Spurred by a thread on shutout statistics that seems to have disappeared (why do threads disappear so often when they contain valuable information???) I have done some lazy resarch on the topic. I have compared the amount of bagels and shutouts delivered by Connors, Lendl and McEnroe and came to the following conclusions:
BAGELS:
CONNORS
Note that I am missing the first three years of his career (70, 71 and 72) which do not appear at the ATP site. From 1973 until the time he retired, Connors delivered a total of 181 bagels according to my counting. I imagine adding those 3 missing years, his total would be around or close to 195, at least. Dividing the number of matches officially acknowledged by the ATP by the bagels I counted, it comes to about 1 every 6.8 matches.
LENDL
Lendl delivered a total of 152 bagles during the 1071 matches officially recognized by the ATP. That’s 1 bagel every 7.0 matches.
MCENROE
McEnroe delivered 95 bagels in his official ATP carrer, one bagel every 9.2 matches
SHUTOUTS (meaning double bagels in best of 3 or triple bagels in best of 5)
Lendl has 6 shutouts, including a triple bagel at the 1987 USO. I didn’t see any shutouts by Connors or McEnroe.
Looking into this made me realize Connors’ astounding longevity. Consider: McEnroe and Lendl were about 10 years old when he started playing on the tour. Mac and Lendl had relatively long careers themselves (playing until the ages of 32 and 34 respectively). Yet Connors was still playing almost 2 years after Lendl retired! And in 1995, at the venerable age of 43 (and with an unknown number of grandchildren scattered around the world) Connors still managed to bagel the German player Martin Sinner, who was 16 years younger than him and ranked 49 in the world (much higher than Connors). Amazing.
Well I hope others compile some bagel and shutout statistics on other great players. My guess is Connors is the bagel king, followed by Lendl; and Lendl the shutout king, at least in the open era, but I really don't know.
BAGELS:
CONNORS
Note that I am missing the first three years of his career (70, 71 and 72) which do not appear at the ATP site. From 1973 until the time he retired, Connors delivered a total of 181 bagels according to my counting. I imagine adding those 3 missing years, his total would be around or close to 195, at least. Dividing the number of matches officially acknowledged by the ATP by the bagels I counted, it comes to about 1 every 6.8 matches.
LENDL
Lendl delivered a total of 152 bagles during the 1071 matches officially recognized by the ATP. That’s 1 bagel every 7.0 matches.
MCENROE
McEnroe delivered 95 bagels in his official ATP carrer, one bagel every 9.2 matches
SHUTOUTS (meaning double bagels in best of 3 or triple bagels in best of 5)
Lendl has 6 shutouts, including a triple bagel at the 1987 USO. I didn’t see any shutouts by Connors or McEnroe.
Looking into this made me realize Connors’ astounding longevity. Consider: McEnroe and Lendl were about 10 years old when he started playing on the tour. Mac and Lendl had relatively long careers themselves (playing until the ages of 32 and 34 respectively). Yet Connors was still playing almost 2 years after Lendl retired! And in 1995, at the venerable age of 43 (and with an unknown number of grandchildren scattered around the world) Connors still managed to bagel the German player Martin Sinner, who was 16 years younger than him and ranked 49 in the world (much higher than Connors). Amazing.
Well I hope others compile some bagel and shutout statistics on other great players. My guess is Connors is the bagel king, followed by Lendl; and Lendl the shutout king, at least in the open era, but I really don't know.
