Video: Serena hits herself in mouth with racquet

If you play tennis, whether competitively or recreationally, you've been there, too: You take a would-be mighty swing at the ball and end up striking yourself somewhere on the body with it. I did it numerous times in high school tennis, coming down from serves and hitting myself on the shin with the frame of my racquet. Yea, not fun. And I did it again last week, hitting myself on the opposite shoulder with the follow-through on a forehand.

Well, once again, we see that in some ways the pros are just like us: Serena Williams struck herself in the face, even on her mouth, in her second-round match at the Australian Open. See the clip here:

It's obvious straightaway, even from the long court view, that something is wrong. At first I feared that she had tweaked her ankle again, a holdover from a first-round spill she took, but in truth, she had landed a blow with that blunt object also known as a tennis racquet.

She beat Spain's Garbine Muguruza by the final count of 6-2, 6-0, and told Tennis Channel's Justin Gimelstob in a post-match interview beside the court, "I'm beating myself up. I don't know why. I love myself."

Later, Serena took to Twitter for an update:

SIS TIPS: Serena's big sister, Venus Williams, next plays No. 2 Maria Sharapova in the third round. Asked by Gimelstob what she would say to Venus, Serena replied, "I'll definitely give her some tips." Oh, to be a fly on that wall.

ANOTHER AWARD: While we're at it, you can vote for Serena and Venus to win Cartoon Network's "Super Siblings" award to be presented at the channel's Hall of Game Awards on Feb. 11. They're up against three sets of brothers: Eli and Peyton Manning, both NFL quarterbacks; Eric, Jordan, and Marc Staal of pro hockey; and Marc and Pau Gasol of the NBA.

—Jonathan Scott (@jonscott9)