After losing to Fernando Verdasco at the Madrid Open, Rafael Nadal is threatening to skip the event next year if the surface isn’t changed. (EPA)

The talk of the town is the Madrid Open’s controversial blue clay. In clearing out my notebook, I’ll look at what Rafael Nadal’s shocking loss to Fernando Verdasco means for a potential ranking shakeup heading into the French Open; the blue clay; and Milos Raonic’s “statement loss.”

1. Rafa’s revolt: You have to feel for Verdasco. Here he is pulling off a nearly impossible feat — Verdasco came back from a double-break down, 2-5, in the third set to win five straight games and drop Nadal 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 — and getting the biggest win of his career in his hometown after a long slump, and the guy isn’t even the C-story. Not that Verdasco should care. Let Rafa have the headlines, he’ll take the scoreboard.

First, let’s look at the unexpected result. Verdasco had never beaten Nadal in 14 previous meetings. In fact, it was only the ninth time Nadal has lost on clay since 2005. His losses on the dirt since then have come against Gaston Gaudio, Igor Andreev, Roger Federer (twice), Juan Carlos Ferrero, Robin Soderling, Novak Djokovic (twice) and now Verdasco. Rafa had won 22 straight on the surface, dating to his loss to Djokovic in the Rome final last year.

Now, Nadal is threatening to skip Madrid next year if the color and the court surface aren’t fixed. This isn’t an empty threat. Madrid may be a mandatory Masters tournament, but a player can skip one without penalty if he meets certain criteria. Nadal has played more than 600 matches in his career, so he doesn’t lose bonus-pool money if he skips one Masters event.

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By C.W. Sesno, SI.com

Yes, Serena Williams has a rap song. And quite frankly, it’s not bad. If we’re grading on a scale relative to other songs recently released by tennis players, Serena will be triple platinum by the end of the day. No synthesizer, decent beat and creative lyrics (tennis in a rap song!). It almost doesn’t sound like her, but the proof is in the lyrics:

“They be like, ‘Serena, is you really rappin’?’ That’s me, thanks for listnin’ — Schoolin’ these rappers they should pay tuition.” Need more proof? “Swag out this world you should call me Venus. That’s my sister, my name is Serena, on the court I serve ‘em up, no subpoena.”

She’s got something of a Lil’ Kim sound going on, obviously scaled back on the profanities and vulgarities. It’s unclear who she’s working with and when her debut album will drop, but it seems like Ravens offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie may have had a hand in leaking the track.

Dear @BryantMckinnie I hate you. Lol—
Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) May 11, 2012

Just getting out of workouts & have all these @serenawilliams mentions. What's poppin?—
Bryant Mckinnie (@BryantMckinnie) May 11, 2012

I think Serena has potential for a post-tennis music career. Sound off in the comments with your take on her jam.

Venus and Serena Williams won doubles gold at the Beijing Olympics despite a less than stellar commitment to Fed Cup. (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

In last week’s Toss, SI.com tennis producer C.W. Sesno came on to discuss the recent stability at the top of the WTA, a change from the last four years. Here to stay, or another fad? The readers have spoken, but barely: 56 percent of poll takers think the WTA’s top four will remain competitive at the top of the rankings.

This week, tennis blogger Ben Rothenberg joins The Toss to delve into the recent changes the ITF put in place for qualifying for the 2016 Olympics.

Today’s Toss: Should there be separate Olympic qualification requirements for tennis players?

Courtney Nguyen: Thanks for joining me this week, Ben. I don’t know about you, but the “B”, “L”, “U” and “E” keys on my laptop are no longer functioning thanks to Madrid, so let’s do everyone a favor and not talk about that whole mess. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have Olympic fever than a bad case of the blues.

Before we dive into this debate a bit of background is in order. The ITF recently announced a significant change in the qualification rules for the 2016 Olympics. Currently, players must make themselves available for two Davis Cup or Fed Cup ties in the two years before the Olympics, hence Serena Williams’ recent sojourn to Kharkiv, Ukraine in April. But beginning after the London Olympics, players will have to make themselves available to play four times in an Olympic cycle. It’s fairly obvious that the impetus for the change is to use Olympic qualifying as a way to get players to commit more regularly to Davis Cup and Fed Cup, competitions that are run by the ITF. The change hasn’t gone down well with the top players, who have complained that it forces them to play more in a season that is already long and grueling.

We can talk about whether the changes are good or bad but I thought it would be fun to discuss an even broader issue: Should there even be Olympic qualification rules for tennis players? Why not just do a modified direct acceptance scheme (limiting the number of players from a single country) like they do at the Slams, which is based entirely on ranking?

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

• In case you missed it, highlights from Milos Raonic’s 4-6 7-5 7-6(4) ”statement loss” to Roger Federer on Wednesday. Check out the one-handed backhand pass the Canuck hits at the 6:46 mark to save a break point. Where’d that come from?

• Since The Avengers has taken over the box-office (go watch it, it’s really good!) here’s a question: Is Novak Djokovic tennis’ version of the Incredible Hulk? No, I’m not referring to this. But Steve Tignor makes a good observation about the Serb’s growing ability to control his inner beast.

It’s Novak’s style to let things get to him—in this case, the surface—before he can put them aside and play tennis. Unlike Federer and Nadal, there’s a small, highly strung part of Djokovic that doesn’t want to calmly and logically compete for an entire match. There’s a frazzled part of him that wants to pull the plug and just let the ball sail. What’s interesting is watching the more responsible side of Djokovic let that guy have his say and then reel him in.

• Juan Monaco is rehabbing his ankle but doubtful for Rome.

• Peter Bodo talks to Melanie Oudin after she clinched a French Open wildcard.

• For his next trick, Ion Tiriac wants to introduce fluorescent green or orange balls to improve visibility. Boy, he’s really obsessed with visibility issues, huh? Here’s a tip, Ion: If you take off your ever-present sunglasses you might be able to see the ball better.

• Venus is still in Madrid, getting papped while shopping.

• Non-tennis: Here’s an adorable video of a little boy trying to kiss a girl. And failing. Repeatedly.

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

• Another day, another Gael Monfils highlight, made possible because of his poor court positioning.

• The lack of television coverage for the WTA this week has been absolutely unacceptable.

• Petra Kvitova and John Isner both lost second-round matches at the Madrid Open on Wednesday.

• Allistair McCaw, who has served as the fitness trainer to many ATP and WTA players, is in Madrid and offered his thoughts on the blue clay. According to McCaw, the issue isn’t the color. The problems are in the court itself:

“It’s that the amount of clay covering the surface is lesser than normal. If you dig your foot into the surface and remove some of the clay, you will notice that the underlying surface is a hard rubber like mat. When water is sprayed on the surface, it become slippery. This, in my opinion, is what’s causing the main problems.”

• Wheelchair tennis player Marc McCarroll had his wheelchair destroyed by the baggage-handling crew at the Atlanta airport. He tweeted about the ordeal here, here and here.

• If you’re a Sam Stosur supporter, here’s a fan-made iBook available for iPads and iPhones.

• Non-tennis: 29 Touristy Spots in America That Are Actually Good.

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.

Novak Djokovic was slipping and sliding all over the place Tuesday in his 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win over Daniel Gimeno-Traver at the Madrid Open. Visibly annoyed with his inability to change direction in his first match on the blue clay, the world No. 1 joked afterward that he’d need some help from his Expendables 2 co-star.

“Either I come up with the football shoes or I invite Chuck Norris to advise me on how I should play on this court,” the Serb told reporters.

Hey, you know what color Norris’ beard is, right? Red. Coincidence? I think not.

This isn’t the first time a tennis player has called on the unstoppable power of Chuck Norris. Remember Andy Roddick’s tribute at Davis Cup last year?

Here are some highlights from Djokovic’s victory. To see what he’s talking about, check out the point at 4:58.

The steadily improving Agnieszka Radwanska has cracked the top three in the rankings for the first time in her career. (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Hold up. Agnieszka Radwanska is now the No. 3 player in the world? How did that happen?

The short answer is that because of scheduling changes this year, the points that Petra Kvitova earned from her 2011 Madrid title fell off on Monday, dropping her behind Radwanska, who is in the top three for the first time in her career. The long answer is that this has been in the works for quite some time now.

Other than a surprising second-round loss to Angelique Kerber at the U.S. Open last year — a defeat that doesn’t look so bad now that Kerber is on the verge of cracking the top 10 — Radwanska has had an incredible last 10 months highlighted by Premier-level titles in Carlsbad, Tokyo, Beijing, Dubai and Miami. Her strong finish to 2011 teed up her exemplary 2012, when she’s advanced to the quarterfinals in every tournament she’s entered (eight total), a feat matched only by the two women ranked ahead of her, No. 1 Victoria Azarenka and No. 2 Maria Sharapova.

Speaking of Azarenka, Radwanska’s year could be even better if she hadn’t been in Vika’s half of the draw constantly. They’ve been placed in the same half in every tournament they’ve played together this year and, much to Aga’s chagrin, Azarenka has won all five meetings.

The good news for Radwanska is that she’s one one spot away from avoiding Azarenka’s half of the draw. And getting that No. 2 ranking isn’t out of the question. Radwanska won only one match in Madrid and Rome combined last year, giving her a great opportunity to collect a load of points — up to 1,800 — over the next two weeks. Though she trails Sharapova by 1,510 points, Sharapova’s Rome points (900 after winning the title last year) drop next Monday, whereas Radwanska is defending a single ranking point.

Could Aga sneak into the French Open as the No. 2 seed? As she’s shown since last August, anything is possible.

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

• Serena’s still undefeated on clay after her 6-3, 6-1 win over Elena Vesnina and Petra Kvitova started off her title defense in Madrid with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Marina Erakovic on Monday. You can see highlights from their matches in the video posted above. Be sure to catch Serena’s sharp angle forehand winner at the 0:33 mark. She liked that one.

• What’s it like to play Futures events, where umpires are paid more than the players?

Players at these tournaments can stay at local hotels – usually offered at about $125 a night in Vero Beach – but can also be housed for free by local families, willing to help out a talented young tennis player. Lunches are provided by the tournaments, but everything else is an expense they have to incur on their own. I’d like to have a look inside some of these players tennis bags to see if they have two pennies to rub together after a week of living, travel and training expenses against prize money.

• Steve Tignor offers his thoughts on Madrid’s blue clay.

Watching this event after Barcelona and before Rome makes me understand, and miss, the associations I have with red dirt. From my vantage point in the States, where most of our courts are asphalt and the ones that aren’t have a grayish tint, red clay signifies the Old World, and an alternative, century-old Continental tennis tradition. Blue clay, on the other hand, signifies the power of Ion Tiriac’s bank account.

• The Madrid Open will always struggle for relevance on the tour. It’s just a weird tournament that doesn’t offer much to the players as a warm up to Roland Garros.

If the tour wants to build brands in the run-up to a grand slam event – as the Emirates US Open Series tries to do for the US Open – it needs uniformity in terms of surfaces and conditions. What’s the real point playing on clay at altitude if the French Open is at sea level? Altitude training is one thing, but actually playing matches in totally different conditions is hardly an accepted method for professional sportsmen and women.

• Good eye to catch the unfortunate sweatshirt Marin Cilic had to wear after he lost the Munich final to Philip Kohlschreiber over the weekend.

• Want to live on “Roger Federer Street”? Now you can.

• Non-tennis: This is a great clip of the Beastie Boys’ appearance on the Joan Rivers Show in 1987.

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.

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When it comes to the blue clay in Madrid, there’s one thing we can all agree on: We’re all talking about the blue clay in Madrid. For a tournament without much history, that’s not a bad marketing coup. I’ll get to talking about the actual tennis that’s being played on these courts soon. Until then, here are some initial thoughts after bathing in the sea of blue that was the Caja Majica while sitting on my couch watching Tennis Channel’s early coverage.

• Better optics. Is the true, no? Among tournament owner Ion Tiriac’s defenses of blue clay, the one that’s universally convincing is that it offers better viewing for spectators. No doubt that the color contrast between the ball and the court is significantly better with blue as the backdrop. Watching red-clay tournaments on a non-HD television (or even worse, an online feed) can sometimes feel like a futile endeavor, where I pretend like I can totally see the ball when, really, I totally can’t see the ball. So watching matches on Tennis Channel in standard definition was great. You can track the ball as well as you can on a hard court. Which brings me to my next point …

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Serena Williams appeared on Piers Morgan Tonight last week and even picked up a wooden racket  – or more accurately, a wooden racket was shoved into her hand — for a light hit with the CNN host at the Vanderbilt Tennis and Fitness Club in New York.

The most interesting portion of the interview came when Williams opened up about her ever-mysterious love life, which, if you follow her on Twitter, is always on her mind.

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