Daily Bagel: Rafael Nadal hates the dark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmAW7DS9GQ8
The Daily Bagel is your dose of the interesting reporting, writing and quipping from around the Internet.
• Video: Stefan Edberg is in Melbourne and he spoke about his new partnership with Roger Federer.
• At the end of this Q&A, Rafael Nadal is asked to reveal something people don't know about him. His response? "I really hate the dark. I'm scared when it gets dark. Sometimes I need to sleep with the TV on."
• The Atlantic's Ryan Rodenberg examines Federer's historically poor record in "Simpson's Paradox" matches, where the loser wins more points than the winner.
• Caroline Wozniacki's new coach, Thomas Hogstedt, tells Ben Rothenberg of The New York Times that the former No. 1 needs to expand her game to improve her results.
“I think it’s no secret that she needs to play more aggressive, and hit a heavier ball,” said Hogstedt. “That’s mostly what we’re working on. And still, not change the game too much, but so that she can play both offensive and defensive.”
He added: “She knows that she has to add a little bit to add a Grand Slam. She’s a fantastic girl to work with, and I’m very happy with how she works.”
• Don't call him "Mad Dog": Australia's Marinko Matosevic let everything bother him on his way to his 12th straight loss at a Slam.
• Props to Tennis.com's Steve Tignor for braving the heat to get courtside and give us some flavor from Tuesday's action.
• Richard Hinds of The Herald Sun on Day 2's scorching heat.
Play continued even as the wilting ball kids' shifts were cut from an hour to 45 minutes and an entertainer dressed as SpongeBob SquarePants risked inflicting permanent psychological damage on his young admirers by publicly removing his giant foam-rubber head.
In an attempt to provide a scientific explanation of the bleeding obvious - it was a very hot day - figures on "wet bulb readings'' and "mean radiant temperatures'' replaced service speeds and unforced errors as the most frequently distributed statistics. But it was the war stories of the players as they left the court that provided the best measure of how debilitating the conditions became.
