Lleyton Hewitt was in no mood to call time on his career after a five-set defeat to Robin Soderling in a thriller under Wimbledon's Centre Court roof.
Having suffered at the hands of a foot injury for the best part of the last year, the 30-year-old South Australian surprised many as he raced into a two-set lead over the fifth seed.
The Swede found his game - in particular his serve - in the third set, though, and sent down 28 aces during the match on his way to a first win from two sets behind in his career.
Afterwards, Hewitt, the 2002 Wimbledon champion, was probed as to his future plans, with some observers shocked that he had even played at the All England Club owing to fitness concerns, let alone competed so well against a title outsider.
"Not playing did not enter my head, believe it or not," he said.
"I thought I was going to play no matter what. Where I'm at, this is what I play for, the grand slams. I gave myself every chance and my preparation was very pleasing. I've done absolutely everything I could.
"I love competing. For me, as long as my body is close to 100% I want to go out there and compete. I still feel like I can give these top guys as much trouble as anyone out there.
"I had foot surgery once it became clear that injections weren't working and I wouldn't have gone through the pain of rehab if I was going to stop straightaway."
Despite not winning the round-two match, Hewitt walked off court having played the shot of the Championships so far near the end of the second set.
With a break point to play with, he chased a Soderling backhand to two metres wide of and two metres behind the court before blindly playing a two-hander of his own that flew over the net and in for a winner to bring the crowd to their feet.
"I didn't actually see the shot," Hewitt said.
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"When I hit it, I thought it was going to the bottom of the net. I must have been that off balance that I had no idea of the direction or if I'd made a good contact or whatever.
"It was only that the crowd started cheering. I didn't think that would have been for him having hit the net, but I didn't know it was a winner or in until the umpire called the score."
For his part, Soderling acknowledged how tough a game the man from Adelaide had given him and was satisfied to have turned things around in his favour.
"I have never come from two sets down and I thought I was unlucky not to win the first set," Soderling said.
"I had some chances and he played really well in the second. But, I just had to start over, taking one point at a time and see it as a new match. There was still a chance to win.
"I didn't want to go off court feeling that I hadn't given 100%. Win or lose, it didn't matter."
