would be unworthy of her mastery of her craft.