Olympic and Wimbledon champion Serena Williams admitted on Saturday that watching horror-show video repeats of her defeats was akin to stabbing herself.

The American star spoke after reaching the fourth round of the US Open courtesy of a straightforward 6-4 6-0 win over Russia’s world 42 Ekaterina Makarova, the woman who knocked her out of the Australian Open this year.

That fourth-round loss was followed by a shock first-round exit at the French Open at the hands of Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano, her worst ever loss at a major.

“Whether I learned something (from the defeat at the Australian Open), I don’t know. I really hate watching matches that I lose unless I’m punishing myself,” said Williams.

“I used to watch those matches. It was so painful. It was like stabbing myself. I don’t like to do that. I have tried either not to lose or not to watch matches that I lost.

“It’s just not a good feeling because I already know the result. I’m telling you, it’s very painful.”

Williams, the US Open champion in 1999, 2002 and 2008, also revealed that her first round defeat to Razzano in Paris in May caused her to ignore coverage of the match as well as dumping the dresses she wore.

“I threw them all away, actually,” said the 30-year-old, 14-time grand slam title winner.

Williams, the fourth seed in New York this year, fired 31 winners and eight aces past Makarova and will next face unseeded Czech Andrea Hlavackova.