A circumspect Serena Williams has admitted that she was under-prepared for her Australian Open campaign after her straight-sets defeat by giant-killing Russian Ekaterina Makarova.
Her defeat represents the earliest Williams has exited the Australian Open in six years and just the second time in the nine appearances since 2000 that the five-time champion has not made the quarter-finals.
She said that while she felt the heat, she was hampered by an ongoing ankle problem and made far too many unforced errors - 37 in all – and that the world No.56 had simply been too good on the day.
"I think she played really well. She went for broke on a lot of her shots. I made 37 errors. That kind of tells the story of the match," she said.
"I never blame any injury that I have because I feel like she played really well and she deserved the win today."
"I look forward to our next match. I feel like I definitely can play so much better. And that's good. Like if I felt like I couldn't play better, then that would be a problem."
She did admit that she only played the tournament because it was a Grand Slam and that in normal circumstances her lack of match practice would have seen her not participate.
But she is anxious to get back on the court, admitting she felt like picking up a tournament after such a meek exit in Melbourne.
"I always think about things that I can do better next time around. That's usually how I kind of respond. I'm thinking already about practicing as soon as tomorrow trying to figure, I can just think of a hundred things I can do," she said.
And despite the fact she is on the 'other side' of 30 she doesn't feel like her best is behind her.
"I feel like I didn't play well today. I don't feel like I can't get better. I feel like if I was in a situation where, wow, she played so great, and I played amazing, and I served 80 percent, and I hit no double-faults, I didn't hit 37 unforced errors, that would be a totally different situation," she said.
"I didn't play well. I'm not physically 100 percent. So it's just like I can't be so angry at myself, even though I'm very unhappy. I know that I can play a hundred times better than I did this whole tournament."