It wasnt so long ago that record-keeping in tennis consisted mainly of random, yellowing draw sheets tucked away in filing cabinets at various tennis clubs or tennis federation offices. As the pro game matured, those who run it have done their best to emulate companion spectator sports by creating a massive body of statistical knowledge.Stats in tennis -- as in all sports -- ought to come with a warning label: Do not extrapolate too much from these simple numbers. Its often said that statistics dont lie. Thats certainly true, but theyre pretty good at fibbing. Thats also part of what makes them fascinating. Stats raise as many puzzling questions as they answer -- and sometimes force us to re-examine our preconceptions.Here are half a dozen examples:Queen Sara of the ServeSara Errani put 85.5 percent of her first serves into play. Some will shrug and say, Big deal; her serve is a puffball, and she just makes sure to get the first one into play taking no risk. Fair enough, but consider this: The second best current percentage belongs to No. 64 Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey, and shes more than a full 12 percentage points behind. Thats a startling difference.No. 3 Annika Beck is just a hair over one percentage point behind Buyukakcay, and the women behind her are equally closely stacked. Thats typical of percentage-based stats, in both the mens and womens game, and in most departments. That makes Erranis enormous differential that much more impressive. Most players couldnt hit that percentage if they served underhand. Efficient as Errani is, she is ranked only No. 35 on tour.?That and a buck will get you a donutIts often said that second-serve return points won is one of the most crucial statistics, and theres significant evidence for that. Among players with 500 career matches or more, only one won more than 10,000 second-serve return points -- yet never won a Grand Slam title: The Little Beast, David Ferrer.Ferrer is one of 10 players tied for second place among crack returners, with a 55 percent career winning rate. That right behind seven-time Grand Slam champion and acknowledged return genius Andre Agassi. Among Ferrers equals: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Michael Chang.Moreover, Ferrer is the all-time leader in the sheer number of second-serve return points won with a whopping 17,015. All that, but never a major title.Sveta in the clutchSvetlana Kuznetsova is back in the top 10, at age 31. A two-time Grand Slam champion, ever-popular Sveta had to fight for every inch of her rankings progress. The only title she won this season was at Sydney in just her second tournament of the year. The key to her success: scraping through down-to-the-wire matches. Kuznetsova is 16-6 in three-setters this season -- more wins than any other WTA player. Did she make the most of her labors? Second on the list: Angelique Kerber, at 15-5, who won two Grand Slam titles and is presently ranked No. 1.Hall of ShameIn examining stats, we tend to look for top numbers -- leaders rather than laggards. But have you ever wondered who the worst second-serve returner is? Or the worst ace-producer? We are here to help.When it comes to break points saved, highly touted Borna Coric clearly has some work to do: He ranks No. 62, at 54 percent. Thats a full 20 percentage points behind the tour leader and fellow Croatian countryman Ivo Karlovic. The ATP stops keeping track beyond Coric. The good news for Coric fans: Hes just 19 years old and has time to work on it.John Isner holds 94 percent of his service games. No surprise there. Guess which big-serving lefty wins just 73 percent of his service games, and thus ranks a lowly No. 59 on the tour in that department? Brazils Thomaz Bellucci.Oh, and former US Open champion Samantha Stosur has quietly snuck into second place (behind Jelena Ostapenko) as the most prolific double-faulter (218 compared to Ostapenkos 235) on the WTA Tour.How soon they forgetWas any recent No. 1 better than Rafael Nadal at his best? Its an interesting question that will never be satisfactorily answered by statistics. The ATP has a relatively new Under Pressure rating, which is calculated by adding the percentage of break points converted and saved, percentage of tie-breaks won and percentage of deciding sets won.The ATP applied that formula to every year-end No. 1 since 1991 in an effort to quantify who had the most impressive year. Nadal scored 281.5 for his performance in 2013. Thats just better than the 275.2 Roger Federer tallied in 2006, but loads better than the 223.5 earned by vintage Pete Sampras, in 1995. Oddly enough, top-ranked Djokovics epic 2011 rated only a 251.7.Nike Zoom Australia For Sale . Capitals head coach Adam Oates said Ovechkin was injured in the first period against the Vancouver Canucks on Monday and clarified it was not a head injury. Wholesale Nike Shoes Australia . -- New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis is retiring after a 16-year career to become the goalie coach for the Los Angeles Galaxy. http://www.nikezoomoutletaustralia.com/ . -- Former San Diego Chargers safety Paul Oliver was found dead at his Atlanta-area home Tuesday night, and a medical examiner said Wednesday that the ex-player committed suicide. Sale Nike Zoom Australia . The All-Pro lineman got the leg bent under him while trying to make a tackle during the first half of a 22-20 overtime loss at Miami on Thursday night. The medical staff initially thought hed torn the ligament, and the test a day later in Cincinnati confirmed it. Cheap Nike Zoom Australia From China . Kiriasis and brakeman Franziska Fritz finished two runs in one minute 55.41 seconds -- a mere 0.01 seconds ahead of Meyers and Lolo Jones, who likely bolstered her Olympic hopes by helping give USA-1 a huge push in the second heat.MINNEAPOLIS -- Kendrys Morales has resumed his form as a feared power hitter. The Kansas City Royals hope it has come in time to push them back to the postseason.Morales had two home runs, including a three-run blast in Kansas Citys seven-run ninth inning that propelled the Royals to a 10-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.Morales hit a two-run shot in the first inning to help the Royals overcome the loss of catcher Salvador Perez, who left the game with a right wrist contusion after he was hit by a pitch in the sixth inning. It was his 17th career multihomer game and extended his hitting streak to nine games.Its been some time now where Ive been starting to feel really, really good, Morales said through an interpreter. Now Im, really comfortable at the plate and Im making good, hard contact.Brian Dozier hit his 39th home run of the season for the Twins, moving him into a tie with Rogers Hornsby (twice) and Alfonso Soriano for fourth-most home runs by a second baseman in a season. He has homered in five straight games, tying Harmon Killebrew and Marty Cordova for the longest streak in Twins history.Former Twin Drew Buteras bases loaded single off Brandon Kintzler (0-2) broke a 3-3 tie and got the Royals rolling in the ninth.Morales has five homers in his last seven games.Hes swinging the bat real well right now, thats for sure, manager Ned Yost said. The second (homer) was huge. We were trying to keep (reliever) Wade (Davis) out of the game.The Royals started the day two games behind the second wild card in the AL, but with five teams ahead of them. The margin of error is getting slimmer by the day, and a loss to the team with the worst record in the majors certainly would not have helped their cause.After giving up three homers to Dozier on Monday night, Royals starter Dillon Gee fell behind 0-2 in the first inning and left a fastball up in the zone. Dozier hit it an estimated 395 feet into the second deck in left field, giving him 25 home runs since the All-Star break. Three of those were hit as a DH, but his 22 as a second baseman surpassed Hall of Famer Joe Gordons 21 for the most ever by an American League second baseman.ddddddddddddGEES STARTGee gave up three runs and eight hits and struck out two in six innings. Kelvin Herrera (2-4) pitched one inning for the win.Yost said he thought he might have to get a tired bullpen up early when Gee served up long balls to Dozier, Trevor Plouffe and Eddie Rosario in the first two innings. But the right-hander settled in after that and allowed just two hits over the final four innings before yielding to the bullpen.Everything he was throwing was elevated in the zone and his location was off but after the second inning he came in and made an adjustment and got in a groove and did a phenomenal job of getting us through six innings and keeping us right there in the game, Yost said.ROSTER MOVESRoyals: Recalled INF Christian Colon and selected the contracts of OF Daniel Nava and RHP Kevin McCarthy from Triple-A Omaha. OF Reymond Fuentes and RHP Nick Tepesch were designated for assignment to make room.Twins: Recalled RHP Tyler Duffey, 1B Kennys Vargas and INF James Beresford from Triple-A Rochester. Manager Paul Molitor said Duffey would return to the starting rotation on Friday against Cleveland.TRAINERS ROOMRoyals: OF Lorenzo Cain missed his sixth straight game because of left wrist inflammation. He is listed as day to day.Twins: Plouffe had to leave the game in the middle of an at-bat in the eighth inning with a left oblique strain. Plouffe left after falling behind 1-2 and was replaced by Vargas. ... LHP Tommy Milone (left biceps) and RHP Trevor May (back) threw simulated games on Tuesday. Molitor said both would likely be activated on Friday.UP NEXTThe Royals send LHP Danny Duffy (11-2, 3.13) to the mound to face Twins RHP Kyle Gibson (5-9, 5.31) in the series finale. Duffy has been dominant for most of the season, but has allowed at least eight hits in three straight starts. Gibson has been largely disappointing in his Twins career, but is 5-4 with a 3.10 ERA in 10 starts against Kansas City. ' ' '