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:

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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.

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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.

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

• Video: The ATP counts down the top Madrid Hot Shots. But how about the top-10 play calls? Not much can beat Robbie Koenig’s “Oh! That’s pure box office from [Grigor] Dimitrov!”

• The headline says it all: Jimmy Connors Shouldn’t Be Talking About Chris Evert’s Abortion.

• Is Taylor Townsend the next great American tennis star? Slow down, folks. Give her some time.

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Rafael Nadal has won five of seven tournaments since returning in February. (Andres Kudacki/AP)

The Report Card hands out grades for the week in tennis. Last week, Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal won titles in Madrid, where Grigor Dimitrov had a breakthrough victory and Roger Federer and Victoria Azarenka struggled in returns from lengthy layoffs.

Serena Williams: A. Another week, another title, another demolition of Maria Sharapova (who has lost 12 consecutive meetings), another week at No. 1. Williams successfully defended her Madrid Open title and showed for the first time in more than a decade that she could dominate on all shades of clay, flattening Sharapova 6-1, 6-4 in the final. The scary thing about Williams’ three-title, 19-match winning streak is that she’s not even playing as well as she was at this time last year, when she also won the Family Circle Cup and Madrid Open and came into the French Open streaking.

Serena talks career, pop culture and more

Rafael Nadal: A. As the other Big Four members fell one by one, Nadal was able to fight through his one blip of a match and find better form late in the tournament. After being two points from losing his quarterfinal against David Ferrer, Nadal rolled past Pablo Andujar in the semifinals and Stanislas Wawrinka in the final to collect his 40th clay title and 55th overall. Nadal, who missed all of January as part of his seven-month recovery from a knee injury, has made the final in all seven tournaments he’s played this year and claimed a tour-leading five titles. Not even the most optimistic Nadal followers could have foreseen this type of dominance in his return.

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Sloane Stephens hasn’t made it past the round of 16 of an event since her Australian Open run. (Alan Diaz/AP)

According to an annual list of the 50 most marketable athletes compiled by British sports magazine SportsPro Media, ATP No. 1 Novak Djokovic is the sixth most marketable athlete in the world. In a rather surprising selection, Sloane Stephens comes in at No. 9, making her the most marketable female athlete in the world. Djokovic and Stephens come in ahead of Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal, as well as Roger Federer and Serena Williams, who didn’t even make the list.

Are you scratching your head? Me, too.

WERTHEIM: Serena, Nadal confirm French Open favorite statuses

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Maria Sharapova won in Rome last year, and then went on to win the French Open. (Gabriel Bouys/Getty Images)

ROME, Italy — The French Open is just two weeks away and the top players will play their final tune-up this week at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, a.k.a The Italian Open, held at the beautiful grounds at the Foro Italico.

In recent years, the 56-player joint tournament has been a good indicator of French Open success. In the last six years, the women’s finalists have gone on to make the semifinals or better at Roland Garros, with two going on to win the title. That’s what happened last year when Maria Sharapova beat Li Na to win her second straight Rome title and was lifting the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen in Paris three weeks later. The numbers are less compelling for the men because, well, Rafael Nadal has won the French Open seven of the last eight years. He’s won Rome a record six years and made the finals seven times. Obviously he’ll be the favorite again.

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Maria Sharapova could face Serena Williams in the Madrid final. (Photo via @TennisTV)

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

• Photo: Maria Sharapova on Friday appeared to have a message for the paparazzi who caught her and boyfriend Grigor Dimitrov cuddling on the streets of Madrid: How did you catch us? Nice to see she’s good-humored about it. Sharapova beat Kaia Kanepi 6-2, 6-4 in the Madrid Open quarterfinals to extend her clay winning streak to 20.

• More interesting comments from Sloane Stephens in The Boston Globe taken from an interview during Indian Wells. Who knew Twitter could cause such a ruckus?

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Javier Soriano/AFP/Getty Images

Random thoughts, observations and links from the tennis world …

• Above photo: Shhh! Little geniuses at work.

• For four days the tennis headlines were dominated by gossip, scandal and violence. So thank you, Novak Djokovic and Grigor Dimitrov, for playing a compelling, dramatic, three-hour second-round match in Madrid on Tuesday that made us remember that that’s why we love this sport.

What was Sharapova’s message for Dimitrov?

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After upsetting Novak Djokovic at the Madrid Open on Tuesday, Grigor Dimitrov said he was inspired by a “few words” from his girlfriend (believed to be Maria Sharapova, of course) that he’ll “remember definitely for the rest of my life.” Dimitrov wouldn’t divulge what was said, but that’s where you and I come in.

Photos: Dimitrov hits the deck

What did Sharapova tell her 21-year-old beau before the biggest professional victory of his career? Here are my best guesses, followed by yours via Twitter.

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