Leander Paes has admitted that losing in the opening round of the men's doubles at the Rio Olympics is a "tough one to take", but believes he has it in him to "challenge the human spirit" and prolong his professional career till the Tokyo Games in 2020.
Paes and his partner Rohan Bopanna went down 6-4, 7-6 to the Polish pair of Lukasz Kubot and Marci Matkowski, bringing an early end to the 43-year-old's Rio campaign; Bopanna still has the mixed-doubles event with Sania Mirza to look forward to.
Paes' road to Rio had not been smooth; Bopanna had initially chosen Saketh Myneni as his doubles partner, before the AITA overruled his request and picked Paes instead. The controversy took a new turn on Thursday when India's Davis Cup coach and non-playing captain Zeeshan Ali said he was "in the dark" about Paes' whereabouts, suggesting that he had had no contact with him of late.
Paes, though, offered an explanation, while also dismissing suggestions that he and Bopanna did not have enough time to practice with each other.
"There's a lot of 'he says, she says' going around. I had mentioned to Zeeshan during the Davis Cup that I'm playing a Challenger in Europe, and I won that challenger. I also mentioned to him that I'm playing the World Team Tennis, he knew that," Paes told ESPN.
"For me, the management, team and AITA always knew that I was playing matches coming into the Olympic. I was never supposed to be here on the 1st. I actually came here early to get some practice.
"Preparation is not about practice, it's about playing matches. You can practice till the cows come home, but when you're under the gun, serving down break points or serving for the match, when you're playing pressure points, that's the best preparation for the Olympics."
Paes felt that he and Bopanna were simply beaten by the better team and that the outcome of the match could have been different had "one or two points" gone their way in the second set.
"As an athlete, my job is to make sure I'm 100% ready when the bell rings," he said. I served well today, I returned well. We played well as a team, but lost to a better, hotter team. If Rohan and I had got one or two more points in the second set, taking it to a third, the chips would have changed. Now we're the fitter team.
"In sport, sometimes it's easy to take potshots at someone when they lose or when they're a soft target. You know that when you're playing on the pro-tour and winning games with confidence, when you come into an event with confidence, you bring that confidence into the team."
With the Rio Games, Paes has now appeared at seven Olympics - a national record - but does he have it in him to make that eight in Tokyo? Especially with age and recent results not in his favour?
His answer is emphatic.
"It depends on perspective. I won three grand slams last year, and I won one this year. My tally is now up to 18. As far as some people might say my doubles ranking might have dropped, or 'oh he's 43', they don't understand what it takes to win one grand slam. As long as I can keep winning, I want to get to 20 Grand Slams.
"Four years is a long way away [for Tokyo]. I take it one day at a time. I had a tough one today. But the door is not closed. I want to enjoy the experience of an Olympics. Yes, I've created a world record for myself, and for my team, and for India, but the one person who has motivated me always is my father. The reason I'm pushing for seven Olympics or even eight, is my father.
"One of my partners was Martina Navaratilova. She has taught me about how we can persevere as simple human beings, to challenge the human body, mind and spirit. And if I can do it, I can motivate others that they can be champions too, no matter where you come from."