Well, here it is...a tradition started by Jacqueline Dupree (JD--the stat queen) back in 1990. So that would make this the 12th 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) of tournaments on the ATP Tour (not qualies or challengers). 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.
So let's get to the awards.
Our grand prize winners this year are Davide Sanguinetti and
Mariano Puerta. The Italian, Sanguinetti, suffered 21 first
round defeats in 2001. That is probably why he slipped in the rankings
from #65 to #91. Sanguinetti had 4 more first round losses than his
nearest competitors. That would be David Prinosil and Harel Levy
who went down in their first match 17 times. Coming in at 16 flame-outs
were Gianluca Pozzi (another Italian), Vladimir Voltchkov, Francisco Clavet,
and Dominik Hrbaty.
Sanguinetti almost came in first place in the percentage category as well. He lost 21 times in 27 events for a percentage of 78%. However, he was eclipsed by only Mariano Puerta who lost in 11 of 12 appearances. Once again, no one was "perfect" this year, but Puerta came the closest with a 92% first round loss rate! Consequently, Puerta dropped in the rankings from #21 all the way down to #254!! Coming in third place was David Prinosil, with 17 of 22 early exits.
If we're going to note those on the low end of the totem pole, we might as well recognize the player at the other end of the list ... the one who managed to avoid first round losses. That would be our #1, Lleyton Hewitt, who lost only once in the first round in 21 events and that wasn't until the end of the year in Paris.
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:
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 Davide Sanguinetti ITA 21 27 0.7778 2 David Prinosil GER 17 22 0.7727 3 Harel Levy ISR 17 25 0.6800 4 Gianluca Pozzi ITA 16 23 0.6957 5 Vladimir Voltchkov BLR 16 24 0.6667 6 Francisco Clavet ESP 16 28 0.5714 7 Dominik Hrbaty SVK 16 30 0.5333 8 Andrew Ilie AUS 15 28 0.5357 9 Albert Portas ESP 15 29 0.5172 10 Arnaud di Pasquale FRA 14 19 0.7368 11 Hyung-Taik Lee KOR 14 19 0.7368 12 Wayne Ferreira RSA 14 21 0.6667 13 Fernando Vicente ESP 14 27 0.5185 14 Alex Calatrava ESP 14 29 0.4828 15 Rainer Schuettler GER 14 32 0.4375 16 Karim Alami MAR 13 17 0.7647 17 Olivier Rochus BEL 13 19 0.6842 18 Anthony Dupuis FRA 13 20 0.6500 19 Andrea Gaudenzi ITA 13 21 0.6190 20 Jiri Vanek CZE 13 22 0.5909 21 Galo Blanco ESP 13 23 0.5652 22 Andrei Stoliarov RUS 13 24 0.5417 23 Franco Squillari ARG 13 26 0.5000 24 Nicolas Massu CHI 13 27 0.4815 25 Slava Dosedel CZE 12 16 0.7500 26 Michael Russell USA 12 17 0.7059 27 Christophe Rochus BEL 12 21 0.5714 28 Stefan Koubek AUT 12 22 0.5455 29 Marc Rosset SUI 12 23 0.5217 30 Wayne Arthurs AUS 12 23 0.5217 31 Michel Kratochvil SUI 12 24 0.5000 32 Younes El Aynaoui MAR 12 24 0.5000 33 Mariano Puerta ARG 11 12 0.9167 34 Paradorn Srichaphan THA 11 15 0.7333 35 David Sanchez ESP 11 19 0.5789 36 Lars Burgsmuller GER 11 19 0.5789 37 Juan Balcells ESP 11 21 0.5238 38 Sergi Bruguera ESP 11 21 0.5238 39 Gaston Gaudio ARG 11 23 0.4783 40 Jonas Bjorkman SWE 11 24 0.4583 41 Nicolas Kiefer GER 11 25 0.4400 42 Andreas Vinciguerra SWE 11 27 0.4074 43 Sjeng Schalken NED 11 28 0.3929 44 Christian Vinck GER 10 13 0.7692 45 German Puentes ESP 10 14 0.7143 46 Nikolay Davydenko RUS 10 15 0.6667 47 Chris Woodruff USA 10 17 0.5882 48 Markus Hipfl AUT 10 18 0.5556 49 Michal Tabara CZE 10 20 0.5000 50 Cedric Pioline FRA 10 22 0.4545 51 Ivan Ljubicic CRO 10 22 0.4545 52 Nicolas Escude FRA 10 24 0.4167 53 Julien Boutter FRA 10 25 0.4000 54 Max Mirnyi BLR 10 26 0.3846 55 Andrei Pavel ROM 10 27 0.3704 * 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 Mariano Puerta ARG 11 12 0.9167 2 Davide Sanguinetti ITA 21 27 0.7778 3 David Prinosil GER 17 22 0.7727 4 Christian Vinck GER 10 13 0.7692 5 Karim Alami MAR 13 17 0.7647 6 Slava Dosedel CZE 12 16 0.7500 7 Justin Gimelstob USA 9 12 0.7500 8 Arnaud di Pasquale FRA 14 19 0.7368 9 Hyung-Taik Lee KOR 14 19 0.7368 10 Paradorn Srichaphan THA 11 15 0.7333 11 Cyril Saulnier FRA 8 11 0.7273 12 Michael Llodra FRA 8 11 0.7273 13 Tomas Zib CZE 8 11 0.7273 14 German Puentes ESP 10 14 0.7143 15 Michael Russell USA 12 17 0.7059 16 Gianluca Pozzi ITA 16 23 0.6957 17 Olivier Rochus BEL 13 19 0.6842 18 Harel Levy ISR 17 25 0.6800 19 Vladimir Voltchkov BLR 16 24 0.6667 20 Wayne Ferreira RSA 14 21 0.6667 21 Nikolay Davydenko RUS 10 15 0.6667 22 Edwin Kempes NED 8 12 0.6667 23 Markus Hantschk GER 8 12 0.6667 24 Raemon Sluiter NED 8 12 0.6667 25 Anthony Dupuis FRA 13 20 0.6500 26 Jacobo Diaz ESP 9 14 0.6429 27 Bob Bryan USA 7 11 0.6364 28 Andrea Gaudenzi ITA 13 21 0.6190 29 Andre Sa BRA 9 15 0.6000 30 Jiri Vanek CZE 13 22 0.5909 31 Chris Woodruff USA 10 17 0.5882 32 Jose Acasuso ARG 7 12 0.5833 33 David Sanchez ESP 11 19 0.5789 34 Lars Burgsmuller GER 11 19 0.5789 35 Francisco Clavet ESP 16 28 0.5714 36 Christophe Rochus BEL 12 21 0.5714 37 Galo Blanco ESP 13 23 0.5652 38 Andrei Medvedev UKR 9 16 0.5625 39 Markus Hipfl AUT 10 18 0.5556 40 Stefan Koubek AUT 12 22 0.5455 41 Andrei Stoliarov RUS 13 24 0.5417 42 Jens Knippschild GER 7 13 0.5385 43 Andrew Ilie AUS 15 28 0.5357 44 Dominik Hrbaty SVK 16 30 0.5333 45 George Bastl SUI 8 15 0.5333 46 Jan Siemerink NED 9 17 0.5294 47 Juan Balcells ESP 11 21 0.5238 48 Sergi Bruguera ESP 11 21 0.5238 49 Marc Rosset SUI 12 23 0.5217 50 Wayne Arthurs AUS 12 23 0.5217 * minimum 10 tournaments