Novak Djokovic has admitted that his “horrible” performance surpassed even his low expectations after suffering a shock defeat to Alejandro Tabilo.
Djokovic was knocked out of the Monte Carlo Masters in straight sets by the Chilean, who has now beaten the former World No 1 in each of their two meetings.
The 24-time grand slam champion produced an error-ridden showing as he embarked on the clay-court season in Monaco, struggling to find accuracy in his groundstrokes and unable to force the flow of the match.
Speaking afterwards, Djokovic conceded that he had feared a tough outing, though not quite as bad as the one he eventually produced.
“I expected myself at least to have put in a decent performance. Not like this, it was horrible," said Djokovic, who made 29 unforced errors.
"I did not have high expectations. I knew I'm going to have a tough opponent and I knew I'm going to probably play pretty bad. But this bad, I didn't expect.
"I was hoping it was not going to happen, but it was quite a high probability I'm going to play this way... A horrible feeling to play this way, just sorry for all the people that have to witness this."
Djokovic was playing for the first time since defeat in the Miami Open final to rising star Jakub Mensik.
That throwback run in Florida was a much-needed bright moment in a rough patch for the 37-year-old, with his early exit from the Monte Carlo Masters continuing a concerning run.
Djokovic has now suffered defeat at his first match at a tournament at three of his last four ATP Tour events, with defeat to Tabilo following losses to Botic van de Zandschulp at Indian Wells and Matteo Berrettini at the Qatar Open.
