There are two weeks to go before the start of the French Open, the main focus of Roger Federer's attentions this year, and yet, for the first time in his three years at the top, the mighty Swiss seems to be in desperate trouble.

On Saturday night, Federer and his coach, Tony Roche, parted company. Suddenly Federer's glum mood and error-strewn performance at the Italian Open - he lost to Filippo Volandri in the third round - made sense. The Swiss hates change and personal confrontation (unless it happens to be on a tennis court), and he was obviously distracted by his off-court problems as he played here.

Roche had worked with Federer on a consultancy basis for the past two-and-a-half years. He travelled only to the major tournaments, joining his charge for occasional practice weeks in Dubai, but, for the most part, leaving Federer to his own devices. Only this year, as they planned an all-out attack on the clay of Roland Garros, did Roche shadow Federer's every move, yet the more they plotted, the worse Federer's results were on the clay.

For the first time since he became world No1, Federer has lost in four consecutive tournaments, two on clay and two on hard courts. On the slower surface he seemed confused over tactics while, on the faster courts in March, he just seemed out of sorts.

John McEnroe, who is playing in the seniors' tournament in Rome, was as surprised as everyone else by Federer's Saturday night announcement but believes it might just be the answer to his problems.

"Obviously he needs a little bit of a jolt," McEnroe said. "The guy has had probably the greatest three years in the history of tennis but, sooner or later, there's a letdown.

"In a way, losing to Volandri may wake him up, it may have shaken him up, and it may work out that the sense of urgency will be there at the French. The irony was that he hired Tony because Tony had won the French."

As Federer struggles, so McEnroe believes there is a window of opportunity for one of the young guns to make a breakthrough. Picking Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray as the main contenders, he offered some words of advice to Britain's top man.

"I like Andy a lot, but it's like the guy is making some obscene amount of money, he's No.10 in the world and he looks like he just isn't very happy about it. I'd like to see him feel better about it, for God's sake. It's incredible.

"Andy's certainly got a lot going for him, but he's getting too negative, to me, on the court. For all he's got, I'd like to see him more positive generally. I wish I had been more positive."

The only man having fun at the moment appears to be Nadal, who became the only man in history to win three consecutive Rome Masters titles yesterday.

He took just 84 minutes to crush Fernando Gonzalez 6-2, 6-2 and extend his winning streak on clay to 77 matches. Clearly the best player on this surface at the moment and with Federer still trying to put his life in order, no-one would bet against him winning his third French Open title in four weeks' time.