Marinko Matosevic feels he’s on the brink of big things but admits a growing winless run in grand slams is playing on his mind.

The Australian suffered his ninth defeat in nine grand slam matches in a first-round 6-4 6-3 6-4 loss to fourth seed David Ferrer at the French Open on Sunday.

The world No.63 was frustrated after feeling he matched the Spaniard for most of the match but the 27-year-old admitted to mental frailties at key moments.

Matosevic wasted a host of break-point chances and was up 3-0 and had a double break in the second set before Ferrer won eight straight games.

“It’s mentally the toughest because I’ve had a lot of these chances and stuff and, if you don’t take them against these good guys, you pay the price,” Matosevic said.

“He’s four in the world and stuff and I was fine (against him).

“I firmly believe I’m at that level. I feel like I’m close to some big things but just not quite there at the moment.”

Asked if the grand-slam duck was playing on his mind, he said: “It is now, I’m 0-9.

“I got to 39 in the world (in February) – I’ve beaten a bunch of top-20 guys, top 30, top 50, you know.”

Matosevic said he’d also been dealing with a back problem and cursed his luck in frequently drawing seeded players in grand slams.

He faced top-20 player Marin Cilic at his previous two grand slams before drawing Ferrer at Roland Garros.

“It’s frustrating when you see some of the other draws,” Matosevic said.

“But what do you do?”

Ferrer admitted the Australian had proved a tricky opponent first up.

“He has a very good serve, very good power with his shots, and sometimes I can’t play my game,” Ferrer said.