+ WEDNESDAY NETCORDS: Venus, Justine, Igor, Roger vs. Pete...Tommy talks racquets, Davis Cup doodles and more

- Tommy time: When Tommy Haas isn't battling foes on the tennis court or crying "poison!", the German star hangs with girlfriend Sarah Foster and Kate Hudson, plays basketball with Xavier Malisse and Taylor Dent, and stays clear of suicidal tennis racquets. According to a recent Q & A with DEUCE magazine, he rarely breaks tennis strings but "[n]ormally if a string breaks it's at 3 in the morning and it scares the hell out of me. I string my racquets tight so they can break by themselves in my racquet bag. It's loud enough to wake me up, which is annoying, so I usually try to put the bag in a corner of the room."

- Davis Cup doodles: Captain Patrick McEnroe has found his own voice, even in the shadow of his legendary loud-mouth brother, John...the four amigos of the US Davis Cup team genuinely enjoy each other's camaraderie, which they believe should help them bring home the trophy...no Safin surprise for the US. "These guys [on the Russian Davis Cup team] are playing better than Marat, he's not going to be here," says Russian coach Shamil Tarpishchev...Tennis Served Fresh finds the Bryan Brothers Blogging

- Did Roger Federer throw Pete Sampras a bone in the final match in their exhibition tour? Tennis-X thinks so. Is Sampras a current day top-5 player? Federer thinks so.

- The notoriously private Justine Henin has in fact been providing us a version of her own reality TV show, argues Tennis Diary. Nina Rota writes, "Tennis has been the substitute for some of Justine’s life outside of tennis and now that the outside world is creeping back into her life, her tennis is secure enough that it enhances her game. Most people need their personal lives in order to perform well in their career. Some people do it the other way around. Success in their career gives them the confidence to open their hearts to those in their personal lives. Justine doesn’t need a reality TV show, we’ve been watching it all along." Interesting perspective, we think.

- Kamakshi Tandon for TENNIS.com believes players should be given unlimited challenges per match. We don't agree - limited challenges force players to strategize about how and when to use them, which we think adds more excitement and intrigue in a match. Discussss...

- Lacoste and innovators Kidrobot have released their holiday collaboration featuring 3 styles - Missouri 85, and the Revan 2 & 3 - each complete with your own PEECOL toy. But move fast: only 500 pairs total were produced.

- Black Enterprise magazine named Venus Williams one of America's Most Powerful Players Under 40. We're thinking they don't mean tennis when they reference 'players'...

- Getting to know Igor Andreev. Funniest moment: "Well, once when I was 17 I went to practice with Kournikova, me and another guy (Pavel Ivanov), in Miami, tournament before the Orange Bowl. It was Sunshine Cup. We were making sparring to her and when we were at the volley, she hit the ball so hard — and it close to hit my balls so... So that happens, but, it was very close, fun moment. I don't know if it's fun but for me it wasn't fun but for them it was fun [smiles]."

- Tennis Planet holds the blueprint for Novak Djokovic's quest for World No. 1.