Aljaz Bedene has revealed he almost quit tennis last year in the wake of the decision to forbid him from representing Great Britain in the Davis Cup.
Bedene became the first British player to crash out of the Australian Open when he lost 7-6(7), 7-5, 0-6, 6-3 to Dominican veteran Victor Estrella Burgos Monday.
Bedene, 27, was ranked inside the world's top 50 this time last year but has suffered a dramatic loss of form and is now placed 109th.
The start of Bedene's dip coincided with the International Tennis Federation's ruling in March that he would not be allowed to play for Britain, despite owning a British passport and living in Welwyn for the last nine years.
He was born in Slovenia and played three dead rubbers for his previous country between 2010 and 2012.
Bedene, who has now lost five times in a row in the Australian Open first round, said: "After the hearing in Dallas and getting the negative reply from the ITF, everything just dropped for me, really.
"I was just not feeling great on the court, I just wasn't enjoying playing tennis and I thought, 'What's the point if you're not enjoying it?' I took a month off before the US Open to consider my options. I decided, if I'm going to play tennis, I want to enjoy it.
"One of the things is I don't want to focus on Davis Cup. It takes too much out of me."
Bedene opted to continue in August and remains optimistic that a new coaching partnership with Nick Cavaday can spark a turnaround in 2017. His aim is to climb into the world's top 32 by next year's Australian Open.
The British No. 4 fell at the first hurdle this time around against Estrella Burgos, who at 36 is the fourth-oldest singles player in the men's draw.
Progress represents another chapter in a fairytale story for the veteran, who became the first player from the Dominican Republic to break the top 100, in 2014, and the oldest from any country to win an ATP title, at the 2015 Ecuador Open.
But he should have been a kind draw for Bedene, who had his chances, not least when he led by a break in the fourth set, having just won the third 6-0.
Bedene added: "I was playing some good tennis. I wasn't missing too many balls. I was in control to win eight games in a row -- that's good. I know he wasn't playing great. To be honest, I gave him that fourth game in the fourth set and he started to play better."