KEY POINTS:
Serena Williams had been a bit on the moody side before her rampaging run in the Australian Open. She'd got a bit of a snitcher on after all the criticism about her weight, seeming lack of commitment to her sport and an overwhelming amount of "negativity" from the
media.
A knee injury and a strong interest in things other than tennis had plummeted Williams to 81 in the world before Melbourne.
Her return to world class has been a remarkable story.
Clearly not fit and not yet quite the booming shot-maker of seven Grand Slam wins, Williams nonetheless managed to win the final of the Australian Open in spite of all the comment that said her head was elsewhere.
Well, if her head was elsewhere, her tush was very much in Melbourne. You wouldn't say it was big, but it's applied for its own visa.
Now, before you all pen poisonous emails to me, I am just making a point here - Serena makes life difficult for herself.
In a press conference before last night's final, Williams showed her touchiness about her career by snapping back at a reporter who asked a straightforward question: "Is that another crack about me making the final?"
Blessed with an as-yet unfulfilled potential as a tennis player - both Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert have said she could be the best there has ever been if only she'd play more actual tennis - Serena has clearly not enjoyed the speculation, criticism and baiting that have accompanied her slide down the tennis rankings.
She also has an ego at least as big as her tush. "She said it was a great outfit. It is really fun and really exciting and very sexy... I mean she just basically described me."
That was Serena, on what sister Venus said about one of her racier tennis outfits.
Still only 25, She is an unusual sportsperson. She appears to want to be Paris Hilton. She has a great big green handbag she has carried around Melbourne during the Open. She also has a charming pitbull terrier called Bambi. That's like owning a cobra and calling it Chuckles.
When Bambi bit someone last year, Serena denied he was hers. There's been no sign of Serena combining the handbag with Bambi - a la Paris - but it's still early days...
She wants to be a fashion guru. She has her own label, called Aneres (which is Serena spelled backwards). I guess we can be grateful Sania Mirza didn't have the same idea.
She wants to be a movie star and has already starred in episodes of The Simpsons, ER, My Wife and Kids and Law & Order. She has said in Melbourne that she has a script for a movie on one of her idols, Althea Gibson, who won the French, Wimbledon and US championships in the mid-1950s. "We're working on a script right now," said Serena. "It's a good script. I have to read it."
She posed for Sports Illustrated's famous swimsuit issue. Carefully posed, her shots are pure fashion cliche and her astounding derriere is nowhere in sight. In one shot, Serena has her eyes closed and her face and body in a pose of ecstasy that makes it look as though she has just enjoyed a really happy moment in her togs.
If you're getting from this that Serena maybe doesn't have as many strings in her racquet as some other players, it's a point that she has already conceded. "Serena Williams is not a thinker," she said once. "Serena Williams is a tennis player."
Only... that's the bit that got lost, you see. Serena again: "A tennis superstar? I'm not a tennis superstar. I'm a superstar. Period. Like Britney Spears."
Now seems like a good time - before Serena forgets her knickers and rushes off to catch a cab - to say that she is probably the most talented female tennis player I have ever seen. Not the best - she's got a way to go - but the biggest all-round talent: power, speed and an intimidating presence.
But, when you earn over US$10m a year from various sponsorships without even playing the sport for which you are famous, and when you think you are like Britney Spears, tennis may seem inconsequential.
Here's hoping she keeps her tennis comeback going. She truly could be the best there has ever been. That is also where she will find respect and where the figure of fun she has latterly been will be forgotten.
And she should content herself with the thought from Dawn French, the unashamedly ample comedienne who once said: "If I'd been born in the time of Rubens, I would be a famous model. Kate Moss? She'd be the paintbrush."