Rafael Nadal overcame a big-hitting display from Ernests Gulbis. (Clive Mason/Getty Images)

ROME — Ernests Gulbis had a simple approach to his third-round match against Rafael Nadal at the Italian Open on Thursday.

“I have to bring my A-game or I’m going to get three games,” Gulbis said a day earlier. “So I’m going to bring my A-game.”

Gulbis delivered on that promise during the type of early onslaught that Nadal seldom faces on clay. But Gulbis, despite believing that he was the superior player Thursday, wasn’t able to finish off his first victory over Nadal in six attempts. Nadal overcame the big-hitting Gulbis 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals, where the six-time champion will meet David Ferrer on Friday.

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

• Video: Martina Hingis talks about her new coaching role with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

• Grigor Dimitrov, Ryan and Christian Harrison, Bernard Tomic, Ricardas Berankis and David Goffin get fashionable for a photo shoot in Men’s Journal.

• Andy Murray, who said he’s doubtful for Roland Garros, will prioritize Wimbledon over the French Open, according to his mother, Judy.

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Can the pope’s touch heal Juan Martin del Potro’s troublesome right wrist? (EPA)

Juan Martin del Potro met newly elected Pope Francis on Wednesday after attending mass at the Vatican. The 24-year-old presented the fellow Argentine with a Wilson racket that Del Potro used during his victory against Roger Federer in the 2009 U.S. Open final.

“It was an incredible experience with Pope Francis, something that I’ll never forget,” Del Potro told ATPWorldTour.com. “It was a dream come true for a guy like me. It was an unforgettable moment. I was very nervous before meeting him, to be able to congratulate him and talk with him. He was nice. Everybody knows he is very humble. Today was a day that I’ll remember forever.”

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Ernests Gulbis has raised his ranking nearly 100 spots this year, to No. 46. (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

ROME — Ernests Gulbis isn’t one to mince words.

So when the 2008 French Open quarterfinalist was asked to sum up his clay season so far on the heels of his Delray Beach title as a qualifier and his fourth-round appearance at Indian Wells as a qualifier, what started out as a confident defense of his performance quickly devolved into a fit of laughter.

“My losses on clay were against good players,” Gulbis told SI.com. “I lost against Tommy Haas [in three sets in Munich], and he won the tournament not losing a set. I was the only one getting a set from him. I lost to [Milos] Raonic in Barcelona. That maybe wasn’t a good match because I didn’t play good.

Watch: Haas hits wild winner against Gulbis

“I lost to Juan Monaco [in Monte Carlo], but I went a little bit nuts. I got a game penalty,” he said with a laugh, recalling his racket-throwing tantrum. “That was my, mentally, worst match of the season.”

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ROME — Viktor Troicki went on a four-minute tirade at the Italian Open on Wednesday that had even his notoriously short-tempered opponent calling for the meltdown to finally end.

Troicki trailed 6-1 and faced break point in the first game of the second set against Ernests Gulbis when he hit a backhand that chair umpire Cedric Mourier overruled and called long, giving the game to Gulbis. Mourier inspected the mark and confirmed the call, believing there was space between the outline of the ball on the clay and the line. Not satisfied, Troicki hopped over the net and had a look for himself.

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Bernard Tomic withdrew from this week’s Italian Open. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Bernard Tomic could miss the French Open, according to his father and coach, John.

John Tomic’s comments came Tuesday after a court appearance related to his alleged assault of his son’s hitting partner, Thomas Drouet.

[T]omic Sr said he did not believe his son would now play at the Roland Garros grand slam event.

“We don’t know, probably not,” Tomic Sr told News Limited when asked if his son would be playing in the French tournament.

When asked if he was not fit enough mentally, Tomic added: “You guys created this situation.”

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Andy Murray received treatment before retiring from his match at the Italian Open. (Andrew Medichini/AP)

ROME — No. 2 Andy Murray said he’s “unlikely” to play the French Open because of a lower-back injury that caused him to retire from his second-round match against Marcel Granollers at the Italian Open on Wednesday.

Murray called it quits on his 26th birthday after rallying from a 4-1 deficit to win the second set in a tiebreaker against Granollers, who took the first set 6-3. The Scot received treatment on his back during the second set.

“I would be very surprised if I was playing in Paris,” Murray told reporters afterward, according to ESPN.

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ROME — Jerzy Janowicz upset eighth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 7-6 (5) on Wednesday in the second round of the Italian Open. The charismatic and emotional Pole celebrated his biggest win of the year by going full-Hulk on his Adidas shirt, ripping it with authority. Novak Djokovic and Carlos Berlocq would be impressed.

Janowicz, 22, was so pumped up by his third victory over a top-10 player that he started busting out of his top before he even shook hands with Tsonga. Once the pleasantries were exchanged, Janowicz finished the job.

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

• Video: Incredible impressions of the Big Four.

• Jimmy Connors says the much-celebrated rivalries in today’s game are “soft” compared with those of the 1970s.

“The game now is what it is,” he said. “I’ve been criticized for saying it, but the rivalries are soft. I can only compare it to what I did. To me, they were real, not only on the court but off the court, too. I don’t see Mac [John McEnroe] coming up and putting his arm around me and consoling me.

“Maybe it’s because tennis has become such big business, that they’re all making their fair share. Back in my day, it was all about the winning. But now, sometimes there are guys who get their success at the end of the year by the size of their bank account, as opposed to the number of titles that they win.”

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