Stan Wawrinka left it as late as possible before deciding his knee might just be good enough to get him through the Australian Open.
The 2014 champion was being way too ambitious. A 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 loss to No 97-ranked Tennys Sandgren in the second round was his earliest exit in a decade at Melbourne Park.
"I only had surgery five months ago," said Wawrinka, who still has a visible scar running down his left knee. "To be that far already, it's more than what we could have expected."
On a searing hot day at Melbourne Park when the temperature hit 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), No 9 Wawrinka, No 7 David Goffin and No 13 Sam Querrey were the three seeded players to fall in the men's draw.
Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza was among the five seeded women to lose on Day 4. And crowds were down on the previous two days. The forecast is for hotter weather on Friday.
Wawrinka was appeared lethargic and generally didn't threaten 26-year-old Sandgren, who had never beaten a top 10 player. His wins in the first two rounds here make Sandgren 2-0 at majors.
Wawrinka won here in 2014, at the French Open the following year and the US Open in '16. Until this week, he hadn't played since Wimbledon last July.
Muguruza also struggled with her fitness in the build up to the Australian Open, hampered at two warmup tournaments by cramping and a thigh problem.