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.. 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. 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: #Player 14 Suzanne Lenglen Margaret Court 13 Chris Evert 10 7 Steffi Graf Serena Williams Ashleigh Barty6 Kim Clijsters Mary Pierce Maria Sharapova5 Monica Seles Conchita Martínez Simona Halep Agnieszka Radwanska Viktoria Azarenka

Between No. 1 ranked players

Men WinnerOpponentEvent Ivan Lendl Jimmy Connors1984 Forrest Hills Women WinnerOpponentEvent Chris Evert Martina Navratilova 1981 Amelia Island Chris Evert Tracy Austin Steffi Graf Tracy Austin1994 Indian Wells Martina Hingis Monica Seles2000 Miami Open Lindsay Davenport Maria Sharapova2005 Indian Wells Kim Clijsters Dinara Safina2011 Australian Open Iga Świątek Karolína Plíšková2021 Rome

Triple bagel

= also won the tournament.

Records

Grand Slam tournaments

Men's singles In the history of major tournaments, the largest number of 6–0 sets won in men's singles is the following:

#Player 51 Novak Djokovic 50 Andre Agassi 47 Roy Emerson 46 Roger Federer 44 Jimmy Connors Rafael Nadal 42 Ivan Lendl 41 John Bromwich 40 Bill Tilden 35 Björn Borg

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. R. Nadal – 24; 2–3. B. Borg, G. Vilas – 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 one 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 women's singles, the largest number of 6–0 sets won:

# Player 106 Chris Evert 89 Margaret Court 72 Martina Navratilova 71 Steffi Graf 64 Serena Williams 57 Helen Wills-Moody 54 Monica Seles 49 Maria Sharapova 46 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 44 Gabriela Sabatini

In terms of percentage bagels vs games played.

Percentage Player 16 Ann Jones 14.6 Chris Evert 13.2 Margaret Court 10.9 Steffi Graf 10.8 Iga Świątek

In individual major tournaments, 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.

All tournaments

Men's singles #Bagels 479 Bill Tilden 464 Josiah Ritchie 280 Anthony Wilding 266 Frank Parker 245 Jaroslav Drobny 224 Roy Emerson 216 Ken Rosewall 209 John Bromwich 197 Jimmy Connors 186 Gardnar Mulloy

#Double Bagels 106 Bill Tilden 87 Josiah Ritchie 51 Anthony Wilding 42 John Bromwich 37 Frank Parker 32 Jaroslav Drobny 25 24 Wayne Sabin

#Triple Bagels 11 Bill Tilden 5 Karel Kozeluh 4 Arthur Gore Josiah Ritchie Harry Parker Gordon Lowe Bob Hewitt

Trivia 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: 1935 U.S. Pro Tennis Championship: Bill Tilden – Karel Koželuh 0–6, 6–1, 6–4, 0–6, 6–4 1938 U.S. National Championships: Gilbert Hunt – Bobby Riggs 6–2, 0–6, 9–7, 0–6, 6–4 1960 Italian Open: Barry MacKay - Luis Ayala 7–5, 7–5, 0–6, 0–6, 6–1 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 1981 US Open: José Luis Clerc – Mel Purcell 6–3, 0–6, 0–6, 6–4, 6–3 In 1981, in the first round of the US championship Jimmy Connors, who in the mid-1970s almost married Chris Evert, defeated her then-husband John Lloyd with a score of 6–0, 6–0, 6–2. Suzanne Lenglen won nine tournaments in which she did not lose a single game in all matches. Guillermo Vilas won two matches with a score of 6–0, 6–0 in two consecutive seasons (1980 and 1981). Björn Borg won 116 bagel sets during his career. Three women's finals in the history of the Grand Slam tournaments have ended with a double-bagel: 1911 (Wimbledon) Dorothea Lambert-Chambers – Dora Boothby 6–0, 6–0 1988 (French Open) Steffi Graf – Natasha Zvereva 6–0, 6–0 2025 (Wimbledon) Iga Świątek – Amanda Anisimova 6–0, 6–0 In 2016, during the first round of Davis Cup in the Finland vs. Zimbabwe match on 4 March 2016, Jarkko Nieminen of Finland defeated Courtney John Lock of Zimbabwe 6–0, 6–0, 6–0. Also on 4 March 2016, on the other side of the world, in Ecuador, during the Ecuador vs. Barbados match, Emilio Gómez of Ecuador defeated Adam Hornby of Barbados 6–0, 6–0, 6–0. Swiss tennis player Martina Hingis achieved her first Olympic bagel in singles in 1996, and the second in doubles 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. 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.

References