Daily Bagel: Federer shows rare moment of frustration vs. Monfils

The Daily Bagel is your dose of the interesting reporting, writing and quipping from around the Internet. • Last night's match between Roger Federer and Gael

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

• Last night's match between Roger Federer and Gael Monfils was a good one, with Federer fighting off break points early in the third set before winning the last three games of the match. Here's a small moment of frustration from Roger:

Video: the lesser-spotted Roger #Federer racquet smash (in slow motion). #cincytennis #tennis http://t.co/veeJJjo84S

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 15, 2014

• And here's a great exchange at the net between both men:

• An interview with Grigor Dimitrov in the Financial Times. 

• Peter Bodo mulls over Serena Williams' recent comments that downplayed any pressure she feels going into the U.S. Open.

A great champ will resort to almost any measure, no matter how desperate or unseemly, to get one more win, one more major. And he or she will do it instinctively, rather than rationally or out of calculation (which is but one reason she’s a champ and you and I are not). One of those low-down rotten tricks is the act of sandbagging.

But let’s not second-guess Serena here. Her sentiments are understandable; they are also face-saving and ominous. You know what they say in boxing: “If you want to beat the champ, you’d better be prepared to knock him out.” And Serena Williams is more like a great prizefighter than any other player in the game today.

• Elle Magazine Quebec recently put Eugenie Bouchard on the cover. That's great! They also confused her for Maria Sharapova in between the pages. That is not so great! 

• Steve Tignor points out a Sloane Stephens-like pattern of play from Bouchard this year. 

To start the season, Bouchard reached the semifinals at the Australian Open, then followed it with a first-round loss in Doha and a loss in the qualifying event in Dubai (yes, the world No. 8 was still qualifying as of February). In the spring, she reached the semis at the French Open, then followed it with a first-round loss in ’s-Hertogenbosch. Now, after reaching the final of the year’s third major, she has lost in the opening round in both Montreal and Cincinnati.

• A history of the WTA Finals.  

• Non-tennis: The most iconicSports Illustrated cover, as voted by fans.