Daily Bagel: Andy Murray faces a new kind of pressure at Wimbledon

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

• Video: Grigor Dimitrov’s coach Roger Rasheed and Andy Murray’s trainer Jez Green race in a 200-meter sprint for charity.

• What’s possibly harder than winning a Grand Slam? Defending it. And that’s what Andy Murray faces at Wimbledon this year, says Peter Bodo.

This year, the balance between blind hope on one side and callous expectation on the other is more evenly struck. Murray won’t be able to surf the emotions of a kingdom dying to slack a thirst built up over 77 years of frustration this time around. And the props that will accrue to a man who might beat Murray are tenfold what they were 12 months ago. The Scot certainly will have a big target on his back next week.

Pressure, much?

The obvious answer to that question is “yes,” but how Murray will react to the stress of his situation is difficult to predict. For in his thoughts and acts, just as in his game, Murray is a rare fellow -- an individualist who’s never embraced the conventions that appear to guide the lives and careers of many of his peers.

• Marion Bartoli was losing to 15-year-old Jodie Burrage in an exhibition in Liverpool when she was forced to withdraw with a shoulder injury. Yes, it’s just an exhibition, but it’s not the ideal way to return to the English grass.

• Carla Suarez Navarro reveals that she hopes to finish in the Top 10 this year.

• Novak Djokovic withdrew from an exhibition with right wrist problems (in French).

• Stan Wawrinka was also forced to withdraw from an exhibition with a fever.

• The Bryan Brothers open up about clothes, post-retirement plans (will music be a part?), their foundation and more with Forbes Life.

• Non-tennis: Grant Wahl for Planet Futbol discusses the German influence on the U.S. World Cup team.