Well, here it is...a tradition started by Jacqueline Dupree (JD--the stat queen) back in 1990. So that would make this the 14th annual "Time To Get a Day Job Awards." This "honors" those players who have been KO'd in the first round (or second round if they received a first round bye) in the main draw of tournaments on the ATP Tour (not qualifying, challengers or below, or Davis Cup). It is sorted in two ways: By number of first round losses and then by percentage to total tournaments played. And, remember, this is all in fun.
Note: Tournaments do not include World Team Cup or Tennis Masters Cup due to different format, just the grand slams, tennis masters series and international series events. And the lists only include the top 50 among those who played in 10 or more events.
So let's get to the awards.
Our grand prize winners this year are David Sanchez and Alexander
Waske. Sanchez takes the crown for most first round losses.
He suffered 19 of them, two more than any other player. By the way,
19 was the mark last year as well. Karol Beck and Nikolay Davydenko
were next with 17 first round losses each. Our other winner, Waske,
was at 16 along with 4 other players. Last year's winner in this
category, Stefan Koubek, was near the top again this year in 9th place
with 15.
In the percentage category, its Alexander Waske who played in 18 events in 2003 and lost in the first round 16 of those times. Zeljko Krajan was next losing 12 of his 14 attempts. Andrei Pavel and Ruben Ramirez-Hidalgo had fewer events, 11, but also got out of the first round only twice.
As usual, we also reward those for being on the opposite end of things. Although no one got through the entire year without losing in the first round at least once (at least among those with 10 or more events), Juan Carlos Ferrero lost only once in the first round in 20 events. Roger Federer fell only two times in 23 tourneys while Rainer Schuettler went down in his opening match only three times in 28 events. Andy Roddick also lost only three times in 23 events. You can see the pattern here: seldomly lost in the first round = top player!
Well there you have it. Below is the full top 50 lists of this
year's Time To Get a Day Job Awards. For previous years' awards:
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996 (JD)
1995 (JD)
1994 (JD)
Number of first round losses: First Total Round Tourn. Player Country Losses Played* Percentage -------------------- ------- ------ ------ ---------- 1 Sanchez, David ESP 19 29 0.6552 2 Beck, Karol SVK 17 23 0.7391 3 Davydenko, Nikolay RUS 17 32 0.5313 4 Waske, Alexander GER 16 18 0.8889 5 Arthurs, Wayne AUS 16 22 0.7273 6 Vahaly, Brian USA 16 23 0.6957 7 Martin, Alberto ESP 16 26 0.6154 8 Vicente, Fernando ESP 16 29 0.5517 9 Koubek, Stefan AUT 15 25 0.6000 10 Sa, Andre BRA 14 18 0.7778 11 Corretja, Alex ESP 14 22 0.6364 12 Mathieu, Paul-Henri FRA 14 23 0.6087 13 Lee, Hyung-Taik KOR 14 24 0.5833 14 Sluiter, Raemon NED 14 24 0.5833 15 Verkerk, Martin NED 14 25 0.5600 16 Ferrer, David ESP 14 27 0.5185 17 Rochus, Olivier BEL 14 28 0.5000 18 Voinea, Adrian ROM 13 19 0.6842 19 Enqvist, Thomas SWE 13 23 0.5652 20 Gambill, Jan-Michael USA 13 26 0.5000 21 Lopez, Feliciano ESP 13 31 0.4194 22 Krajan, Zeljko CRO 12 14 0.8571 23 Mamiit, Cecil USA 12 15 0.8000 24 Gimelstob, Justin USA 12 17 0.7059 25 Labadze, Irakli GEO 12 17 0.7059 26 Melzer, Jurgen AUT 12 18 0.6667 27 Sanguinetti, Davide ITA 12 21 0.5714 28 Carlsen, Kenneth DEN 12 22 0.5455 29 Lapentti, Nicolas ECU 12 22 0.5455 30 Youzhny, Mikhail RUS 12 26 0.4615 31 Montanes, Albert ESP 11 16 0.6875 32 Acasuso, Jose ARG 11 19 0.5789 33 Kratochvil, Michel SUI 11 20 0.5500 34 Mantilla, Felix ESP 11 23 0.4783 35 Gonzalez, Fernando CHI 11 25 0.4400 36 Zabaleta, Mariano ARG 11 25 0.4400 37 Vacek, Jan CZE 10 13 0.7692 38 Norman, Magnus SWE 10 16 0.6250 39 Voltchkov, Vladimir BLR 10 16 0.6250 40 Portas, Albert ESP 10 20 0.5000 41 Massu, Nicolas CHI 10 22 0.4545 42 Stepanek, Radek CZE 10 22 0.4545 43 Hrbaty, Dominik SVK 10 26 0.3846 44 Sargsian, Sargis ARM 10 26 0.3846 45 Srichaphan, Paradorn THA 10 29 0.3448 46 Pavel, Andrei ROM 9 11 0.8182 47 Ramirez-Hidalgo, ESP 9 11 0.8182 48 Puerta, Mariano ARG 9 14 0.6429 49 Volandri, Filippo ITA 9 16 0.5625 50 Ancic, Mario CRO 9 18 0.5000 51 Rochus, Christophe BEL 9 18 0.5000 * minimum 10 tournaments Percentage of first round losses to total number of ATP tournaments played: First Total Round Tourn. Player Country Losses Played* Percentage -------------------- ------- ------ ------ ---------- 1 Waske, Alexander GER 16 18 0.8889 2 Krajan, Zeljko CRO 12 14 0.8571 3 Pavel, Andrei ROM 9 11 0.8182 4 Ramirez-Hidalgo, Ruben ESP 9 11 0.8182 5 Mamiit, Cecil USA 12 15 0.8000 6 Chang, Michael USA 8 10 0.8000 7 Heuberger, Ivo SUI 8 10 0.8000 8 Llodra, Michael FRA 8 10 0.8000 9 Sa, Andre BRA 14 18 0.7778 10 Vacek, Jan CZE 10 13 0.7692 11 Beck, Karol SVK 17 23 0.7391 12 Arthurs, Wayne AUS 16 22 0.7273 13 Gimelstob, Justin USA 12 17 0.7059 14 Labadze, Irakli GEO 12 17 0.7059 15 Kendrick, Robert USA 7 10 0.7000 16 Kim, Alex USA 7 10 0.7000 17 Morrison, Jeff USA 7 10 0.7000 18 Vahaly, Brian USA 16 23 0.6957 19 Montanes, Albert ESP 11 16 0.6875 20 Voinea, Adrian ROM 13 19 0.6842 21 Melzer, Jurgen AUT 12 18 0.6667 22 Sanchez, David ESP 19 29 0.6552 23 Puerta, Mariano ARG 9 14 0.6429 24 Corretja, Alex ESP 14 22 0.6364 25 Savolt, Attila HUN 7 11 0.6364 26 Norman, Magnus SWE 10 16 0.6250 27 Voltchkov, Vladimir BLR 10 16 0.6250 28 Martin, Alberto ESP 16 26 0.6154 29 Mathieu, Paul-Henri FRA 14 23 0.6087 30 Koubek, Stefan AUT 15 25 0.6000 31 Lee, Hyung-Taik KOR 14 24 0.5833 32 Sluiter, Raemon NED 14 24 0.5833 33 Verdasco, Fernando ESP 7 12 0.5833 34 Acasuso, Jose ARG 11 19 0.5789 35 Sanguinetti, Davide ITA 12 21 0.5714 36 Enqvist, Thomas SWE 13 23 0.5652 37 Volandri, Filippo ITA 9 16 0.5625 38 Verkerk, Martin NED 14 25 0.5600 39 Vicente, Fernando ESP 16 29 0.5517 40 Kratochvil, Michel SUI 11 20 0.5500 41 Carlsen, Kenneth DEN 12 22 0.5455 42 Lapentti, Nicolas ECU 12 22 0.5455 43 Safin, Marat RUS 7 13 0.5385 44 Davydenko, Nikolay RUS 17 32 0.5313 45 Ferrer, David ESP 14 27 0.5185 46 Rochus, Olivier BEL 14 28 0.5000 47 Gambill, Jan-Michael USA 13 26 0.5000 48 Portas, Albert ESP 10 20 0.5000 49 Ancic, Mario CRO 9 18 0.5000 50 Rochus, Christophe BEL 9 18 0.5000 51 Draper, Scott AUS 8 16 0.5000 52 Escude, Nicolas FRA 5 10 0.5000 * minimum 10 tournaments