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.”

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David Beckham watches Rafael Nadal during a 2006 ATP match in Madrid. (Bernat Armangue/AP)

ROME — Rafael Nadal was battling it out with Ernests Gulbis on Thursday when news broke that David Beckham is retiring from soccer. Beckham played for Nadal’s favorite team, Real Madrid, from 2003-07. Nadal looked surprised when told of Beckman’s announcement and wished the 38-year-old international star all the best.

“The only thing I can say about him is he’s amazing,” Nadal said after beating Gulbis 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the third round of the Italian Open. “His attitude, every time when I saw him play it was impossible to be better. Always fighting for everything even if he is the big star. Even if he’s the biggest star outside of the football stadium, he’s a big inspiration, no?”

Nadal admired the way Beckham was able to handle his fame while remaining approachable — “to always have a smile for everybody and always be very respectful and very nice for everybody,” the Spaniard said.

“So I just congratulate him for his fantastic career,” Nadal said. “Apart of all of this, he was a fantastic football player. So it’s a big [loss] for the sport in general. He deserves to do whatever he wants to do and he did a lot for the sport.”

The struggling David Ferrer is coming off an embarrassing loss and needs to get his game right on clay. (Alan Diaz/AP)

The Watch List spotlights the must-know storylines for the upcoming week in tennis. The big names are taking the week off to rest and prepare for the Madrid-Rome double, so it’s a week for the strugglers — David Ferrer, Janko Tipsarevic, and Marion Bartoli — to find their form.

Portugal Open

[Complete Singles Draw: ATP, WTA]

Juan Martin del Potro was a late withdrawal from the rebranded Portugal Open (formerly the Estoril Open) but luckily the tournament was able to secure the services of David Ferrer, who took a late wildcard after losing his opening match in Barcelona to Dmitry Tursunov. Ferrer described his three-set loss as one of the worst matches he’s played in a few years and his early exit meant his lead over Rafael Nadal in the race to secure the No. 4 seed at the French Open shrank. A title in Portugal won’t help him points-wise, but Ferrer needs to get his clay game sorted before the ATP Masters events in Madrid and Rome. Along with Ferrer, Stanislas Wawrinka, Andreas Seppi, and Fabio Fognini round out the Top 4 seeds.

On the women’s side, Marion Bartoli and Dominika Cibulkova top the women’s field. It will be interesting to see if Bartoli’s two-win Fed Cup performance two weekends ago pulls her out of her minor slump. She hasn’t won a WTA-level match since Indian Wells and is still trying to figure out her coaching situation.

Varvara Lepchenko and Vania King are the sole Americans in the draw, with Lepchenko drawing Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round. Tough draw.

BMW Open

[Complete Singles Draw]

If there’s one Top 10 player you don’t mind drawing right now it’s Janko Tipsarevic. Still ranked No. 10, Tipsarevic has been dire since he was forced to retire to Nicolas Almagro in the fourth round of the Australian Open in January. Since then, he’s played seven tournaments and won back-to-back matches only once, in Miami. He tops a solid field in Munich, which includes Tommy Haas, Marin Cilic, Ernests Gulbis, and defending champion Phillipp Kohlschreiber, who always seems to play well at home. Gael Monfils took a wildcard into the tournament but at this point it’s hard to have any confidence in his ability to string together wins. He took a wildcard into Bucharest last week, proclaimed himself 100 percent healthy, and then retired to Daniel Brands in the second round.

Two players to keep an eye on here are Tommy Haas and Ernests Gulbis. Haas decided to skip Monte Carlo to give his body a rest after his semifinal run in Miami, while Gulbis looked much sharper last week in Barcelona, beating Radek Stepanek and Fernando Verdasco easily before losing to Milos Raonic. He’s drawn surprise Monte Carlo quarterfinalist Jarkko Nieminen in the first round.

Tallahassee/Indian Harbour Beach

The USTA’s French Open wildcard playoff wraps up this week as both the men and the women play the last of three USTA Pro Circuit events to try to earn a French Open main draw wildcard. Michael Russell and Ryan Harrison top the field in Tallahassee, while the women finish in Indian Harbour Beach, FL. Alex Kuznetsov is in good position to win the men’s wildcard so long as Wayne Odesnik doesn’t win the title. Shelby Rogers is in the lead for the women’s wildcard after winning Charlottesville last week.

Novak Djokovic swept past Rafael Nadal in straight sets in Monte Carlo.

Novak Djokovic has sat atop the ATP for the better part of the last year and a half and Pete Sampras believes he could stay there for the next five years.

“I do [think Djokovic can remain No. 1 for years]. I was thinking about that when he won Monte Carlo,” Sampras told TENNIS.com in a conference call with the media to promote his doubles partnership with John McEnroe in an exhibition match against Tommy Haas and Ivan Lendl at the second annual Greenbrier Champions Tennis Classic, September 21-22. “He could stay No. 1 for quite a while, five or six years in a row. Realistically, if he stays healthy, he could very well do it.”

Sampras’ comments seem to echo the general sentiment around the tennis world after Djokovic emphatically ended Rafael Nadal’s 46-match winning streak in Monte Carlo last weekend. Djokovic defeated the Spaniard 6-2, 7-6 (1) to win his eighth different ATP Masters 1000 title (Djokovic only needs Cincinnati to complete the set). The loss was Nadal’s first at the tournament since 2003 and ended his historic quest for a ninth straight Monte Carlo title.

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Rafael Nadal won his record 22nd ATP Masters title and his 600th career match. (Frederic J. Brown/Getty Images)

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Rafael Nadal capped his four-tournament comeback from injury by winning his first hard-court title since 2010, beating Juan Martin del Potro 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the final of the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday. Nadal’s 600th career victory gave him a record 22 ATP Masters 1000 titles, one more than Roger Federer.

Here are some thoughts on Nadal’s win:

• Nadal silences all doubt: “How are your knees?” “How is your confidence?” “How are you adjusting to the game after being away from seven months?” All these questions that dogged Nadal for the last six weeks since he returned seem completely ridiculous now. It’s simply an incredible feat for Nadal to beat the likes of a streaking Ernests Gulbis, Federer, Tomas Berdych and Del Potro to win his first hard-court tournament in almost a year. You could tell just how much it meant to him when he fell to his back on match point and celebrated the victory as if he were at Roland Garros.

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Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the Sony Open in Miami. (Frederic J. Brown/Getty Images)

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from next week’s Sony Open in Miami, the tournament confirmed. It’s a particularly tough hit to the men’s tournament, given Roger Federer’s earlier decision to skip the Masters 1000 tournament as well. Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray will be the top two seeds.

“I’m very sorry for the organization of the tournament and I’m very sorry for the fans, but we never thought we’d be able to play all matches possible since I came back,” Nadal told reporters after winning the BNP Paribas Open final on Sunday. “The doctors recommend me to be back home for a few weeks and rest a little bit and keep practicing the right way. I need more power on the left leg quadriceps, so I need to keep working hard. The competition is hard for the body, so after four fantastic weeks I can’t go to Miami. I need to prepare and rest for the next one.”

Nadal’s withdrawal isn’t a surprise, given some of his comments this week. He’s never won in Miami, and after a strong week in the California desert, he probably doesn’t want to put his body through the rigors of another hard-court tournament before European clay season begins in April.

“We are disappointed to hear the news that Rafael Nadal will not be competing in Miami this year, especially given his strong results since his return to the tour,” tournament director Adam Barrett said in a statement. “He is a tremendous ambassador for the game and has thousands of adoring fans here in South Florida. We wish him well and hope to see him back in Miami next year.”

Samantha Stosur, who withdrew from her quarterfinal at the BNP Paribas Open with a right calf injury, has also pulled out of the Sony Open.

Novak Djokovic dispatched Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets Friday to advance to the BNP Paribas Open semifinals. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images )

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — The men’s semifinals are set for the BNP Paribas Open after Juan Martin del Potro upset No. 3 Andy Murray 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1 to earn a shot at Novak Djokovic. Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych will face off in the other semifinal, as Berdych looks to end an 11-match losing streak against the Spaniard.

Novak Djokovic vs. Juan Martin del Potro: Welcome back, DelPo! Del Potro has quietly made his way through the draw away from the crowds and cameras on the outer courts. The big Argentine played his best match of the tournament to score his first win over Murray on hard courts. Del Potro was 1-5 against Murray coming into that match and he’ll go into his semifinal against Djokovic with a similar head-to-head, with Djokovic leading 8-2.

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Rafael Nadal had little trouble with Roger Federer at Indian Wells, beating him in just under an hour and a half. (Frederic J. Brown/Getty Images)

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — In a match that failed to live up the hype, Rafael Nadal rolled over an injured Roger Federer 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday. Nadal improved to 19-10 against his longtime rival and advanced to his seventh consecutive Indian Wells semifinal, where he’ll face Tomas Berdych.

A few thoughts on the match:

• Rafa’s back: I was hesitant to buy into the notion that Nadal had returned to his top-five form even after he dominated David Ferrer 6-0, 6-2 in the Mexican Open final two weeks ago. Sure, he played great and beat a top-five player, but that was on clay, the surface he rules with an iron fist pump. But cooling off Ernests Gulbis in three sets in the fourth round here and turning around a day later to put in a strong performance against Federer is a resounding proclamation of his return to form.

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INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Ernests Gulbis squandered a lead and smashed another racket, but he still managed to extend his winning streak.

Gulbis rallied past Andreas Seppi 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 on Monday in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open. With his 13th consecutive victory, the qualifier set up a fourth-round clash with Rafael Nadal, who advanced after Leonardo Mayer withdrew with a back injury.

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Rafael Nadal says new time penalties ignore the time that players need to recover in humid environments. (AP)

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Rafael Nadal continues his assault on the ATP’s new enforcement of the amount of time players are allowed to take between points, calling it “a disaster.”

The ATP approved the new policy in November with an eye toward speeding up the game and providing more uniformity in the rule’s traditionally haphazard enforcement. The new rule relaxed the penalty for repeated violations in order to encourage umpires to crack down. Umpires now have the ability to warn a player if he takes more than 25 seconds between points and then issue a “fault” penalty for any subsequent violations.

Nadal, a notoriously slow player who can take in excess of 30 seconds between points, played noticeably quicker during his second-round win over Ryan Harrison at the BNP Paribas Open, where the conditions were dry and and cool at night. That doesn’t mean Nadal is happy about the change, which he called “a disaster” in more humid conditions where rallies are more taxing and players need time to wipe their sweat between points.

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