Hey, Tribe. If you're anything like me, you've probably grown a little jaded reciting the names of the usual suspects when it comes to the ATP Tour's MatchFacts. I mean, Andy Roddick is No. 2 in aces. Stop the presses! Roger Federer leads the pack in service games won. Who woulda thunk it! Rafael Nadal has the best record on clay (26-0) Whoop-dee-do!
Actually, what is kind of interesting is that Nadal is only No. 4 on the most-wins-on-clay category, behind Filippo Volandri, Nicolas Massu and Nikolay Davydenko, all of whom won more matches but can't match Nadal's winning percentage. How do you argue with 1.000?
Well, I thought it might be a whole lot more fun to forget about the Top 10, or Top 5, in any of these critical but not entirely decisive categories, and give some props, maybe exchange a low five or two, with the Low Five - the guys who finished at the bottom of the list in some of these telling statistical categories. In other words, I'm not going to tell you who led the ATP last year in aces, but you're going to know the names of the five guys who finished at the bottom of the pack. What shall we call it, the 2005 ATP MatchFacts Hall of Shame?
In order to avoid get bogged down typing a lot of names I can't spell, you can't pronounce, and neither of us is likely to every see striking a tennis ball in a major event (and this could be a good thing!), I've imposed a cut-off of No. 100 on the ranking computer. So these will be the five basement dwellers from among the Top 100 players in 2006. Today, we're going to look at some theoretically significant service numbers. Over the next few days, I'll post the results in other categories as well (if you enjoy this kind of thing).
Because the ATP is not sufficiently "enlightened" to honor the Low Five (would somebody please bring them up to speed on the Everyone Gets a Trophy! approach to that necessary evil, competition?), I've had to crunch the numbers myself. Of course, this means I may screw up along the way, because I'm notoriously out-to-lunch when it comes to adding, listing, column structure, etc. etc. But I done my best. Comment as you see fit, as long it's not relevant to being good at anything.
!No69Aces: Match Average - You don't have to be Brad Gilbert to know that Ivan Ljubicic rolls along, slightly ahead of Andy Roddick, with an 11.9 aces-per-match average. If you're really tuned in, you may even know that Ivo Karlovic (ranked No. 98)pops a mind-boggling 18 aces per match. But unless you're regular poster Skip or Dunlop Maxply, you probably don't know that Benjamin Baby Boom Boom Becker, ranked No. 58, surpasses Jiffylube and Roddick with an impressive 12.8 per-match average.
But this about the Low five, so here they are:
1 - Christophe Rochus, No. 78, leads the pack with a decidedly underwhelming 1.5 aces-per-match average.
2 Christophe's diminutive brother, No. 36 in the world is stuck with a 1.8 per-match ace count, but look on the positive side. He's the Rochus family acemeister!
3 - Igor Kunitsyn, No. 94, is hard on the Rochus's heels at 2.1.
4 - Juan Martin Del Potro, No.92,is a big galoot (6-5) who rips them off at a blistering 2.2 pace.
5 - David Ferrer may be No. 14 in the world and a stud on clay, but it sure as hail isn't because of his serve. He's in a dead heat with No. 83 Potito Starace. Wait. Didn't I order Potito Starace at that Milanese restaurant the other night? Anyway, they both clean the lines at a modest 2.5 clip.
