Bagel (tennis)

In tennis, a bagel is a term denoting a situation when the set ends with a score of 6–0. Despite the slang character of the term, it is actively used not only in colloquial speech but also in print.^[1] An extremely rare type of bagel, where no point is lost, is called a Golden Set. Most bagel sets occur in the early rounds of tennis tournaments where the favorites meet with lower ranked players such as a lucky loser or a wild card.

From 2004 to 2015, on the basis of the results of the tennis season, a special Golden Bagel Award was handed out to the male player who dealt the most bagels to his opponents.^[2]

Surface disparity

Statistics of the men's singles Grand Slam tournaments from 2000 to 2016 are as follows: at Wimbledon (grass surface), 127 bagels were made; at French Open (clay surface), 267; at the US Open Tennis Championship (hard surface), 275, and at the Australian Open (hard surface), 238.. Björn Borg (five-time Wimbledon champion and six-time French Open champion) recorded 20 6–0 sets at the French Open, and only 5 at Wimbledon.

Double bagel

Triple bagel

The triple bagel is very infrequent. In the Open Era, this has occurred five times in the men's singles Grand Slam tournaments so far:^[8]

• 1968 (French Open) Nikola Špear def. Daniel Contet
• 1987 (French Open) Karel Nováček def. Eduardo Bengoechea
• 1987 (Wimbledon) Stefan Edberg def. Stefan Eriksson
• 1987 (US Open) Ivan Lendl def. Barry Moir. Lendl went on to win the title.
• 1993 (French Open) Sergi Bruguera def. Thierry Champion. Bruguera also went on to win the title.

In total, taking into account the preliminary rounds of Davis Cup in the Open Era, there have been 17 triple-bagels.^[9]

Records

In Grand Slams

Men's singles

In the history of the Grand Slam tournaments in the men's single category, the largest number of 6–0 sets won is the following:^[10]

#	Player	Nationality	Bagels
1.	Andre Agassi	United States	50
2.	Roy Emerson	Australia	47
3.	Roger Federer	Switzerland	45
4.	Jimmy Connors	United States	44
5.	Ivan Lendl	Czechoslovakia / United States	42
6.	John Bromwich	Australia	41
7.	Bill Tilden	United States	40
8.	Rene Lacoste	France	35
	Björn Borg	Sweden
10.	Vic Seixas	United States	34
11.	Frank Parker	United States	33
	Rafael Nadal	Spain
13.	Guillermo Vilas	Argentina	32
14.	Neale Fraser	Australia	31
	Novak Djokovic	Serbia

At individual majors the players with the most 6–0 sets are:

• Australian Championship: 1. R. Federer – 17; 2. Jack Crawford (Australia) – 16; 3. A. Agassi – 15.
• French Open: 1–2. B. Borg, G. Vilas – 20 each; 3–5. Jaroslav Drobný (Czechoslovakia /Egypt) , R. Lacoste, R. Nadal – 17 each.
• Wimbledon: 1. R. Emerson – 15; 2–3. J. Connors, B. Tilden – to 12.
• US Championship: 1. J. Connors – 22; 2–3. I. Lendl, B. Tilden – 20 each.

Australian Neale Fraser won at least 6–0 set in 16 Grand Slam tournaments in a row: starting with the 1957 Australian Championship and ending with the 1960 US championship.^[11]

Women's singles

In the women's singles, the largest number of 6–0 sets won:

1. Chris Evert (USA) – 106; 2. Margaret Court (Australia) – 89; 3. Martina Navratilova (Czechoslovakia / USA) – 72; 4. Steffi Graf (Germany) – 71; 5. Serena Williams (USA) – 64; 6. Helen Wills-Moody (USA) – 57; 7. Monica Seles (Yugoslavia / USA) – 54; 8. Maria Sharapova (Russia) – 49; 9. Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (Spain) – 46; 10. Gabriela Sabatini (Argentina) – 44.

In individual tournaments of the Grand Slam, the largest number of 6–0 sets won is:

• Australian Championship: 1. M. Court – 25; 2. M. Sharapova – 16; 3. S. Williams – 14.
• French Open: 1. C. Evert – 26; 2. A. Sanchez – 22; 3. G. Sabatini – 21.
• Wimbledon: 1–2. Suzanne Lenglen (France), C. Evert – to 29; 3. M. Court – 25.
• US Championship: 1. C. Evert – 43; H. Wills-Moody – 31; 3. M. Court – 27.

In career

Men

Bagels^[12]

#	Player	Nationality	Bagels
1.	Bill Tilden	United States	479
2.	Josiah Ritchie	Great Britian	464
3.	Anthony Wilding	New Zealand	280
4.	Frank Parker	United States	266
5.	Jaroslav Drobny	Czechoslovakia	245
6.	Roy Emerson	Australia	224
7.	Ken Rosewall	Australia	216
8.	John Bromwich	Australia	209
9.	Jimmy Connors	United States	197
10.	Gardnar Mulloy	United States	186

Double Bagels^[13]

#	Player	Nationality	Double Bagels
1.	Bill Tilden	United States	106
2.	Josiah Ritchie	Great Britian	87
3.	Anthony Wilding	New Zealand	51
4.	John Bromwich	Australia	42
5.	Frank Parker	United States	37
6.	Jaroslav Drobny	Czechoslovakia	32
7.	George Worthington	Australia	25
8.	Wayne Sabin	United States	24

Triple Bagels^[14]

#	Player	Nationality	Triple Bagels
1.	Bill Tilden	United States	11
2.	Karel Kozeluh	Czechoslovakia	5
3.	Arthur Gore	Great Britain	4
	Josiah Ritchie	Great Britain
	Harry Parker	New Zealand
	Gordon Lowe	Great Britain
	Bob Hewitt	South Africa

Trivia

• In 1948 Don Budge won the first match against George Hudson 6–0, 6–0, 6–0 at the US Professional Championship, and against Jerome Adler 6–0, 6–0, 6–1 in the second round.^[15]
• In 1969, in the second round of Wimbledon, top seed Rod Laver began with the loss of the first two sets to the unseeded Indian Premjit Lall. However, the game ended in his favor with a score of 3–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–0, 6–0.
• There are 4 cases in the history of tennis (two of which occurred in the French Open in one tournament), when the winner of the match lost 2 bagel sets:^[8]
  • 1935 (US Championship among professionals) Bill Tilden – Karel Koželuh 0–6, 6–1, 6–4, 0–6, 6–4 ^[16]
  • 1962 (Tasmanian Championship) Rod Laver – Neale Fraser 7–5, 0–6, 0–6, 6–1, 6–2^[17]
  • 1969 (French Open) Stanley Matthews – Ilie Nastase 6–3, 0–6, 0–6, 6–4, 8–6
  • 1969 (French Open) Dennis Ralston – Patricio Rodríguez 6–2, 6–4, 0–6, 0–6, 6–4
• In 1981, in the first round of the US championship Jimmy Connors, who in the mid-70s almost married Chris Evert,^[18] beat her then-husband ^[19] John Lloyd with a score of 6–0, 6–0, 6–2.^[20]
• Suzanne Lenglen won 9 tournaments in which she did not lose a single game in all matches.^[21]
• Guillermo Vilas won 2 matches with a score of 6–0, 6–0 in 2 consecutive seasons (1980 and 1981).^[22]
• Björn Borg won 116 6–0 sets during his career ^[23]
• Two women's finals in the history of the Grand Slam tournaments have ended with a double-bagel:^[24]
  • 1911 (Wimbledon) Dorothea Lambert-Chambers – Dora Boothby 6–0, 6–0
  • 1988 (French Open) Steffi Graf – Natasha Zvereva 6–0, 6–0
• Swiss tennis player Martina Hingis achieved her first Olympic bagel in singles in 1996, and the second in pairs twenty years later.

References