Tim Henman only had time for the positives after his surprise French Open run came to an end at the hands of third seed Guillermo Coria in the semi-finals on Friday.
The ninth seed led by a set and 4-2 before Coria won 13 games in succession to take a stranglehold on the match, and though Henman hit back, Coria held on to win 3-6 6-4 6-0 7-5 and set up the first all-Argentine final at a grand slam.
Having stressed throughout the fortnight the importance of executing the right shot at the right time, Henman served for the fourth set at 5-4, only to fall short.
But despite failing, Henman was elated after his best grand slam performance outside of Wimbledon where he has reached the last four on four occasions.
"It's been an unbelievably positive couple of weeks for me," Henman said. "You reflect on Monday early afternoon (last week) when I was down two sets to love against (Cryil) Saulnier.
"It's disappointing (to lose), but (I can) take away the wins that I had, the confidence, the breakthrough of performing well at a grand slam outside of Wimbledon."
{{/usCountry}}"It's disappointing (to lose), but (I can) take away the wins that I had, the confidence, the breakthrough of performing well at a grand slam outside of Wimbledon."
{{/usCountry}}Henman provided more evidence of the improvement he has made in association with Paul Annacone, the former coach of Pete Sampras, winner of 14 grand slam titles.
"When I am (imposing his game) consistently - it just goes to show that playing the best claycourter in the world, I make him look pretty ordinary," he said.
"But it's a question of being able to do that for a long, long time."
Henman, who will make the transition from clay to grass in time for next week's Stella Artois Championships at London's Queen's Club, said the experience of reaching the semi-finals in Paris could only help him for the rest of the year.
"I believe I am the best volleyer in the world and I think I am the best athlete at the net," he said.
"What excites me is that if I can play this well on clay, which is the toughest challenge, then grass courts, hard courts and indoors, there's a lot of opportunities for me."