Canada's Vasek Pospisil returns to John Isener of the US during second round of play at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament Wednesday August 12, 2015 in Montreal.Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press
Sometimes all you need is a quick trip to the head.
After dropping a lopsided first set tie-breaker, Vasek Pospisil jogged off centre court in search of the men's room.
When he returned to begin the second set against American giant John Isner, he was a reinvigorated presence.
"Took a break, went to the bathroom, calmed down a little bit as well. Just came out fighting for every point, trying to get deep into his service game. I was able to break early. Yeah, I kind of carried the momentum the rest of that set, into the third," he said a few hours later.
As the last Canadian standing in the singles competition, Pospisil had hoped to deliver a rousing performance and advance to the quarter-finals - although he said carrying the hopes of home country fans didn't add much weight to his shoulders. Instead, he lost a tightly-contested match 6-7, 6-4, 3-6.
"I already had enough pressure as it was," he laughed post-match. "I like that kind of pressure. It's a pleasure for me to play in the Rogers Cup here in Montréal. So it didn't change the match."
His first service game of the night - which opened the match in front of a full Rogers Cup stadium court with his parents in the front row - betrayed over-excitement.
At 30-30, Pospisil double-faulted. On break point he did it again.
But as Isner said post-match, the 25-year-old Canadian's greatest attribute may be his competitiveness, and Pospisil was able to claw back the break a couple of games later.
Isner would dominate the tie-break - helped by Pospisil's errant groundstrokes - and while the crowd favourite would level matters in the second, he simply made too many mistakes in the final set.
Even then, the frame hinged on the sixth game, where Pospisil made a couple of unforced errors and provided Isner the only opening he needed: a break point.
On the ensuing rally Pospisil misfired on a forehand and that was basically it.
Sure, he gritted out a couple of break opportunities of his own soon after, but Isner closed the door with a pair of emphatic aces.
Afterward, Pospisil suggested the conditions - cool, humid - worked against him.
"If I had played him during the day, it would have been more favorable for me, for sure . . . when it's faster, he has less time to return and to move around," he said, later adding "but that's normal. That's tennis. Sometimes it's better for you, sometimes it's better for your opponent."
Night versus day, a ball or two that miss the line rather than biting a tiny chunk of it - such is the margin of defeat at the top level.
And there isn't much time to dwell.
Pospisil leaves for his next tournament - in Cincinnati, where he'll have to play the qualifying rounds - on Thursday.
If there is to be a post-mortem of his Rogers Cup, where he had hoped to repeat or better his feat of 2013 when he reached the semi-final, it's a simple enough exercise: he wasn't good enough in the two or three sequences that swung the match.
It didn't help that Isner hit 71 per cent of his first serves (15 aces) That's how it goes when you encounter a hot player and you're short of health - which, face it, is a skill in sports - and match sharpness.
"I just wanted to have a great tournament. And it was still a positive tournament for me. I had a good first round. I played a good match today. John played well, served well. He's confident. He's just kind of in that period right now where he's not thinking on the court. That's kind of where every player wants to be," he said. "At the same time it was still fun playing out there in front of the crowd, still really special being out there. Even winning my first round on the National Bank court, it was a moment I still cherish. Even walking off the court after the defeat, which was tough, for sure, you know, still an incredible crowd, the support. The atmosphere was great."