Tennis: Roger Federer will have to reassess his plans for winning an elusive French Open crown after he was handed a shock 6-2 6-4 defeat by Filippo Volandri in the last 16 of the Rome Masters today.
The Swiss world number one needs to win the Roland Garros title to complete his set of grand slams and become only the third man after American Don Budge and Australian great Rod Laver to hold all four majors at once.
However, instead of enjoying a confident build-up to the most important claycourt event on the calendar, Federer has rarely seemed so vulnerable.
For the first time since 2003, the Swiss master has gone four tournaments without picking up a trophy.
"The preparation has been there since the Australian Open. I've been trying to get into the best possible shape since then," said Federer, who won the Melbourne Park title in January without dropping a set - a feat last achieved on the men's circuit in 1980.
"I've been working even more this year than last year. Since then (the Monte Carlo final) I've only taken one day off. I've been practising really hard - like four or five hours a day, which is fantastic."
With so much work put in, the Swiss will undoubtedly be irked by his barren run. Following two defeats by Argentina's Guillermo Canas in the early rounds at Indian Wells and Miami in March, double French Open champion Rafael Nadal reasserted his dominance over Federer with a straight-sets victory in the Monte Carlo final.
Next week's Masters Series event in Hamburg will give Federer a final opportunity to fine tune his game before the start of the French Open on May 27th.
If he flops again at the tournament which he has won in three of his last four appearances, Federer risks heading off to Paris on the back of his worst run-in for several years.
The man who pushed Nadal to the limit in a thrilling five-set, five-hour final in Rome last year was at a loss how to explain his latest defeat.
"That's the way it goes sometimes. I've been broken before a few times at the start of a match," the 25-year-old said. "The important thing then is to react in the second set and I had a bad start again. I just didn't feel like I was in the match at all today. It was over in no time, and I was always back against the wall."
As he has done following his earlier defeats this season, Federer did not want to read too much into the result and repeated a now familiar mantra that the extra break would allow him to go fresh into Hamburg.
Whether the run of poor results is just a blip or part of a larger malaise will come under close scrutiny in Germany.
In the meantime, his rivals for the French Open crown will take heart from Volandri's victory - a result that has left Federer wobbling on his throne.