Federer rattled by losing run

For a man who is usually the epitome of a cool and collected champion, Roger Federer is clearly rattled.

The last time the Swiss had failed to win a tournament within the first two months of a season was in 2000 - and that when his trophy haul totalled zero.

Monday's first-round defeat by Andy Murray in the Dubai Championships, where he had been the defending champion, meant he had suffered back-to-back losses for the second time in four months.

After his bid to retain his Australian Open title was derailed by Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals in January, Federer had expected to return to the winner's circle this week.

But his strategy of cutting his schedule to preserve his health and fitness for the more important titles seems to be backfiring.

Whereas most of his rivals have already competed in three or four tournaments this year before arriving in the Middle East, Federer was playing in only his second event.

"My expectations are not sky-high at this point," the 26-year-old, who has spent a record 214 consecutive weeks at the top of the world rankings, said on Monday.

"Obviously I haven't played much so you don't go in with any expectations."

But the Swiss master is clearly not used to being on a losing run.

After failing to earn even a break-point during his humbling by Murray, Federer's frustrations spilled over during the post match conference and he criticised the 20-year-old Briton's tactics.

"I don't think he's changed his game a whole lot since I played him in the Bangkok final (in 2005)," the Swiss said following the 6-7 6-3 6-4 defeat.

"Not that I'm disappointed but I really would have thought he would have changed it in some ways.

"He tends to wait a lot for the mistakes of the opponent (and) I gave him the mistakes."

Since Murray has jumped up the rankings by almost 100 places after that meeting in Thailand 2-1/2 years ago, Federer sounded rather like a bad loser.

Six months ago, it almost seemed a foregone conclusion that Federer would supersede Pete Sampras in the grand slam record books by the end of 2008.

The Swiss had captured his 12th major, and third of the year, at the US Open and was closing in fast on Sampras's tally of 14.

But following his hiccup in Melbourne, Federer can now only eclipse Sampras this year provided he wins the three remaining slams, including the French Open which has so far eluded him.

Although Federer believes that his run of results is just a blip rather than a slide in his fortunes, his two defeats this year inevitably suggest the end of his dominance.

With the young brigade of triple French Open champion Rafael Nadal, Djokovic and Murray snapping at his heels, Federer may have to take out his DVD collection if he is to relive the glory days of contesting a record 10 consecutive grand slam finals -- as he did from Wimbledon 2005 to last year's US Open.