The Daily Bagel is your dose of the interesting reporting, writing and quipping from around the Internet.

• Video: Check out Serena Williams’ champagne celebration in Rome.

• Rafael Nadal says he never expected this kind of success — six titles in eight tournaments this year — after a seven-month layoff. Peter Bodo begs to differ.

He’s got this streak of humility that is beginning to look nothing less than bizarre, and it looks as though he’s going to cling to it no matter what the record books or scoreboards say. Who else would have reacted the way he did after Nadal won his sixth title of year and his back-to-back Masters in Rome?

…

Seriously — was anyone surprised that Nadal, who has been virtually unbeatable on clay throughout his career, returned to the tour this winter after his eight-month layoff and picked up right where he left off? Nadal also added: “To win three Master 1000s and two ATP 500 tournaments is more than I ever dreamed.”

Oh, please. Enough with the drama and humble protestations. Rafa is starting to sound like that gazillionaire who pleads abject poverty even as he’s adding a few million to his bank account with a 10-minute stock trade. I’m not going to question Nadal’s sincerity, but there’s something patently cuckoo about this degree of humility when it comes to his performance and record on clay.

Read More…

John Isner has won only one match during the European clay season. (Andres Kudacki/AP)

The Watch List spotlights the must-know storylines for the upcoming week in tennis. This week a flurry of Americans go for one final tune-up before the French Open, which begins Sunday.

French Open: In or out?

With the Roland Garros draw ceremony set for Friday, look for any news on withdrawals to come mid-week. Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro are the players to watch. Murray is expected to decide Wednesday whether he’ll play after re-aggravating a back injury at the Italian Open. Del Potro is questionable because of a respiratory illness. After losing in the third round in Rome, Del Potro flew home to Argentina to recover. On the women’s side, keep an eye on Venus Williams, who is struggling with a back injury. She could determine that it would be better to rest and get ready for grass, by far her best surface.

Read More…

Rafael Nadal is aiming for his eighth French Open title beginning next week. (Gabriel Buoys/AFP/Getty Images)

ROME  – Rafael Nadal trounced Roger Federer 6-1, 6-3 on Sunday to win his seventh Italian Open. Nadal improved to 20-10 overall and 13-2 on clay against Federer and won his sixth title in eight tournaments this year. The Spaniard will retake the No. 4 ranking from David Ferrer on Monday and assure himself of a top-four seed at the French Open, which begins next Sunday.

Three thoughts on the King of Clay’s remarkable comeback season and his prospects for capturing a record eighth Roland Garros title:

Read More…

Serena Williams has pounded her chief rivals in consecutive tournaments, making her the heavy favorite at the French. (Alessandra Tarantino/AP)

ROME — Serena Williams solidified her status as the overwhelming favorite for the French Open by defeating Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 6-3 in the final of the Italian Open on Sunday. Williams extended her winning streak to a career-high 24 and capped a dominant week in which she didn’t drop a set, lost no more than four games in any of her five matches and dished out three 6-0 sets en route to her 51st career title and fourth in a row.

Williams hit winners on 41 of the 74 points she won Sunday and committed 19 unforced errors in a remarkable offensive display against the world No. 3. The 31-year-old American won the title here for the first time since 2002, the same year she won her first and only French Only title. That’s a pretty good omen.

Read More…

Rafael Nadal’s rivalry with Roger Federer has hardly been close on clay, where Nadal sports a gaudy 12-2 record. (Clive Mason/Getty Images)

ROME — Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will meet for the 30th time Sunday in the final of the Italian Open. Nadal cruised past Tomas Berdych 6-2, 6-4 in the first semifinal Saturday and Federer pulled out a scratchy win over surprise semifinalist Benoit Paire 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the evening session. It will be the first meeting in a final between the two since the 2011 French Open, where Nadal prevailed in four sets. Nadal leads the head-to-head 19-10, including a 12-2 edge on clay and 13-6 advantage in finals.

“It’s nice to have those revival moments for the both of us because we’ve had some epics, particularly in finals,” Federer said. “I’m sure we’re both looking forward to it. I clearly am.”

Read More…

Andy Murray will be the No. 3 seed at Roland Garros if he plays. (Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images)

ROME — British media are reporting that Andy Murray has undergone a back scan in London and will make a decision on whether he will play the French Open on Wednesday, two days before the draw is to be made.

After undergoing scan in London, Andy Murray just announced he's resting & will make French Open decision on Wednesday.—
Barry Flatman (@Barry_FlatmanST) May 18, 2013

Andy Murray talking to specialists, French Open decision around Weds – sounds like nothing immediately conclusive with his scan.—
Mike Dickson (@Mike_Dickson_DM) May 18, 2013

That’s a slight step down from Murray’s ominous comments earlier in the week after he retired from his opening-round match in Rome with a back injury.

Murray, who made the French Open semifinals in 2011, revealed he had been struggling with the injury since the end of 2011 and reaggravated it on the clay, saying he would be “surprised” if he was able to get fit enough to play the French Open.

If the back scan revealed a more serious injury, it stands to reason that he would have announced his withdrawal sooner.

Roger Federer in action at the Italian Open. (Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images)

ROME – Random thoughts, observations, links and other goodies from the tennis world this week …

• I said it on Twitter and I’ll say it again: Roger Federer’s new haircut makes him look old. That said, the above photo is great.

Photos: The evolution of Federer’s hair

• It sounds like the toughest competition in Rome isn’t happening on the court, but at the gelato shops around town. “Yesterday I realized that I’m really glad I have a job because if I didn’t I’d be obese and I’d be in debt,” Maria Sharapova joked before the Italian Open. “It’s just really good that I have something to do when I wake up in the morning. Because this city is really dangerous for the diet and the wallet and yesterday was not a good day for both.”

• Serena Williams was, not surprisingly, much more colorful. I asked after her quarterfinal win whether she’d be taking a souvenir home. Her response? “Usually it ends up on my ass,” she said with a cackle, referring to her penchant for gelato.

Read More…

Novak Djokovic has lost before the semifinals in back-to-back tournaments. (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

ROME — Tomas Berdych upset Novak Djokovic 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open on Friday, snapping an 11-match losing streak against the world No. 1. Here are three thoughts on the two-hour, 22-minute match:

• Letdowns plague Djokovic: For all the questions surrounding Djokovic’s health after he sprained his ankle in Davis Cup in April and looked on the verge of withdrawing last month from Monte Carlo (where he went on to topple eight-time defending champion Rafael Nadal in the final), it’s been the Serb’s mental lapses in his last two matches that have raised questions for his French Open campaign.

Last week, he lost to Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (6), 6-7 (8), 6-3 in his opening match at the Madrid Open. Djokovic stormed back from a 2-4 deficit in the second set, but he was broken immediately in the third set and Dimitrov held on for the biggest victory of his career.

Read More…

Screengrab from TennisTV

The Daily Bagel is your dose of the interesting reporting, writing and quipping from around the Internet.

• Photo: Maria Sharapova wishes boyfriend Grigor Dimitrov a happy 22nd birthday after beating Sloane Stephens in Rome on Thursday night. Sharapova has withdrawn from the tournament with a viral illness.

• Awful Announcing summarizes ESPN’s reported 11-year, $770 million deal for exclusive rights to the U.S. Open beginning in 2015. When CBS ends its run with the U.S. Open in 2014, the only Grand Slam tournament on broadcast television will be the French Open on NBC.

In a conference call with tennis and media reporters, officials from the United States Tennis Association were asked if they felt moving to ESPN and a potentially smaller audience would hurt the Open. However, the USTA and ESPN President John Skipper noted how the audiences for cable are matching and in some cases surpassing the broadcast networks. And while it wasn’t stated, ESPN is hoping that obtaining more championship events will prevent cable subscribers from cutting the cord.

Read More…

Maria Sharapova says she was sick last week and fell ill again on Thursday night. (Clive Mason/Getty Images)

ROME — Maria Sharapova withdrew from the Italian Open on Friday because of a viral illness, giving Sara Errani a walkover into the semifinals.

The two-time defending champion says she was sick at the Madrid Open last week and began to run a temperature Thursday night after beating Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-1 in the third round. This is the first time Sharapova has withdrawn between matches at a tournament since the 2008 Rogers Cup in Montreal.

“I’m not the one to withdraw from tournaments,” Sharapova said on a conference call with reporters from her hotel. “I don’t have a lot of tournaments on my schedule and the ones that I’m playing mean a lot to me and I want to do the best I can in each one of them. With the French Open coming up, it’s quite important to make the smart decisions and I feel this is just one of them.”

Read More…