Andy Murray has admitted he is suffering from a lack of confidence for the first time in his tennis career.
The Brit again crashed out of the first round of a tournament on Tuesday, exiting the Marseille Open at the earliest opportunity.
Murray is now winless in his last six singles matches and has exited in the first round in the last five competitions he has entered.
Czech star Tomas Machac piled more misery on the two-time Wimbledon champion with a straight-sets win in Marseille.
Andy Murray says he is suffering from a lack of confidence for the first time
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Murray has already said 2024 could be his final year in professional tennis and fans called on him to retire after yet another disappointing defeat.
He hasn't won a match since beating Germany's Yannick Hanfmann at the Swiss Indoors last October.
And in a concerning reaction, Murray admits there is currently a lack of confidence inside him when he walks on court.
The 2012 US Open winner says it is the first time he has experienced that feeling in his long career.
As per L'Equipe, Murray said after Tuesday's loss: "When you can't win, you also lose confidence. I've never experienced that in my career."
He has beaten the odds and orders of his doctors to even still be competing at a professional level.
And he insists still has the desire to keep working on his game in order to win again.
Murray said: "The only way to find solutions to win matches. It can also be played out in training, working on your game and sensations.
"But what happens in training doesn't always translate into a match.
"In 2016, when I finished world number 1, my coach told me that I had maybe won two or three training sets during the whole year...
"This year, I won almost all of them and I can't win a single match! You have to perform in competition, that's the only thing that counts."
Murray admits it would be easy for him to just give up but he insists he is still loving both playing and training.
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Andy Murray has not won a singles match since last October
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He dismissed any claims that his recent form will tarnish his legacy in the sport.
The 36-year-old added: "People who know my career know how difficult it can be to accomplish what I did after my hip problem.
"It hadn't been done in other sports. I hope that many other players will be able to continue after such an operation.
"The easiest thing for me would have been to stop my career.
Andy Murray suffered another early exit at the Marseille Open
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"But I continue because I love the game. I love training. At the moment, for sure, it's not easy in competition.
"But what's happening right now doesn't affect my career in any way. No string of defeats will change what I accomplished when I was fit, and with two hips."
