'TAKING THE PISS'

Taking the piss- meaning; To mock, to make fun of...
Remember that message I told you that I received from that weirdo who spelled the names wrong of both Lleyton and Serena ? If you read any of my chapters recently you would have read that this particular 'tennis expert' referred to both of the above mentioned as 'Cleyton Hewitt' and 'Samantha Williams', yes true story.
We all are entitled to our opinions of course however this person's, well, I am not sure which category to put their complaint in. Perhaps my 'too hard basket'.
Anyhow the person in question should take a look at the latest chapter on the ATP site and then get back to me with an apology because at least most of my chapters are not about watching grass grow or observing paint drying. Here's what I am on about.
There's a guy by the name of Greg Sharko who had an idea to put his head into the history books of statistics and come up with some facts and figures that had one guy say in a comment "Someone needs to give Greg Sharko a more meaningful job".
The comment came about after reading the latest statistics on who has the best record in World Tennis from leading 40-0 on their own serve. It came as no surprise that the guy with the World's fastest delivery ( on a regular basis ) Ivo Karlovic won the 'award'. He in fact has a 78 from 78 record in this particular facet of the game but I am still to see the value in the statistic.
Perhaps I am being a little hard on Greg the statistics guru and perhaps I am also being a little hard on the individual who I received the rather lengthy message from on my site a few weeks back. As I mentioned before we all are entitled to our opinions and views on the game.
As most of you are aware I have many views and opinions on tennis and a few of them have landed me in hot water. All part of the process I call it, just like losing 0 and 0 when you are a kid. It's a learning curve as we get an idea on what we can and can't 'get away with' both on and off court. All part of the fun aint it ?
Anyhow back to the 'Sharkster', Greg the statistics guru. Now I am not sure what possesses a man to actually look this kind of thing up but he has delivered this as his opening line "New statistical analysis from ATP World Tour events - available for the first time this year is sure to delight tennis junkies and create deeper insights into the game".
Yes that is Greg's opening line but when I got through that tantalizing opening I was left with a feeling of emptiness, I was expecting more. This is why.
Out of around 330 service games that were analysed by the 'Shark' there was in fact only 5 games that were broken by the receiver when they were trailing 0-40. Tell you what, I bet the 'Shark' got real excited when he finally found one ey ?
He has gone through the top ten players in the World, minus Cilic who is injured and came up with just five indescrepencies from a service game that looked as though it was all but sewn up. Sorry but I am not convinced that this guy isn't 'having a lend' here. Why would you even bother with this little project ? Is anyone paying him to do this ?
When I write about tennis I would like to think that the facts and figures I give actually lead somewhere. Maybe to a final set, a final tournament match or perhaps some statistics on how long the match was or what year the match was played. I am struggling to see why this guy would come up with some figures on something that when you really look at it, has about as much relevance as how many days the sun comes up in a row. (You know it happens but you just don't bother counting.)
But Greg has found something stimulating about these recent facts and figures that unfortunately are all part of the game now and that no doubt will find a way to render the great Sports commentator Bruce McAvaney redundant sooner than later. I can't believe Bruce didn't think of the above idea, he will be kicking himself no doubt.
Yes I can be cynical and yes I know I am biased about my site and the content on it that has earned me about as much as a guy ranked 1,000,000,000, in the World in our wonderful sport of tennis. But surely this latest attempt at breaking down the game into tiny little bits has failed to the same extent that the 'around the World' canoeist did just recently. ( I think he managed a few miles, 'just' short of his target before his canoe started to sink).
I for one won't be reading anymore of the 'Sharkster's' chapters until he can prove to me that he can come up with an idea that doesn't leave the average reader thinking 'hang on I reckon this guy is just taking the piss'.........