Roger Federer has told Wimbledon wonder Marcus Willis only practice makes perfect if the British number 23 wants more showdowns on Centre Court.
Willis' fairytale run at SW19 came to an end on Wednesday as the world number 772 lost 6-0 6-3 6-4 to 17-time grand slam champion Federer.
The 25-year-old will now return to Warwick Boat Club, his local tennis base where he coaches juniors - but he has aspirations to climb the rankings.
After coming through six qualifying matches to reach round one, and then beating world number 54 Ricardas Berankis, Willis will pocket £50,000 - but Federer says only hard work can earn him more top-level encounters.
"I believe he can make big strides but then again, don't forget the challengers are brutal, so are the futures," Federer said.
"I think for anybody in this ranking, outside of let's say, 300 to 2,000, it's really important to set yourself goals, short term, long term, how many tournaments to play, when to practice.
"Sometimes I feel like these players lose sight of how important practice is. Matches you can play every week on tour. It's very misleading sometimes where you just think 'well, this next week could be the breakthrough. Well, could be next week if I lose first round.'
"You just keep on plugging away and you just hope. But that's not how you're going to improve. A few years go by, you sometimes lose interest, you don't love it anymore because you actually haven't been looking at the big picture."
Willis and his girlfriend Jenny, who convinced him not to give up his professional tennis dreams earlier this year, have barely been out of the media over the last 48 hours and when Willis walked on to Centre Court it was to a deafening cheer.
He held up his arm in acknowledgement and amazement, grinning and shaking his head at the lunacy of it all.
"It's amazing," Willis said. "Not my standard Wednesday, that. Next Wednesday might be quite different.
"It was all just a blur. I did enjoy myself even though I was getting duffed up. I loved every bit of it. Not the duffing bit. I loved getting stuck in, fighting hard."
Nicknamed 'Cartman' after the overweight South Park character, Willis used to drink cola and eat chocolate bars during matches.
That all changed three years ago when he looked himself in the mirror and resolved to transform his life, although reaping the benefits has taken longer than he expected.
His plan even after beating Berankis had been to continue with his coaching job until January and then give the tour another crack.
He said: "I think it will change a little bit, but I still want to keep my head down and keep carrying on to enjoy it. I want to be here. This is where I want to play tennis. I'm good enough.
"I have a lot to work on, a lot to improve. So that's exciting for me if I'm playing like this."
Source: PA
