World no. 1 Roger Federer conceded the "high-intensity weekend" at Indian Wells had left him drained but insisted he did not take a lot of time to recover from it.
The Swiss ace also stressed he took the defeat to Juan Martin del Potro by his stride and that he has had "enough luck" over the last 14 months.
Federer had headed into Indian Wells on the back of defending his Australian Open title and winning an ATP 500 tournament in Rotterdam earlier this year. In the absence of injured Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic's withdrawal, the 20-time Grand Slam champion was considered favorite to win the season's first Masters 1000 tournament.
However, the numero uno of men's singles tennis stumbled at the final hurdle, losing a fiercely-contested final to in-form del Potro, who held his nerve saving quite a few match points in the decider of a two hour and 41-minute encounter Sunday, March 18.
"It always takes a few days to recover from a busy and high-intensity weekend. Regardless of how difficult the match was physically, you still have a letdown emotionally, because you're drained from that perspective," Federer was quoted as saying by ATP's official website Thursday, March 22 ahead of his Miami Open campaign.
"You're emotionally drained after every final, regardless if you win or lose.
"I am happy about how I played and how I felt afterwards. Didn't take me a whole lot of time to get over it, to be honest, because I felt like it could have gone either way.
"Unfortunately I wasn't on the winner's side because maybe I have had enough luck throughout the last 14 months on my side of the court, so it's OK to lose some," he added.
Failure to retain world no.1 spot 'not the end of the world': Federer
Federer needs to reach at least quarter-final of the ongoing ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Miami to retain his top spot. He opens his campaign against Australia's Thanasi Kokkinakis on Saturday, March 24.
The veteran leads arch-rival Nadal by 290 points but will be defending 1000 points as he had completed his third Sunshine Double in Florida last year.
However, Federer has said he is not focussing too much on the top spot of ATP rankings and that he sees it only as a "mini-goal" that helps his motivation.
"The number one ranking is in my head a little bit, but no more than that. It's a mini-goal. It would be nice to stay there but it's no more important than that," Federer said.
"You have to win matches to go far here. Going far enough to stay number one, it helps my motivation to have a goal. But even if I don't manage it, it's not the end of the world."
Nonetheless, if Federer manages to hold on to the top spot at the end of his campaign in Miami, he would have enhanced his chances of staying at the top of the summit for a longer while as he won't be defending points throughout the clay season.
On the other hand, Nadal, who pulled out from Indian Wells Master's earlier this month after suffering a hip injury, will be defending 4680 points in clay after his dream run on the dirt in 2017.
