Stan Wawrinka admitted to mental burnout as his Australian Open title defence ended, not with a bang, but a bagel.
Novak Djokovic dropped his only two sets of the tournament against Wawrinka, but the Swiss star failed to win a single game in Friday night's deciding set.
Wawrinka described the contest as "strange" five times during his post-match press conference.
"It was not the best match, for sure," he said.
The 29-year-old suggested he was physically up for the fight, but mentally found it hard to focus in the clutch moments.
"I'm paying off the price to finish off the (2014) season with Davis Cup, not having a bigger off-season," Wawrinka said.
"Trying to focus really well, to start well the year with winning Chennai and being here trying to do the best.
"I told my coach before the match and already yesterday that I was mentally completely dead and no battery.
"Tough to focus on what I want to do. Tough to focus on my game. And that's what happened today."
Wawrinka was seeded fourth at Melbourne Park, but will now tumble to No.9 in the rankings.
The exhausted Swiss, who reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and the US Open in his breakthrough 2014 campaign, will now attempt to recharge his batteries with a week at home.
Wawrinka was confident he would be back to his best soon.
"I have a good schedule for the year. I try to have some moments when I can practise with my coach and fitness trainer, when I can have some holiday," he said.
"So I should be fine for the year."
Wawrinka felt disappointed with the result, but the defending Australian Open champion vowed to look on the bright side.
"It's going to be tough, but I need to take the positive from already being in the semi-final," he said.
Djokovic, who will clash with Andy Murray in Sunday's final, was content to be tested for the first time at the event.
"I'm proud of the fighting spirit that I had. But the level of performance was not where I wanted it to be," he said.
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