Novak Djokovic issues apology in gloomy 141-word press conference at Monte-Carlo Masters.

Novak Djokovic apologised after his opening match at the Monte-Carlo Masters.

Novak Djokovic said he felt ‘horrible’ after losing at the Monte-Carlo Masters (Image: Getty)

Novak Djokovic apologised to the crowd after losing his opening match at the Monte-Carlo Masters. The world No. 5 wasn’t in good spirits after suffering a 6-3 6-4 defeat to Alejandro Tabilo and spoke just 141 words in his press conference, claiming it felt “horrible” to play that way.

Ahead of the tournament, the 24-time Major winner admitted his expectations weren’t high as he had a quick turnaround after reaching the final of the Miami Open. But Djokovic didn’t anticipate he would perform “this bad”.

It wasn’t the best day in the office for Djokovic on Wednesday, as he hit 29 unforced errors and struggled to land his first serve. And the third seed had a brutal verdict of his own performance.

“It was actually more like the worst day,” he said immediately after coming off of the court. “Look, I was hoping it was not going to happen, but it was quite a high probability I’m going to play this way. I don’t know.

“Just horrible. Horrible feeling to play this way, and just sorry for all the people that have to witness this.”

While Djokovic had been realistic about his chances of going deep in Monte-Carlo, he was still bitterly disappointed after losing his first match on clay since last year’s Italian Open.

Alejandro Tabilo now has a 2-0 record against Novak Djokovic (Image: Getty)

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“Well, I expected myself at least to have put a decent performance. Not like this. It was horrible. I did not have high expectations, really,” he explained.

“I knew I’m gonna have a tough opponent and I knew I’m gonna probably play pretty bad. But this bad, I didn’t expect.”

The 24-time Grand Slam champion is next expected to compete at the Madrid Open at the end of this month, where he will be joined by coach Andy Murray. But Djokovic has his sights set on just one tournament this clay season.

“Roland Garros. That’s it,” he smiled.

It’s another tough defeat for Djokovic, who also lost his opening matches in Doha and Indian Wells. The 37-year-old turned things around in Miami, where he reached the final before losing to Jakub Mensik.

On Sunday, the Olympic champion admitted that it has become difficult to find motivation at this stage in his career and said the “inner voices” crept in when he started losing early – and his defeat to Tabilo won’t help.

“Obviously, when you start to play less good, start to lose early in the tournament, that’s when more questions appear, more inner I guess voices which are bringing doubts and conversations of whether you should keep going and how much and so forth,” he explained

Djokovic had been encouraged by the way he was playing in Miami, however, and he will hope to rediscover that form before heading to Madrid for his second event of the clay swing.