A shot at a second major final seemed completely incomprehensible to Madison Keys only a matter of months ago.
Taking the court no longer invoked the joy of competing, as each passing defeat spilled over into crippling anxiety.
MORE: All the scores from Day 11 at AO 2022
In Thursday night's semifinal, Keys came up short against an impeccable Ash Barty, whom she hailed for having separated herself from the pack.
The scorecard read 6-1 6-3 but after the year the 26-year-old Keys had endured, there was plenty of upside.
Her 10-match streak, which included a sixth career trophy in Adelaide and her first semifinal at Melbourne Park in seven years, had ended but a heavy, dark cloud had lifted.
"I think that the biggest thing that I have learned from this trip is that enjoying myself on a tennis court is absolutely vitally important for me," Keys said.
"At the end of the day I have to enjoy what I'm doing, and I have to figure out how to not put all of that pressure on myself so that I can enjoy tennis, because when I can enjoy tennis I'm capable of playing at a much higher level than what was happening last year."
Keys had risen as high as world No.7 more than five years ago, and arrived in Australia ranked 87th.
With no points to defend, the shackles were off.
It was a welcome reset after she admitted panic had taken hold overthinking the ground she needed to make up on the field at the start of last season.
Those doubts first began to infiltrate her thoughts after she tested positive to Covid-19 on the eve of her scheduled flight to last year's Australian Open.
"Honestly, I think the biggest thing that I take from the summer is just getting a lot of matches in," Keys said.
"It's been a really long time since I have been able to start off the year on such a strong foot and have all of these matches and to have all that confidence going into the year.
"I don't think I have ever had that, so that's a great feeling. It's something that's really great to build off of. Just having all of that experience on the court already this year for tough moments down the road is going to be really beneficial."
Keys had every reason to believe her form reversal Down Under might extend beyond her fifth Grand Slam semifinal.
She had swatted aside top-eight seeds Paula Badosa and Barbora Krejcikova in consecutive outings without conceding a set, and had come through when tested in a deciding-set tiebreak against Wang Qiang in the fourth round.
MORE: AO 2022 women's singles draw
Keys had snatched a win over Barty in the pair's first encounter at Roland Garros five years ago but had succumbed twice since, including in Paris two years later when the Australian went all the way.
In a humid Thursday night semifinal, she had limited solutions when encountered with the world No.1 at her peak.
"She's just playing incredibly well," Keys said.
"I mean, you have a game plan in your head, but she's just executing everything so well. She's serving incredibly well, so you don't get any free points on that.
"Her slice is coming in so much lower and deeper than it was in the past, so it's hard to do anything on that. Then you try to play to her forehand and she can open you up there.
"I think she's playing some really, really good tennis, but she's also, it just seems so locked in and focused. I mean, I have played her a handful of times, and this is easily the best I think she's ever been playing."