This was Serena Williams as we do not always see her: smiling, gracious, genuinely magnanimous in defeat, on the court during the presentation to Angelique Kerber of a trophy Williams had been favoured to win for a seventh time, then in the interview room, where she was told she looked almost as happy as the winner had been. 
"Really? I should get into acting," smiled the first-time Australian Open finals loser, not long after being beaten by a first-timer playing in her 33rd grand slam.
"No, I was actually really happy for her. She's been around a really long time. We've had a number of matches. I've beaten her a lot.
"She played so well today. She had an attitude that I think a lot of people can learn from: just to always stay positive and to never give up. I was really inspired by that. So, honestly, she's a really good girl. If I couldn't win, I'm happy she did."
Her German opponent, she said, had definitely improved, while the leftie element added another degree to the difficulty.
"Obviously, yeah. I was missing a lot off the ground, coming to the net. She kept hitting some great shots actually every time I came in. I think I kept picking the wrong shots coming into it. But, honestly, it's something to learn from, just to try to get better."
Kerber, too, was appreciative, saying that "not many" of her previous opponents had crossed to her side of the net to offer congratulations.
"I think Serena's really a champion. She told me after that she's really happy for me and that I really deserved it," Kerber said.
"So, yeah, you saw that she is really, really a great person. She is making history. She is inspiring a lot of people ... What she did, it's like just great from her."
As to Williams' game, it was not her finest, clearly, having served poorly and logged 46 unforced errors. "Well, I think I did the best I could today," Williams said.
"You know, would I give myself an A? No. But today this is what I could produce today.   Maybe tomorrow I could produce something different. But that's all I can go off.
"It's interesting. I mean, every time I walk in this room, everyone expects me to win every single match, every single day of my life. As much as I would like to be a robot, I'm not. I try to.
"But, you know, I do the best that I can. I try to win every single time I step out there, every single point, but realistically I can't do it.   Maybe someone else can, but I wasn't able to do it."
The intensity of the absorbing three-set final gave her no time to be nervous once it was started, apparently, but she said she had given no thought to equalling Steffi Graf's Open-era record of 22 singles majors during the two hours-plus on Rod Laver Arena.
Then it was back to praising Kerber, the No.6 who will be the No.2 on Monday, the German having broken through at major level at the relatively advanced age of 28.