Daily Bagel: Advice for Rafael Nadal

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

• Video: Brian Baker talks about his comeback.

• Pete Bodo weighs in on Rafael Nadal's withdrawal from the U.S. Open:

The most disturbing thing to me about all this is that you can't just blame Nadal's tendinitis on excessive play on hard courts. He had good recovery time after pulling out of Miami, and essentially broke down after a typically brilliant clay-court tour in Europe. The history he's accumulated also indicates that this is not a problem that will go away, not unless Nadal takes a truly extended break (say, six months to a year) or drastically limits his play with long breaks between selected events.

• ESPN.com's Matt Wilansky says Nadal needs to take a page from the Williams sisters:

So here's some sage advice, Rafa: Play a more judicious schedule. Approach the tennis calendar the same way the Williams sisters do. Don't get hung up on rankings or the spotlight or the rigorous demands of the mandatory Masters Series events. Pick either Indian Wells or Miami. Play only two out of the three Euro Masters events, then choose between Canada and Cincinnati in the lead-up to the U.S. Open. Finally, take the rest of the year off after New York. The final two Masters events and even the ATP World Tour Finals aren't worth the wear and tear. They just aren't.

Nadal is at the point in his career in which we're going to gauge him only on his Slam success. Even if he eschews some of the mandatory tournaments and his ranking takes a hit, so be it. He's still going to be better off than playing as one of the top-three-ranked players with a beaten-down body.

• Tournament director Anne Worcester lists her favorite moments -- on court and off -- at the New Haven Open.

• Nice ATP Q&A with Viktor Troicki, who routed Lleyton Hewitt 6-2, 6-0 on Wednesday at the Western & Southern Open.

• Was the tennis event hosted by the All England Club at Wimbledon the best Olympic tennis will ever get? There's a strong argument that says "yes":

Hosted at Wimbledon, featuring its strongest ever starting line-up and wrapped up with the crowning of a home champion, London will be a hard act to follow for Rio de Janeiro. "I don't think there's ever going to be another Olympic Games in such a venue. So it's definitely a very special moment," said Victoria Azarenka of Belarus after collecting bronze in the women's singles and gold in the mixed doubles.

• The second set of photos with Andy and Jamie Murray must be under a magnet on Judy Murray's refrigerator.

• Some WTA stats from Montreal, where Petra Kvitova was triumphant.

• Venus Williams will be showing her EleVen collection at Fashion Week in New York.

• Non-tennis: Jodie Foster defends Kristen Stewart.

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