Bagel (tennis)

In tennis, a bagel is when the set ends with a score of 6–0.[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.

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

Men's singles

Grand Slam matches in the men's singles category are best of five sets. Thus, a kind of "inner double bagel" is possible, when a tennis player wins two consecutive 6–0 sets in a single match. The most recent occurrence is in 2018 when Gaël Monfils defeated Facundo Bagnis 7–6^(7–4), 3–6, 6–0, 6–0.[2]

In the 1970s, first round matches at the French Open and US Open were only best of three sets. There are 3 cases of a double bagel Grand Slam victory:

• 1974 (French Open) Raúl Ramírez def. V. Franchitti
• 1975 (French Open) Guillermo Vilas def. Hans-Joachim Plötz
• 1977 (US Open) Ilie Nastase def. Frew McMillan

Women's singles

For women in Grand Slam tournaments, a double bagel result is possible as the matches are best of three sets. In the Open Era, not a single Grand Slam tournament match ended with a double bagel in 1968 and 2005. The most double bagels were in the seasons of 1974 and 1993, when eight matches had a result of 6–0, 6–0.

The following players had at least five double-bagels in Grand Slam singles events: Suzanne Lenglen (France), Margaret Court (Australia) – 14; Chris Evert (United States) – 13; Helen Wills Moody (USA) – 10; Steffi Graf (Germany) – 7; Kim Clijsters (Belgium), Mary Pierce (France) – 6 each; Monica Seles (Yugoslavia / USA), Maria Sharapova (Russia) – on 5.

Between No. 1 ranked players

There are seven cases when double-bagels ended with matches played by two tennis players who at different times were ranked No. 1 in the ATP and WTA:

• 1981 (Amelia Island) Chris Evert def. Martina Navratilova [3] in the final.
• 1982 (East Rutherford) Chris Evert def. Tracy Austin [4]
• 1984 (Forrest Hills) Ivan Lendl def. Jimmy Connors.[5] In the previous match between these players in the tournament in Rotterdam with a score in favor of Lendl 6–0, 1–0, Connors refused to continue the game.
• 1994 (Indian Wells) Steffi Graf def. Tracy Austin. Graf went on to win the title.
• 2001 (Miami Open) Martina Hingis def. Monica Seles. Hingis went on to win the title.
• 2005 (Indian Wells) Lindsay Davenport def. Maria Sharapova [6]
• 2011 (Australian Open) Kim Clijsters def. Dinara Safina. Clijsters went on to win the title.

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:

• 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.[7]

Records

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:[8]

#	Player	Bagels
1	Andre Agassi	50
2	Roy Emerson	47
3	Roger Federer	46
4	Jimmy Connors	44
5	/ Ivan Lendl	42
6	John Bromwich	41
7	Bill Tilden	40
8-T	Novak Djokovic	39
8-T	Rafael Nadal	39
10	Björn Borg	35

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; N. Djokovic – 15
• French Open: 1–3. B. Borg, G. Vilas, R. Nadal – 20 each; 4–5. Jaroslav Drobný (Czechoslovakia /Egypt), R. Lacoste – 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.

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.

Men

Bagels[9]

#	Player	Nationality	Bagels
1.	Bill Tilden	United States	479
2.	Josiah Ritchie	Great Britain	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[10]

#	Player	Nationality	Double Bagels
1.	Bill Tilden	United States	106
2.	Josiah Ritchie	Great Britain	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[11]

#	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.
• 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:[12]
  • 1935 (US Championship among professionals) Bill Tilden – Karel Koželuh 0–6, 6–1, 6–4, 0–6, 6–4 [13]
  • 1962 (Tasmanian Championship) Rod Laver – Neale Fraser 7–5, 0–6, 0–6, 6–1, 6–2
  • 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, beat her then-husband John Lloyd with a score of 6–0, 6–0, 6–2.[14]
• Suzanne Lenglen won 9 tournaments in which she did not lose a single game in all matches.[15]
• Guillermo Vilas won 2 matches with a score of 6–0, 6–0 in 2 consecutive seasons (1980 and 1981).[16]
• Björn Borg won 116 6–0 sets during his career [17]
• Two women's finals in the history of the Grand Slam tournaments have ended with a double-bagel:[18]
  • 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.
• Spanish tennis player Conchita Martínez scored the first double bagel against a player inside the top ten in Hamburg in 1995 when she defeated Magdalena Maleeva.

References

1. "A true champion, Williams perfects the double bagel". New York Times. Sep 4, 2013.
2. "Monfils sweeps past Bagnis". 28 August 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
3. "Results by Opponent – N | C H R I S S I E". Chrisevert.net. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
4. "Results by Opponent". Chrisevert.net. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
5. "Теннисные матчи, которые закончились с "сухим" счетом (6–0, 6–0)". Tennis-i.com. 2016-01-23. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
6. "Top ten double (and triple) bagels!". Tennishead.net. 2010-02-26. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
7. http://www.spox.com/de/tennisnet/1603/Artikel/atp-tourdavis-cup-der-albtraum-aller-profis-51752.html
8. Garcia, Gabriel (2018). "Record: More Bagels Scored Grand Slam". thetennisbase.com. Madrid, Spain: Tennismem SAL. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
9. Garcia, Gabriel (2018). "Record: Most Career Bagels Scored". thetennisbase.com. Madrid, Spain: Tennismem SAL. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
10. Garcia, Gabriel (2018). "Record: Most Career Double Bagels Scored". thetennisbase.com. Madrid, Spain: TennismemSAL. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
11. Garcia, Gabriel (2018). "Record: Most Career Triple Bagels Scored". thetennisbase.com. Madrid, Spain: Tennismem SAL. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
12. "Double/triple bagels in the past decade? | Talk Tennis". Tt.tennis-warehouse.com. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
13. "Karel Koželuh". Tennisfame.com. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
14. "Shortest Slam Matches (games)". Tennis28.com. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
15. Little, Alan (2007). Suzanne Lenglen : Tennis Idol of the Twenties (2nd rev. ed.). London: Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum. pp. 135–196. ISBN 9780906741436.
16. share (2015-07-22). "Double and triple bagels (men's tour) : tennis". Reddit.com. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
17. "Most bagels or 6–0 sets. « Tennis Planet". Tennisplanet.wordpress.com. 2007-02-27. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
18. ROBIN HERMAN (1988-06-05). "TENNIS – Graf Shuts Out Zvereva to Gain French Open Title". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 2017-06-23.