Pinner’s Martin Gould admits his love for snooker is dwindling after suffering an agonising opening-round defeat at the 19.com English Open.

The 38-year-old – whose triumph at the 2016 German Masters remains the sole ranking title of his career – fell at the hands of Thailand’s Sunny Akani 4-3, despite recovering from being 3-1 down to force a deciding frame.

Regardless of the close-knit affair in which Gould hit three half-centuries, he struggled to see the positives following the loss to an opponent positioned 17 places below him in the world rankings.

“There isn’t really anything good to take out of that game,” he said. “The only positive thing would’ve been if I’d won.

“I know how good I am and today that just didn’t come out. I’m pretty sure half the tour knows what I can do but at the moment I feel like a player ranked as low as 80.

“The decider was just tip-tap snooker and I decided I just wanted to get on with it. He was a bit fortunate with some of his play, but I made mistakes.

“I’m just going to put the cue away, go home and reassess how I feel in the morning.”

With a busy winter period on the horizon, success at the competition could have been the perfect springboard for Gould’s season, and he insisted parts of his game are not a million miles from where he wants to be.

But in the aftermath of his defeat, he revealed he is slowly losing patience with his lacklustre performances, and isn’t sure what his immediate future in the game looks like.

“Its fine margins, but I’m just getting the hump with it now,” he said. “The majority of the time I play it seems like the game is kicking me in the teeth.

“At the moment I’m in the mind-set where I could quite easily jack it in. I’ve been thinking about it for a while and I’ve just about had enough.

“It’s getting harder to practice because the motivation isn’t there. When that starts to happen it impacts matches, which I do still enjoy.

“I don’t know what the immediate future holds – I could quite easily sit at home and watch TV, or go on the golf course. The buzz has certainly left the building.”

Watch the English Open live on Eurosport and Eurosport Player with studio analysis from Ronnie O’Sullivan and Jimmy White.