If one-time queen of world tennis Venus Williams needed a clearer indication that her time on the WTA Tour is fast coming to a close, then her Australian Open third-round walloping at the hands of Maria Sharapova on Friday night was surely it.
You couldn't have asked for a more telling result than the 6-1 6-3 rout at Melbourne Park's Rod Laver Arena.
On one side of the court you had Sharapova.
The 25-year-old Russian starlet who appears to be very much at the peak of her powers (some may argue she still hasn't reached it yet), and displayed a devastating killer instinct to reach the fourth round of the year's first grand slam for the seventh time in eight attempts.
On the other side you had Williams.
A shadow of her former brilliant self who, at 32 years of age, was hopelessly outclassed by her younger, more vibrant opponent.
It was a truly symbolic passing on of the baton.
Venus will doubtlessly go down as one of the sport's all-time greats. And rightfully so.
The Florida product has won seven grand slams - five on Wimbledon's hallowed All England Club turf and the other two in front of her home fans at Flushing Meadows, ensuring she is in the top 10 for career major wins.
All up, she has 44 WTA Tour titles to her credit, ranking her seventh all-time.
But it's been extremely slim pickings for her in recent years.
If you cast aside the last trophy she won in Luxembourg three months ago, a tournament which featured fewer big names than in a Slovenian independent art house film, you have to go way back to May 2010 when Venus claimed some silverware.
Even more damning is the fact that she has not saluted at a grand slam since 2008 when she collected her fifth Wimbledon crown.
That's a seriously long time in anyone's books.
Granted, Williams has obviously had her illness and injury issues in the last few years, but she's not a spring chicken anymore and the Tour isn't any less gruelling.
She may not travel extensively this year and target mainly the grand slams and other major tournaments, but even still in the modern era only Margaret Court, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova have won a major after reaching the age of 31.
Cynics would say that women's tennis isn't exactly enjoying a golden era at the moment and Venus may be well within her rights to think she might be able to defy history and snag an eighth major at her age.
But if her performance on Friday night is anything to go by, she should seriously consider making 2013 her last year on the professional circuit and avoid the possibility of tarnishing her fantastic legacy.