Andy Murray has the knighthood, the status and the sponsorships but with all of that comes one more thing that outweighs all the others – pressure. A force in sport that cannot be underestimated. To be frank, it separates the superstars from the mainstream athletes.

Now Andy Murray is in no way mainstream – the Briton has won two Wimbledon titles, breaking the 77-year wait for a British male to win the prestigious honour; won Olympic Gold and the US Open in 2012 – again the first British man to win the US tournament since 1936; won another Olympic gold in 2016, making him the only man in tennis singles history to win two Olympic Gold medals and he won the 2013 and 2015 BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

See, not mainstream. Oh, and he has a knighthood from the Queen so he is a ‘Sir’ too.

It’s not surprising with that pressure though that even the superstars get caught out sometimes. Andy Murray crashed out of Madrid to 59th ranked, Brona Coric and confessed he is a little worried.

“I definitely think I need to be concerned about today,” Murray explained. He elaborated to say it’s not the losing that’s the concern, it’s the “manner of how you lose the match.” 

The Croatian youngster only made the tournament after Richard Gasquet vacated his spot. And it’s been a monumental victory as the 20-year-old becomes the first ‘a lucky loser’ – a player who loses in qualifying but gains a place when another players gives up their place – to reach the quarter-finals of the Spanish tournament which has been hosted for 16-years.

Murray made an abundance of mistakes in this match, allow Coric to break his serve three times in the opening set and again once in the second. It was clear Murray was trying to force his game and the result clearly reflects that.

“I didn’t feel that was down to confidence,” he said, when asked if confidence is an issue for him, I just wasn’t focusing as well as I needed to on each point."

The new season hasn’t quite taken off yet for the world number one

Last year was arguably his greatest with the Knighthood at the end, when Andy Murray became the only man in history to win a grand slam, Olympic Gold, a Masters 1000 event and the World Tour Finals. He was formidable.

But after such a stellar season, it’s difficult to continuously sustain that level of performance and deliver.

In the Exhibitions prior to the new season, he lost in the semi-finals before heading to Qatar where he lost in the final to Novak Djokovic. He quickly set his sights on the Australian Open, and was looking good going into the fourth-round, however he lost out to German, Mischa Zverev who played aggressively and exposed Murray’s weaknesses.

Murray then won the Dubai Championships against Fernando Verdasco in two straight sets but has since struggled to get his rhythm again, losing early at the Indian Wells and Monte-Carlo Masters.

And his anguish continued last month in his pursuit of more championship glory, when he lost in the semi-finals to 9th ranked Dominic Thiem from Austria in Barcelona.

Now with the Madrid Open to add to this season’s early exit list, Andy Murray will need to put that out of his mind, re-focus and get himself back on track at the Italian Open in Rome.