In tennis, a bagel is when the set ends with a score of 6–0. 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 play lower-ranked players, such as lucky losers or wild cards.
Etymology
The term refers to the similarity between the shape of a zero and the shape of a bagel. The tennis term was coined by players Harold Solomon and Eddie Dibbs, and popularized by commentator Bud Collins.
Surface disparity
Statistics of the men's singles Grand Slam tournaments from 2000 to 2016 are as follows: at Wimbledon (grass), 127 bagels were made; at French Open (clay), 267; at the US Open Tennis Championship (hardcourt), 275, and at the Australian Open (hardcourt), 238.[citation needed]. Björn Borg (five-time Wimbledon champion and six-time French Open champion) recorded twenty 6–0 sets at the French Open, and only five at Wimbledon.
Double bagel
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, there has been a women's singles Grand Slam tournament match with a double bagel every year except for in 1968 and 2005.[citation needed] The most double bagels were in the seasons of 1974 and 1993, when eight matches had a result of 6–0, 6–0.[citation needed]
The following players had at least five double-bagels in Grand Slam singles events:[bettersourceneeded]
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
= also won the tournament.
There have been at least 18 best-of-five-set matches which have lasted 18 games (6–0, 6–0, 6–0), colloquially referred to as a "triple bagel", in the Open Era. This is the shortest possible length for a best-of-five-set match, not including retirements or defaults.
In 1910 in Brussels, Max Decugis beat Tony Wilding 3–6, 0–6, 7–5, 6–0, 6–0. Wilding was leading 6–3, 6–0, 5–0, until Decugis won the last 19 consecutive games.
In 1948, Don Budge won the first round match against George Hudson 6–0, 6–0, 6–0 at the US Professional Championship, and then 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 match ended in his favor with a score of 3–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–0, 6–0.
There are seven known cases in the history of tennis (two of which occurred in the French Open in one tournament), when the winner of the match lost two bagel sets:[bettersourceneeded]
Polish tennis player Iga Świątek scored the first double bagel in a WTA 1000 final, defeating top ten Czech player and former world No. 1, Karolína Plíšková, in Rome.
Ivan Lendl
Jimmy Connors
