Rafael Nadal said he 'fought until the last point' in his US Open five-set defeat by Fabio Fognini.
The world No 8 exited the tournament in a third-round thriller which went the way of the Italian with a 3-6 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 victory.
The loss means Nadal will now finish the season without a major title for the first time since 2004, but he insists he gave it his best shot.
"I fought until the last point but I didn't do enough to win and I've lost a lot of matches this year like this," Nadal said.
"My mind allows me to fight to the end and sometimes in my career I haven't been able to do it.
We look at Rafael Nadal's year in the majors after another early exit
"The crowd was amazing and the support I got gave me a very special feeling. I enjoyed that and I tried to fight, I believe I did.
"But it was not enough. The only thing that means is I played worse than the last 10 years.
"That's the real thing. By the way, for me it was amazing to win a grand slam 10 years in a row. I think nobody did. You can imagine how difficult it is to make that happen.
"I accept this was not my year and keep fighting till the end of the season to finish in a positive way for me."
