Tommy Paul enjoyed his first taste of a Grand Slam semifinal and the atmosphere at Rod Laver Arena.
What he didn't enjoy was the 7-5 6-1 6-2 loss to Novak Djokovic at Australian Open 2023 on Friday night.
"Walking on the court was cool," Paul said afterwards. "Playing the match and getting beaten like that kind of sucked."
The American with dazzling speed and versatile game shouldn't feel overly bad. After all, Djokovic has never lost a semifinal or final at the Australian Open. One even has to go back to 2016 for the last time he dropped a set in the last four – to a certain Roger Federer.
And Paul did come close to winning a set, incredibly after trailing 5-1 in the first and staring at a set point on his opponent's serve.
Djokovic's first-serve percentage waned, Paul began to better the 21-time Grand Slam winner in lengthy baseline exchanges and the crowd – including his mum Jill – rallied around the underdog.
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When Paul felt that Djokovic also "got a little irritated with something," it may have revolved around a discussion the Serb had with chair umpire Damien Dumusois about time between points during the seventh game.
Regardless, the 35th-ranked Paul soon had all the momentum.
"The crowd started getting a little rowdy. Started getting really fun," said Paul.
"I got it to 5-5. I don't really remember what happened there. I just remember after that I think I lost six games in a row or something, seven in a row.
"Obviously should have done something different, or he stepped up and played great tennis."
The tally indeed was seven games, a streak he never recovered from.
Paul beat another member of the famous "Big Three," Rafael Nadal, at the end of last season.
His plan against Djokovic in their first duel was to, he said, serve and volley on occasion, sprinkle in drop shots and alter the rhythm with his backhand slice. Unfortunately for the 25-year-old, Djokovic didn't allow him to do any of that more than fleetingly.
"He didn't let me do all those things because of things that he did so well," said Paul.
Paul lamented his first serve, too.
While both players registered a percentage of 58, Djokovic hit 12 aces to Paul's four, despite the latter crushing the fastest serve at 217km/h.
Paul entered the semifinal leading in total return points won on first and second serve but, on Friday, registered 44 per cent of second-serve points to Djokovic's 55 per cent.
"I would say probably (his) second serve was better than I thought it was, than I thought it was going to be," admitted Paul.
"Part of the other game plan was to attack on the second serve. He definitely surprised me.
"On big points he was going big on seconds. Pretty much every point, the average second serve speed was a little higher than I thought it was going to be."
Nonetheless, like surprise women's semifinalist Magda Linette, Paul aims to carry the confidence of the past fortnight forward.
Being a "one-hit wonder" is something he is keen to avoid.
Rising to a new career-high ranking inside the top 20 on Monday, Paul eyes a spot in the year-end top 10 and adding to his current title haul of one.
"I'm stoked to have made semis here," he said.
"Obviously I wish I gave the people at the arena today a better match. I think the people were excited to see a little bit closer match. Every time we had some good points, the crowd was ready to get loud, have fun.
"But a great, great two weeks for me. Obviously got to carry it throughout the whole season. It's about consistency, you know? I don't want to be a one-hit wonder."