Andy Murray says ‘demoralising’ Monte Carlo defeat to Alex De Minaur was one of the worst of his career

Andy Murray says he put in one of the worst performances of his career in a “demoralising” first-round Monte Carlo Masters defeat to Alex De Minaur.

Murray’s miserable display sealed back-to-back first-round tournament exits, following a straight-sets loss to Dusan Lajovic at the Miami Open, and he was furious with his efforts in Monaco.

“I didn’t do anything well, didn’t serve well, return well, forehands, backhands, shot selection. It was one of the worst I’ve played in my career, probably.

“I had a match like that last year in Doha against (Roberto) Bautista (Agut) that was pretty bad and maybe one or two others in my career, but in terms of how I felt on the court, it was right up there, just across the board.”

Monte Carlo marks the start of the clay campaign in Europe, but Murray surprised himself with his level of performance on the slippery surface.

“I was feeling optimistic coming into the clay,” he said.

“I’d been feeling good with my body the last 10 days or so considering I’ve not played much on it.

“I was feeling good and I’d actually been moving pretty well in practice, so I was optimistic. But it was pretty demoralising and I’ve not felt like that many times in my career on the court. It was really tough.”

The next ATP 1000 tournament on the calendar is the Madrid Open starting on April 26, while the Rome Masters starts on May 10.

The highlight of the clay court season is the second Grand Slam of the year at Roland-Garros, which begins on May 28.

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