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

• Who says John Isner is just a one-dimensional big server? Check out the winner he hit against Frederico Gil in his second round match in Indian Wells.

• Indian Wells Weekend Recap: A stomach virus is spreading around Coachella Valley, forcing eight players (including Vera Zvonareva and Gael Monfils) to withdraw from the tournament, retire from a match, or complain of symptoms. The virus looks to have even afflicted Roger Federer, who said he’s not feeling well either. … Two top-five players suffered shocking losses, with Andy Murray losing to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday and Petra Kvitova losing to Christina McHale 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday. … McHale isn’t the only young American woman putting her stamp on the tournament. Twenty-two-year old Jamie Hampton followed up her 6-4, 6-3 upset of Jelena Jankovic by bouncing another seed, Jarmila Gajdosova, 6-2, 6-7(1), 6-2 late Sunday night. … Other notable seeds who were upended in upsets: Kei Nishikori, Richard Gasquet, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Daniela Hantuchova, Sabine Lisicki.

• Tommy Haas lost in the second round in Indian Wells, but the 33-year-old veteran is still a fan favorite. First, Haas tossed the fans a towel, then another towel. Then he flipped his sweatband in their direction. It didn’t get any takers. Finally, as he walked off the court, he handed them something that he looked thoroughly sick of at that moment: his racquet.

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A rowdy crowd of 18,079 saw the welcome return of tennis to Madison Square Garden at Monday night’s BNP Paribas Showdown. Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki served up a quality first set, which Sharapova won 6-3, before allowing the match to run the course of a typical tennis exhibition.

There was dancing, there was giggling, and oh yes, there was top-ranked golfer Rory McIlroy getting summoned down to the court by his main squeeze to play a point against Sharapova. Maria, thankfully, did not take his head off. But she did lose the point, thus reinforcing a reputation that has stuck with her for some time now: Maria Sharapova does not fare well against current World No. 1s.

Sharapova eventually won the exhibition match 6-3, 6-4. See a clip of the dancing, giggling, McIlroy-ing action in the video below.

Pete Sampras, who turned pro as a 16-year-old in 1988, burst onto the scene in 1990 when he beat Andre Agassi in the U.S. Open final. (Manny Millan/Icon SMI)

Twenty four years ago today, a lanky 16-year-old high school junior from Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., named Pete Sampras ditched classes to play Indian Wells. As if the heavens were signaling this kid might be special, Sampras won his first main-draw match that day, Feb. 29, 1988, defeating No. 37 Ramesh Krishnan. Sampras, ranked No. 893 with one career match under his belt, saved five match points in the third-set tiebreaker against his 26-year-old opponent to win 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (9).

“He serves and plays the net very well, which is impressive,” Krishnan said at the time. “He’s 16 and playing great. It’s very difficult to tell how good when you’re that young, but he does have a lot of potential.”

Sampras, who qualified for the tournament and skipped four days of school during his appearance, would go on to upset 25th-ranked Eliot Teltscher 7-5, 6-3. After losing to No. 18 Emilio Sanchez 7-5, 6-2 in the third round, Sampras turned pro and the rest is history.

“My one goal is to win Wimbledon someday,” a green Sampras said then. “It’s been my goal for the last four years. That doesn’t mean I will do it. But I can.”

And he did. Seven times.

This week saw the addition to Twitter of one notable tennis personality, a person who still has — how can I phrase this delicately? — a very devoted fan base despite the fact that he’s retired and has moved on to other pursuits.

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, Marat Safin reportedly joined Twitter.

Dear followers! It is me and I am real today I was at university in NNovgorod, the were about 100 students and some spicy questions .—
marat_safin (@safin_marat1) February 20, 2012

His account isn’t officially verified and, to be honest, his tweets just don’t sound like him. But the press secretary for Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region, which Safin represents in the lower house of Parliament, confirmed it, as did Safin’s sister, Dinara Safina.

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

• Enjoy some highlights from Roger Federer’s 6-1, 6-4 win over Juan Martin del Potro in Sunday’s Rotterdam final.

• The withdrawals continue in Dubai. Petra Kvitova, Vera Zvonareva and Li Na already pulled out, and Dominika Cibulkova on Tuesday retired with a hamstring injury and Maria Kirilenko withdrew from doubles. It’s way too early in a jam-packed season for this many withdrawals to affect these draws.

• SI.com’s Bruce Jenkins evaluates the Americans’ performances at last week’s SAP Open. Of 19-year-old Ryan Harrison, Jenkins writes: “He’s developed his own penetrating serve, a looming threat for anyone he plays. His groundstrokes are solid, as well as his all-court movement. As Davis Cup captain Jim Courier noted during Harrison’s stint with the team in Switzerland, he just needs some time.”

• WTA Backspin takes an in-depth look at Victoria Azarenka’s surge. “Since the end of the ’11 season, there has been much talk of Petra Kvitova being ‘The One,’ the player of her generation,” Todd Spiker writes. “It’s an open title that has been floating around aimlessly without any serious takers since the Serena Slam settled the previous argument a decade ago. The money is still on Kvitova being that player, but… maybe it’s Vika.”

• I missed this earlier, but Kimiko Date-Krumm was a great blogger while she was at the Pattaya Open in Thailand. She even writes in the third person. “The present Kimiko is stronger than before,” she writes in response to a question about her current form. “In 1996 I had a young body and bigger muscles, but I was not so strong mentally. Now I have more experience and more mental strength. So I guess the answer is yes, I can beat the 1996 Kimiko, but only for a short time, it won’t be always!”

• Non-tennis: Olympus is no longer the sponsor of the U.S. Open Series (having been replaced by Emirates Airlines). This read about its recent accounting scandal sheds some light on the unique nature of  Japanese business culture.

See or read something that you enjoyed and want to share? Feel free to email or tweet us links to pieces from around the Internet that may have slipped past our radar.

The news of Whitney Houston’s death Saturday night sent ripples of sadness throughout the world, and the tennis community was no different.

Few modern artists have had as much of an impact in sports. Her rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner at Super Bowl XXV was unforgettable, a performance that left one writer gushing over how Houston “broke” the national anthem. That she did.

But it is her 1988 Olympics anthem, One Moment in Time, that inspired a generation of athletes, both professional and amateur. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone over 30 who didn’t blast that song on their Walkman for inspiration, including Serena Williams, who was left shocked by the news.

#OneMomentInTime has propelled me to many of my grand slams victories. #whitneyhouston—
Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) February 12, 2012

Williams attended Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy party on Saturday night, which went on as planned as news of Houston’s death broke.

See video below of Houston performing One Moment in Time at the opening of Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York in 1997.

It used to be that if something interesting happened at the Hopman Cup, which takes place in Perth in Western Australia, no one would ever see it because the matches were rarely, if ever, aired in the United States. Unfortunately for Mardy Fish, that is no longer the case. Thanks to YouTube, we can all watch as Caroline Wozniacki fires down an ace past Fish during the Denmark vs. U.S. mixed doubles match. I can’t even look at you right now, Mardy.

To add insult to immortalized-forever-on-YouTube-embarassment, the Danes won the tie.

By now, most people have probably seen the viral, and possibly fake, video of Roger Federer doing his best William Tell impersonation and hitting a bottle off a production assistant’s head.

Well, in the hilarious video below, Serena Williams did her best imitation of Federer’s stunt, as she “tried” to serve a bottle off her hitting partner’s head. What she was aiming for is anyone’s guess.

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

• Andrea Petkovic kicked off 2012 with a win in Brisbane, Australia, and debuted her new postmatch Petko Dunk (video above). It’s more of a “Petko Fadeaway Three,” but that doesn’t quite roll off the tongue. Perhaps it’s an homage to a fellow German, Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki?

• In a somewhat surprising move, Andy Murray announced that he’s hired Ivan Lendl as his coach. Not unlike his new charge, Lendl was often described as misunderstood, obsessive and prickly, and didn’t win his first Grand Slam title until his fifth final. Could this be the out-of-the-box hire that Murray needs to make the final step?

• Novak Djokovic started his 2012 season by beating Gael Monfils, Roger Federer and David Ferrer to win the exhibition in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile, Peter Bodo tells us to remember Abu Dhabi if these guys start complaining about the length of the season later this year.

• Petra Kvitova wants nothing to do with the hype surrounding her inevitable ascent to No. 1. “Last year in the four Grand Slams we had four different winners so it’s not only about me even though I have won a grand slam and I know the feeling,” she said. “But it was only one year ago that I was number 34 and I am still getting used to this.”

• “How do you feel about me being the only Wimbledon championship in the family?” Jamie Murray interviewed Andy Murray for CNN.com.

• U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur announced that she’s signed a multiyear deal with Asics. Based on that video, something tells me we’re going to miss Lacoste.

• Non-tennis: What was the most important event of 2011?

Over here at Beyond The Baseline, we’re quite thankful for the colorful cast of characters that we’ve come to call tennis players. From wily media veterans like Andy Roddick and Serena Williams, to emerging personalities like Li Na and Andrea Petkovic, you never know what you’re going to get at any given press conference.

Here are some of the best quotes from the year in tennis:

Top 5 Quotes of the Year

5. After capturing the last Slam of the year at the U.S. Open, Novak Djokovic is determined to let loose:

“Last night I didn’t have any gluten, and tonight I will have a bunch of gluten – and alcohol.”

4. Kim Clijsters gets her revenge on Todd Woodbridge’s erroneous speculation on Rod Laver Arena:

“Rennae Stubbs showed me a text message you wrote to her in Sydney. You said I was pregnant? Let me say what was written in the message. First of all it said ‘she looks really grumpy and her boobs are bigger.‘”

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