Australian teenager Rinky Hijikata confessed to a "brain fade" after cruelly falling victim to one of tennis's funky new rules and crashing out of the junior boys' singles at Melbourne Park.
Down match point against American Zane Khan on Tuesday, Hijikata - the fifth seed - batted away a let service from his opponent.
But with the Open using rules where let serves that land in are play on, as in the new Fast4 format, Khan was awarded the point - and the match for a 6-4 6-4 second-round victory.
"I had a bit of a brain fade there," Hijikata told AAP.
"I kind of remembered just as I went to hit it but I just forgot for a second there that we had to play on lets.
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"That's my own fault. It was tough but at the end of the day it probably didn't change the result.
"I think the reason they put it in was because matches with no umpires which is a lot of matches in juniors, a lot of guys call lets when they get aced or balls that aren't even close to touching the net.
"In that regard, it's a pretty good rule with no umpires. It's the same for everyone so everyone's got to adjust to it."
The 17-year-old's exit leaves no locals in the boys' singles event after wildcard Ken Cavrak also lost in the second round, 6-4 7-5 to Brit Jacob Fearnley.
Rubbing salt into the wound, Hijikata also lost in the first round of the junior boys' doubles as top seed alongside Finn Otto Virtanen.
Hijikata and Vertanen blew a one-set lead and crumbled in the super tiebreaker to crash out 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 10-3 at the hands of Korean Seon Yong Han and Thai Thantub Suksumrarn.
