Kim Clijsters leaves Melbourne satisfied with her performance despite bowing out of the Australian Open in the semi-finals on Thursday.
The defending champion was beaten 6-4 1-6 6-3 by third seed Victoria Azarenka in a thrilling contest that could have gone either way.
Clijsters was left to rue a few missed chances in the deciding set, but was happy with the way she competed over the course of the tournament with an ankle injury in the fourth round almost forcing her to withdraw.
"You know, I mean, disappointed. But then again, I felt like I have given it my all these last two weeks, and it's unfortunate," she said.
"The match was very close. There were a few deciding moments where I think I maybe had a little bit of an advantage, in the third set, especially that first game where I had break point."
"It's not a feeling where you have to end at the top level. It's a feeling of having that satisfaction. Okay, I gave it my all. That's the feeling that I want to have, you know, like this week, this tournament."
"I mean, I know that things weren't always the way that I would have liked them to go, but I tried. In whatever situation I was in, I was able to just stick with it, fight through it. Played some tough matches, played some good tennis."
"At the end that's what it's all about. I'll go home and I'll know that I gave it my all. I'll go home and work even harder ... try to become better."
"I feel that I really gave it 200 percent, so in that way I really don't feel like I could have done anything differently these last two weeks."
Azarenka's superb returning ultimately proved the difference in the end with Clijsters winning just 39 percent of points when her second serve went into play.
The Belarusian dominated the baseline exchanges with some precise hitting and Clijsters conceded that she didn't serve well enough to win the match.
"I felt like I had to serve well today because she was returning really well. That's definitely something that always comes up, is making sure that I finish off my complete service motion before I start thinking about the next shot that's being fired at me," she said.
"She returned really well today, very deep, close to the baseline. She likes to play a lot down the middle. That's obviously one of her strengths, is to return as fast as she can back to the server."
With the ankle injury she suffered in the fourth-round win over Li Na still causing her some problems, Clijsters was unsure if she will play for Belgium in their Fed Cup tie against Serbia in the first weekend of February.
Following that the 28-year-old's attention will turn to the French Open, which she is yet to win despite reaching two finals.
"That's definitely been one of the frustrations that I think I've had over these last couple of years, or even since I've come back, is that I haven't really been able to give it a good shot at the French Open," she said.
"It is a challenge. It's one of the goals that I have this season, is to give myself a really good preparation on the clay courts and try to be close to my best level when I get to the French Open."