Daily Bagel: Impressionist takes on ATP World Tour Finals field
http://youtu.be/Z-VRuc5xcK8
The Daily Bagel is your dose of the interesting reporting, writing and quipping from around the Internet.
• Video: Josh Berry, tennis impressionist extraordinaire, takes on the Elite Eight at the ATP World Tour Finals.
• Fun debate topic posed by Ed McGrogan of ESPN.com: Should the ATP's and WTA's season-ending championships be held at the beginning of the season instead?
[T]he season-ending championships take place after a practically nonstop, 10-plus-month calendar. The players are fatigued -- and so are most fans. Yes, diehards would tune in to watch Tomas Berdych and David Ferrer trade groundstrokes on ice at the North Pole on Christmas Day, but the great majority of sports fans could not care less about these final showdowns. I’d be willing to wager that plenty “non-casual” tennis fans have had their fill by September as well.
It’s tough to feel sorry for the millionaire players, I get that. But the quality of the season-ending championships can be compromised when some of the entrants are coming off of point-seeking binges in the weeks that lead into Istanbul and London. There is no break in between the final WTA and ATP tournaments and the season-ending championships, and it’s not uncommon to see players overexert themselves in an effort to qualify.
• PBS' Makers series profiles Martina Navratilova. Worth watching.
• Ravi Ubha of CNN.com on why the the ATP World Tour Finals might just stay in London.
Unlike soccer's ruling body FIFA, which aims to take the World Cup to pastures new, the ATP's goal isn't to be "evangelistic" about tennis -- and London, with its packed crowds, has been a boon financially for the men's game.
"My personality isn't much for a change," [tournament director Andre] Silva, a Brazilian, told CNN. "This is a different animal to the World Cup in that it's year to year, and you do want to expose fans around the world to this type of tennis.
"But the tournament is a very important part of the business of the ATP. More important than exposing everyone around the world to it is making sure it's healthy and not an experiment."
• The ITF has suspended Tunisia for one-year from Davis Cup for forcing Malek Jaziri to withdraw from a match against Israeli Amir Weintraub.
• Peter Bodo breaks down the World Tour Finals field.
• For The Win's take on some quotes from Roger Federer about playing through injuries. I didn't read them as a dig at Andy Murray or Rafael Nadal.
• This is a great photo of Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta cheering the Italians to victory in the Fed Cup final.
• Former world No. 5 Anna Chakvetadze talks about retiring at age 26 and what she would have done differently.
• Chair umpire Kerrilyn Cramer calls it a career.
