General / Editor / 02 May 2007 /

John McEnroe believes Roger Federer will have to change his approach on clay if he is to finally break Rafael Nadal's dominance.

The Spaniard is Betfair's 1.75 favourite to take the French Open later this year after he stretched his unbeaten run on clay to 72 matches with a straight-sets victory over Guillermo Canas in the final of the Barcelona Open last weekend.

Federer is ranked as the world number one and appears almost unbeatable on all surfaces apart from clay, but he has lost all five of his meetings with the Majorcan on the slower courts and McEnroe, a former finalist at Roland Garros, feels he should readdress his strategy on Nadal's favourite surface.

"I think Federer has fallen for playing his opponent's game - getting a little tentative and playing way behind the baseline," he said.

"I think he should step it up and put some pressure on Nadal, make him hit passing shots on the big ones.

"I think he should go back to the drawing board with his coach Tony Roche and shorten some of the points, really attack him. I'm not saying do it on every point, but he needs to give Nadal a different 'look'.

And the three-time Wimbledon champion feels that the Swiss ace, who trades at 3.5 to win the French Open, has the intelligence to work out how to beat the talented left-hander.

"Any guy that is as good as Federer I can see figuring it out, but it is quite clear that Nadal is the man to beat and Roger is going to have to do something different to beat Rafael - go back to the drawing board, go to plan B," added the American.

Federer will have to adapt his style quickly, as the clay-court season is well under way, and punters who have backed the 25-year-old to win all four Grand Slams this season will be hoping he solves the 'Nadal puzzle' before the Paris showpiece, which begins in late May.

The 10-time Grand Slam winner can be backed at 6.2 to win all four of the big tournaments this year with 'No' on offer at 1.15.

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