Game Point is Busted Racquet's roundup of facts, figures and links from around the web.
Love -- Canada is becoming tennis crazy (or tennis crazier) thanks to rising star Milos Raonic. The two finals Raonic played last month were broadcast on live television and drew over 200,000 viewers. On Friday, the nation's Davis Cup tie will be broadcast in its entirety for the first time ever.
15 -- Speaking of the Davis Cup, Jim Courier will make his debut as United States captain this week when he leads the Americans into Chile for a first-round match. Andy Roddick, John Isner and the Bryan Brothers will take part against a Chilean team whose top player is ranked No. 165 in the world. The matches are on outdoor clay courts though, so it's not an assured victory for the Americans.
30 -- A scientist from Northwestern University examined the results of all 133,261 men's matches played in the Open Era and came to the conclusion that Jimmy Connors is the best male tennis player of the past 40 years. Connors' longevity and his contemporaries propelled him to the top spot, as the algorithm used in the process favored number of matches and competition. Any validity the data had was negated by the fact that it rated Connors as the best grass court player (ahead of Roger Federer and Pete Sampras) and Guillermo Vilas ahead of Rafael Nadal on clay.
40 -- The Wall Street Journal has an interesting piece on Mats Wilander and his Winnebago. For a few weeks a year, Wilander and a younger partner travel the country in the van and give tennis lessons in various settings. Eight-person clinics cost $200 per person, while in-home visits and private lessons cost a little more. All it takes to get Mats and his Winnebago to drive to your club is a phone call to 787-GET-GAME.
Game -- As a companion to the Journal article, Tom Perrotta posted a video he shot of Wilander getting pulled over by Florida police. After initially telling the tennis star that the van was reported stolen, a deputy bounced three tennis balls of the side of the vehicle. Turns out he had received a lesson from Wilander earlier in the week.
Brittny Gastineau Ashley Tisdale Rachel Blanchard Sienna Guillory Tricia Vessey
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