Wimbledon giant-killer Lukas Rosol wished his third-round match against Philipp Kohlschreiber had been played on a bigger court as his run was halted.
The 26-year-old Czech, who became an overnight sensation after his second-round win over Rafael Nadal on Thursday, got nowhere near scaling those stunning heights as he surrendered 6-2 6-3 7-6 (8/6) on Court 12.
It is listed as one of SW19's show courts but Court 12 is a far cry from the Centre Court on which Rosol beat Nadal under the roof less than 48 hours earlier.
The wind ripped around it throughout, causing the marquee that covers some of the seats to shake, while the queue of fans to get in rarely shortened throughout, with those lucky enough to get in craning to take photos of the man from Brno.
"This court was really small. Maybe if it was a bigger court it could have helped me more but I can't really ask for it," Rosol said.
As if struggling to adapt to being back away from the limelight, Rosol appeared to ask the umpire for a Hawkeye challenge in the opening game, only to realise that it was not available to him.
"There were a couple of bad calls, but it's always something like this," he said.
"Of course, the atmosphere was really different, but it cannot always be like it was two days ago.
"The conditions today were different, it was windy, but he probably had more power than me."
While Wimbledon will now continue without Rosol, he will head to Germany on Sunday to begin the defence of the Braunschweig challenge title he won a year ago.
He had no complaints after being brought back down to earth with a bang, saying: "It's okay. I would prefer to play here rather than a Challenger in Germany, but I'm looking forward to winning a couple of matches."
Regardless of whether Rosol ever returns to Wimbledon - this was his maiden singles appearance - his name will live long in the memory.
It has already been suggested by some that the Nadal win was a flash in the pan, but Rosol is hopeful he can produce that sort of form on a more consistent basis in the future.
"Why not?" he asked. "I can play with anyone. That's what I feel and also these players, when they see my name now, are going to see they can lose against me."
On the other side of the net, Kohlschreiber reached the last 16 at Wimbledon for the first time but cut the figure of a man crashing someone else's party.
While Rosol stayed back at the end to sign autographs, Kohlschreiber quietly snuck off court to next to no ovation.
"I think the crowd wanted to see more of this (Rosol)," Kohlschreiber said.
"Of course it was a little bit strange that the loser was going back on to the court. It's never happened before, let's say.
"But I think it was out of respect that he had played such a great tournament. I don't know if the English people really liked him kicking out Nadal. Maybe that's why they were cheering today."
