Daily Bagel: Horacio Zeballos shocks Rafael Nadal in VTR Open final
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g1YaHm28-g
The Daily Bagel is your dose of the interesting reporting, writing and quipping from around the Internet.
• Video: Highlights from Horacio Zeballos' shocking 6-7 (2), 7-6 (6), 6-4 win over Rafael Nadal in the VTR Open final. Ceballos became only the third man to beat Nadal in a clay-court final. The other two? Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
• More on Nadal's first week back from his seven-month absence from Steve Tignor:
Nadal’s comeback tournament was still a success, and he said afterward that just being there was the most important thing. We might have expected him to win, but nobody could be shocked that he didn’t. It might even be better, in terms of him working his way back and peaking at the right time in the spring, that he didn’t win immediately, that he still has things he knows he needs to improve. The desire to go one step farther will still be there as well. I liked that Nadal began the week saying that it wouldn’t be a big deal if he lost here, but by the third set of the final he was doubled-over and “Vamos!”ing like a madman after every big point he won. The desire to win, not just play, was back, and he couldn’t ignore it.
• Dominika Cibulkova was well on her way to giving the Slovak Republic a 2-0 lead over Serbia after the first day of the Fed Cup when she was overcome with a leg cramp while serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set. Cibulkova retired from the match a game later when she collapsed to the court in tears. Thankfully for Cibulkova, her teammates came through a day later to win the tie.
Here's video of the incident:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5pZuzQH4Ro&feature=youtu.be
• Reutersreports that the feud between the All-India Tennis Association and its top players looks to have finally ended. Emphasis on "looks like." Given the track record of both sides, I'd be shocked if a new dispute didn't pop up quickly.
• Per Sport360, apparently you get a diamond tennis ball if you win the Qatar Open three times. So best of luck with that, Maria Sharapova and Nadia Petrova.
• Over at Any Given Surface, one fan contemplates whether the uproar surrounding Victoria Azarenka's medical-timeout debacle at the Australian Open was due to Azarenka being unsportsmanlike or unladylike. It's a fair question.
• Because I'm sure you haven't had enough, here's another video of Redfoo talking about Vika.
