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There was no hiding the despair of the beaten Wimbledon champion after his first defeat following so many years of unbroken success at the All England Club.
"I think when I get home it will hit me," he said.
"It's hard to swallow, losing here. This place has
been so good to me. I put so much emphasis on this tournament and it's hard to get over a match you felt you could win. I just felt maybe my time had come. It's so hard to accept."
Pete Sampras, who expressed those sentiments in 1996 after his quarter-final defeat to Richard Krajicek ended his hopes of a fourth successive Wimbledon title, will be one of the few who can imagine what Roger Federer has been feeling following his epic defeat to Rafael Nadal on Centre Court on Sunday night.
The fact that he had taken part in arguably the greatest - and certainly the longest - Wimbledon final in history was of little consolation to Federer once he had lost the crown that has always meant more to him than any other.
"Later in life I'll probably say, 'That was a great match'," Federer said.
"But right now I can't see many positives."
Sampras, who has got to know Federer well following a series of exhibition matches against him, would need only to point to his own example if the world No 1 was looking for inspiration.
At 26 Federer is two years older than Sampras when the latter lost to Krajicek, but the Swiss, who won his first Grand Slam title at 21, was a later developer than the American, who won the US Open when he was 19.
At the time of his 1996 Wimbledon defeat Sampras had won seven Grand Slam titles, yet it proved to be only the halfway point in his career.
He bounced back immediately to win the next two Grand Slam tournaments, the US and Australian Opens, and returned to Wimbledon the following year to embark on a run of four more victories in succession at the All England Club.
By the time he won his last Grand Slam title at the 2002 US Open he had a record 14 to his name.
Sampras, nevertheless, enjoyed most of his success at a time when there were no major talents emerging.
Andre Agassi won seven Grand Slam titles between 1994 and 2003, but the likes of Boris Becker and Jim Courier were in decline when the seven-times Wimbledon champion was in his pomp.
The greatest threats to Federer's pursuit of Sampras's Grand Slam record n the Swiss needs only two more titles to draw level n are the two young hounds snapping at his heels in Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
Nadal, 22, with four French Open titles in the bank, is well on the way to becoming the greatest clay-court player ever, has already won three Masters Series titles on hard courts and has now beaten the master of grass.
Djokovic, meanwhile, has turned the top of the game into a three-way power struggle in the last year and beat Federer en route to his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.
Although Nadal is going into what is usually the least productive part of his year n between July 2007 and April this year he did not win a single title n the hard-court season brings the best out of 21-year-old Djokovic.
Federer's first reaction to Sunday's defeat was to proclaim: "I'll be back next year." He will need that fighting approach, for Nadal is now within striking distance at the top of the world rankings.
Federer has 6,600 points and Nadal 6,055 and while the Spaniard has comparatively few points to protect in the next two months the Swiss will be defending 1,000 at the US Open, 500 at Cincinnati and 350 at Toronto.
Indeed, to many it seems odd that a player who has won six titles this year, including two Grand Slams and two Masters Series, should still be ranked behind a rival whose only victories have been in minor tournaments at Estoril and Halle.
"The computer didn't get it yet," Boris Becker said.
"For me, whoever wins the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year is No 1 in the world."
Those who know Federer best have no doubt he will fight on.
Rene Stauffer, his biographer, wrote yesterday: "The Swiss is too motivated, too talented, too strong, too fit, too professionally organised and too proud to give up working towards winning the biggest titles."
Others may wonder whether Federer may follow the example of Bjorn Borg, who in 1981, at the age of 25, all but walked away from the game within six months of his failure to win a sixth successive Wimbledon title, saying he had lost the desire to compete.
Federer has always seen the 2012 London Olympics, when the tennis will be staged at Wimbledon, as a target, but will he retain the motivation? There are some goals left - Olympic gold, the French Open to complete his Grand Slam collection, breaking Sampras' record - but so far this year all Federer has seen has been his empire crumbling around him.
It will take a huge effort to rebuild.
The forthcoming US and Australian Opens could be the key.
The margin of defeat on Sunday was tiny - Federer came within two points of victory - and the difference may well have been the glandular fever the Swiss suffered at the turn of the year.
If it was extraordinary that he was playing at all in January, the after-effects may well still be a factor.
By the start of next year, however, Federer should know whether he believes he can scale the highest mountains again.
Three months ago this correspondent asked the Swiss if he had ever thought what it would be like not to be world No 1.
"I don't think you have to prepare for something like this," he replied.
"I think it's nicer to prepare for something positive. I'd prefer to think about what you're going to do if you win Wimbledon."
Now he may be thinking differently.
- THE INDEPENDENT
