Deflated by his latest Australian Open exit, Alex de Minaur knows there is only one option if he is to close the gap on the world's best and contend for a maiden grand slam title.
De Minaur was reminded just how far he has to go when a high-octane start to his quarter-final clash with world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz turned into an all-too-familiar nightmare.
The 26-year-old was competitive early, raising local fans' hopes of an upset, but was ultimately outclassed in a 7-5 6-2 6-1 defeat at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday night.
"You've just got to keep on moving. It's the only way," de Minaur said.
"You get back up, right? That's what it is.
"I mean, at the Australian Open, I've lost to Rafa (Nadal), Novak (Djokovic), Jannik (Sinner) twice, now Carlos. I'm not losing too many matches to players I possibly shouldn't lose to.
"As tough as it is when you get results like this, you get back up, you get back on the horse, and that's it."
De Minaur has lost his first seven grand slam quarter-final appearances and is the third man in the open era to do so, after Andrey Rublev and Tommy Robredo.
He first reached the last eight at Melbourne Park a year ago, when he was beaten by Sinner, who was then on the march to a second straight AO crown.
In the aftermath, de Minaur went on to reach a career-high ranking of No.6 in the world and held his top-10 billing for most of last year.
But frustratingly, he remains a level below Alcaraz and Sinner, nursing a combined 0-19 head-to-head record against the two big guns.
Tuesday's defeat was his sixth in as many meetings with Alcaraz.
"It doesn't feel amazing, I'll tell you that," de Minaur said.
"You try to do the right things, you try to keep on improving.
"But when the results don't come or the scoreline doesn't reflect those improvements, then of course you feel quite deflated."
There is no encouragement to be had from the records of Rublev and Robredo. The latter's seventh quarter-final in 2013 was also his last, with the Spaniard now retired.
Rublev, 28, is still playing and ranked world No.14, but the Russian has now reached 10 quarter-finals without progressing, most recently at the Australian Open two years ago.
De Minaur wasn't without his moments against Alcaraz.
He fought back from 3-0 down in the first set to level the score, and at one point hit an outrageous backhand winner in mid-air.
"There were some good parts out there, but overall I'm playing out of my comfort zone and at times out of my skin," de Minaur said.
"Of course, for me to take that next step, I've got to be comfortable in playing that sort of way for the whole match.
"That's what it takes, you know, to take it to the next level, especially against these types of guys."
De Minaur did concede that he may need to tinker with his forehand, add some spin, so that he can shoot for the lines with less risk and more margin for error.
"Yeah, some tweaks here and there that's going to allow me to increase ball speed because at the moment, the way my natural groundstrokes are, they're quite flat and it's quite difficult for me," he said.
"There's a whole lot of risk for me to play at a very high ball speed, and I feel like in this case, your Janniks or Carlos, they have so many revolutions on the ball that they're able to not only play at a higher speed but also have their consistency.
"They're able to get that spin that helps the ball come down and create different angles as well.
"There's stuff that I need to look at and see and try to work out."Intent on staying injury-free, after a chronic hip problem undermined his progress in recent seasons, de Minaur has made the "brutal" call to rest up and sit out Australia's Davis Cup tie next week in Ecuador.
He is slated to return to the tour at the Rotterdam Open, where Alcaraz headlines the field, from February 9-16.
