Well, here it is...a tradition started by Jacqueline Dupree (JD--the stat queen) back in 1990. So that would make this the 17th 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. And with the advent of round robin tournaments, this might be the last year of these awards. But 2006 at least is fair game.
So let's get to the awards.
Our grand prize winners this year are Christophe Rochus, Carlos
Berlocq, and Ivo Minar. Rochus and Paradorn Srichaphan
are tied for the most first round loses at 17 each. But Rochus accomplished
his in less tournaments so he gets the nod. 7 players share 16 first
round defeats each led by Tomas Zib who did it in just 22 events.
In the percentage category, we have another tie. Both Carlos Berlocq and Ivo Minar lost in the first round 13 times in 17 events. Zib once again finds himself in 3rd place
As usual, we also reward those for being on the opposite end of things. For the second year in a row, Roger Federer did not lose in the first round all year. He was the only player with 10 events or more to do so in 2006. Andy Roddick lost only once in 16 tournaments and Rafael Nadal lost once in 15 events.
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:
2005
2004
2003
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 Rochus, Christophe BEL 17 26 0.6538 2 Srichaphan, Paradorn THA 17 31 0.5484 3 Zib, Tomas CZE 16 22 0.7273 4 Dlouhy, Lukas CZE 16 24 0.6667 5 Pashanski, Boris SCG 16 24 0.6667 6 Sanguinetti, Davide ITA 16 24 0.6667 7 Vik, Robin CZE 16 25 0.6400 8 Phau, Bjorn GER 16 27 0.5926 9 Seppi, Andreas ITA 16 30 0.5333 10 Horna, Luis PER 15 23 0.6522 11 Schuettler, Rainer GER 15 23 0.6522 12 Serra, Florent FRA 15 27 0.5556 13 Lopez, Feliciano ESP 15 29 0.5172 14 Mathieu, Paul-Henri FRA 15 29 0.5172 15 Berlocq, Carlos ARG 13 17 0.7647 16 Minar, Ivo CZE 13 17 0.7647 17 Vicente, Fernando ESP 13 19 0.6842 18 Muller, Gilles LUX 13 21 0.6190 19 Santoro, Fabrice FRA 13 23 0.5652 20 Bracciali, Daniele ITA 13 26 0.5000 21 Melzer, Jurgen AUT 13 26 0.5000 22 Spadea, Vince USA 13 31 0.4194 23 Daniel, Marcos BRA 12 18 0.6667 24 Montanes, Albert ESP 12 19 0.6316 25 Sabau, Razvan ROM 12 19 0.6316 26 Bjorkman, Jonas SWE 12 20 0.6000 27 Mahut, Nicolas FRA 12 21 0.5714 28 Pavel, Andrei ROM 12 21 0.5714 29 Moodie, Wesley RSA 12 23 0.5217 30 Ginepri, Robby USA 12 24 0.5000 31 Monaco, Juan ARG 12 24 0.5000 32 Volandri, Filippo ITA 12 25 0.4800 33 Chela, Juan Ignacio ARG 12 26 0.4615 34 Johansson, Thomas SWE 11 16 0.6875 35 Waske, Alexander GER 11 18 0.6111 36 Kim, Kevin USA 11 20 0.5500 37 Martin, Alberto ESP 11 22 0.5000 38 Mirnyi, Max BLR 11 25 0.4400 39 Davydenko, Nikolay RUS 11 31 0.3548 40 Tursunov, Dmitry RUS 11 32 0.3438 41 Rusedski, Greg GBR 10 15 0.6667 42 Reynolds, Bobby USA 10 16 0.6250 43 di Mauro, Alessio ITA 10 18 0.5556 44 Vanek, Jiri CZE 10 19 0.5263 45 Gimelstob, Justin USA 10 21 0.4762 46 Goldstein, Paul USA 10 21 0.4762 47 Ferrero, Juan Carlos ESP 10 23 0.4348 48 Moya, Carlos ESP 10 23 0.4348 49 Youzhny, Mikhail RUS 10 23 0.4348 50 Malisse, Xavier BEL 10 24 0.4167 * 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 Berlocq, Carlos ARG 13 17 0.7647 2 Minar, Ivo CZE 13 17 0.7647 3 Zib, Tomas CZE 16 22 0.7273 4 Johansson, Thomas SWE 11 16 0.6875 5 Vicente, Fernando ESP 13 19 0.6842 6 Dlouhy, Lukas CZE 16 24 0.6667 7 Pashanski, Boris SCG 16 24 0.6667 8 Sanguinetti, Davide ITA 16 24 0.6667 9 Daniel, Marcos BRA 12 18 0.6667 10 Rusedski, Greg GBR 10 15 0.6667 11 Rochus, Christophe BEL 17 26 0.6538 12 Horna, Luis PER 15 23 0.6522 13 Schuettler, Rainer GER 15 23 0.6522 14 Vik, Robin CZE 16 25 0.6400 15 Montanes, Albert ESP 12 19 0.6316 16 Sabau, Razvan ROM 12 19 0.6316 17 Reynolds, Bobby USA 10 16 0.6250 18 Muller, Gilles LUX 13 21 0.6190 19 Waske, Alexander GER 11 18 0.6111 20 Bjorkman, Jonas SWE 12 20 0.6000 21 Tipsarevic, Janko SCG 9 15 0.6000 22 Wang, Yeu-Tzuoo TPE 9 15 0.6000 23 Phau, Bjorn GER 16 27 0.5926 24 Mahut, Nicolas FRA 12 21 0.5714 25 Pavel, Andrei ROM 12 21 0.5714 26 Coria, Guillermo ARG 8 14 0.5714 27 Santoro, Fabrice FRA 13 23 0.5652 28 Serra, Florent FRA 15 27 0.5556 29 di Mauro, Alessio ITA 10 18 0.5556 30 Kim, Kevin USA 11 20 0.5500 31 Srichaphan, Paradorn THA 17 31 0.5484 32 Seppi, Andreas ITA 16 30 0.5333 33 Behrend, Tomas GER 8 15 0.5333 34 Marin, Juan Antonio CRC 8 15 0.5333 35 Portas, Albert ESP 8 15 0.5333 36 Kunitsyn, Igor RUS 9 17 0.5294 37 Vanek, Jiri CZE 10 19 0.5263 38 Moodie, Wesley RSA 12 23 0.5217 39 Lopez, Feliciano ESP 15 29 0.5172 40 Mathieu, Paul-Henri FRA 15 29 0.5172 41 Bracciali, Daniele ITA 13 26 0.5000 42 Melzer, Jurgen AUT 13 26 0.5000 43 Ginepri, Robby USA 12 24 0.5000 44 Monaco, Juan ARG 12 24 0.5000 45 Martin, Alberto ESP 11 22 0.5000 46 Sluiter, Raemon NED 8 16 0.5000 47 del Potro, Juan Martin ARG 6 12 0.5000 48 Saretta, Flavio BRA 6 12 0.5000 49 Zabaleta, Mariano ARG 5 10 0.5000 50 Volandri, Filippo ITA 12 25 0.4800 * minimum 10 tournaments