Struggling Novak Djokovic crashes out of Monte Carlo Masters

Djokovic lost his top ranking to Andy Murray in November last year and the Serbian world No 2 was shown the exit in the second round at the Australian Open in January. Goffin made things worse for him with a 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 victory in the quarter-final in Monte Carlo.

"I don't know. I don't know. I'm doing everything that I can to play well. I think I'm playing better than I have in first couple months of the year. So that's a positive,” 29-year-old Djokovic told a news conference.

Clay has always been considered to be one of the most challenging tennis surfaces and Djokovic admitted to the difficulties saying, "But clay is a very particular surface that requires, of course, a lot of practice, a lot of movement. Hopefully I'll get those in the weeks to come."

Despite his most recent loss, however, Djokovic said that he will not add more tournaments to his schedule and will stick to the Madrid and Rome Masters events in May to complete his preparations for the second slam of the year. "I wasn't planning to play a tournament. I think it's going to stay that way. But we'll see," he said.

Murray, on the other hand, after being knocked out of the Monte Carlo Masters in the third round, has taken a wild card entry into the Barcelona Open, next week, where Rafael Nadal is looking for a 10th title.