Daily Bagel: Looking back at Andy Roddick's emotional 2012 Sony Open
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or_N2GFHwiA
The Daily Bagel is your dose of the interesting reporting, writing and quipping from around the Internet.
• Video: As we gear up for the Sony Open, let's look back at one of the feel-good stories of last year's tournament with Andy Roddick's emotional win over Roger Federer in the third round. He dedicated it -- only the third win over Federer in his career -- to his agent, Ken Meyerson, who died six months earlier.
• If you haven't read Elizabeth Newman's piece for SI.com on why Venus and Serena Williams should never come back to Indian Wells to play the BNP Paribas Open, you should.
For everyone who has the gall to say that Venus and Serena should move past the ugliness of that day, I implore you to close your eyes and imagine yourself in that moment. Stop hiding behind the "I can't begin to imagine what it must feel like ..." one-liners and put yourself in their shoes.
Imagine being a 19-year-old black female mercilessly booed by a mostly white crowd for reasons that she cannot explain. Imagine looking up at the chair umpire expecting some type of support and relief from the vitriol but receiving none. Imagine looking up in the stands and seeing the despair on your sister's face while also seeing the festering fury in your father's eyes as everyone around you is screaming, yelling and pointing the finger. Imagine all of this happening while no one dares to do a damn thing about it. Would you really be so quick to dust off your shoulders and go back? Would you not feel betrayed by the very sport and fans to whom you had given so much?
• Steve Tignor's BNP Paribas Open post-mortem is a a salute to "The Persistents."
Sharapova won her first title since Paris; Nadal won his most important. They are, at least on the surface, stone-cold opposites. He’s Mediterranean fire; she’s Siberian ice. She never lets her guard down; he never puts his up. He wins with innocent passion; she wins with ruthless professionalism. But they have one thing in common: They keep getting back up.
Yesterday Nadal and Sharapova ended up in the same spot, in the winner's circle again, smiling like little kids, their fierce selves left behind for a few minutes. They held the same strange, abstract and, as Nadal said, “very heavy” BNP Paribas winner’s trophy -- Rafa struggled to find a place to bite his, Maria struggled to pick hers up. That’s how the Persistents’ week ended, but you get the feeling their seasons have just begun.
NGUYEN: Nadal heating up at right time
• Matt Cronin's take on Maria Sharapova's title run at the BNP Paribas Open.
Here’s what is going on for Sharapova: as well as she has played the past 15 months, and she has been quite consistent, Indian Wells was her first title since Roland Garros, which means a lot for her confidence. Yes, her nemesis Serena Williams wasn’t in he California desert, nor was Li Na, who had bullied her in the Aussie Open semis. She also didn’t get a chance to play now No. 3 Victoria Azarenka in the final again, as the Belarusian pulled out of her match against Wozniacki with a foot injury.
But nonetheless it is likely the first time in her 11-year career that she has ever won tournament beating six good (and three very good) counterpunchers on a slow hard court (Schiavone, Suarez-Navarro, Arruabarrena-Vecino, Errani, Kirilenko and Wozniacki.)
That alone should prove to Sharapova that she is no longer a big-footed dork who can’t run down the retrievers and then pummel them into the ground.
NGUYEN: Sharapova's win consolidates power in WTA
• Apparently Mardy Fish is the guy to go to for breaking gossip news:
https://twitter.com/MardyFish/status/313431069225517056
• The Changeover captures the Gentle Giant, Juan Martin del Potro, at his best: smashing himself in the head with his racket vs. taking off a line umpire's sunglasses.
• From The Onion: Nadal Hits Shot Super Low To The Net.
• Non-tennis: Over at Videogum, an interesting take on why the Veronica Mars Kickstarter campaign might be problematic.
