Well, here it is...a tradition started by Jacqueline Dupree (JD--the stat queen) back in 1990. So that would make this the 15th 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 Rainer Schuettler and
Brian Vahaly. Schuettler takes the crown for most first round
losses. He suffered 19 of them, two more than any other player.
This marks the third consecutive year the winning total was 19. Xavier
Malisse was next with 17. Nikolay Davydenko comes in third with 16.
He also came in third last year.
In the percentage category, its Brian Vahaly who went down in the first round in 9 of the 10 events he played in in 2004. Mark Philippoussis is next with 13 early exits in 16 events, while Jeff Salzenstein lost 8 times in 10 attempts. Jean-Rene Lisnard and John van Lottum each lost in 10 of 13 tournaments.
As usual, we also reward those for being on the opposite end of things. Once again this year, 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), Andy Roddick lost only once in the first round in 19 events. Roger Federer also once again came in second place, this time losing once in 16 events. Federer only lost twice in the first round last year. Andre Agassi, Sebastien Grosjean, Felix Mantilla, Carlos Moya, and David Nalbandian each lost just 3 times in their opening match in 2004.
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:
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 Schuettler, Rainer GER 19 29 0.6552 2 Malisse, Xavier BEL 17 26 0.6538 3 Davydenko, Nikolay RUS 16 31 0.5161 4 Massu, Nicolas CHI 15 29 0.5172 5 Burgsmuller, Lars GER 14 19 0.7368 6 Ramirez-Hidalgo, Ruben ESP 14 19 0.7368 7 Labadze, Irakli GEO 14 21 0.6667 8 Clement, Arnaud FRA 14 22 0.6364 9 Dupuis, Antony FRA 14 22 0.6364 10 Ginepri, Robby USA 14 24 0.5833 11 Karlovic, Ivo CRO 14 25 0.5600 12 Ferrer, David ESP 14 31 0.4516 13 Philippoussis, Mark AUS 13 16 0.8125 14 Hernandez, Oscar ESP 13 19 0.6842 15 Enqvist, Thomas SWE 13 20 0.6500 16 Hanescu, Victor ROM 13 24 0.5417 17 Andreev, Igor RUS 13 27 0.4815 18 Sanchez, David ESP 13 27 0.4815 19 Sargsian, Sargis ARM 13 27 0.4815 20 Horna, Luis PER 13 28 0.4643 21 Portas, Albert ESP 12 16 0.7500 22 Montanes, Albert ESP 12 17 0.7059 23 Rochus, Christophe BEL 12 18 0.6667 24 Ulihrach, Bohdan CZE 12 19 0.6316 25 Carraz, Gregory FRA 12 20 0.6000 26 Sanguinetti, Davide ITA 12 20 0.6000 27 Bjorkman, Jonas SWE 12 25 0.4800 28 Gambill, Jan-Michael USA 12 25 0.4800 29 Martin, Alberto ESP 12 26 0.4615 30 Mirnyi, Max BLR 12 26 0.4615 31 Soderling, Robin SWE 12 28 0.4286 32 Moodie, Wesley RSA 11 16 0.6875 33 Arthurs, Wayne AUS 11 20 0.5500 34 Ancic, Mario CRO 11 22 0.5000 35 Chela, Juan Ignacio ARG 11 27 0.4074 36 Hrbaty, Dominik SVK 11 28 0.3929 37 Lisnard, Jean-Rene FRA 10 13 0.7692 38 van Lottum, John NED 10 13 0.7692 39 van Scheppingen, Dennis NED 10 14 0.7143 40 Blanco, Galo ESP 10 15 0.6667 41 Acasuso, Jose ARG 10 17 0.5882 42 Ascione, Thierry FRA 10 17 0.5882 43 Tursunov, Dmitry RUS 10 17 0.5882 44 Corretja, Alex ESP 10 19 0.5263 45 Costa, Albert ESP 10 22 0.4545 46 Rochus, Olivier BEL 10 22 0.4545 47 Melzer, Jurgen AUT 10 23 0.4348 48 Canas, Guillermo ARG 10 24 0.4167 49 Lopez, Feliciano ESP 10 26 0.3846 50 Verdasco, Fernando ESP 10 26 0.3846 * 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 Vahaly, Brian USA 9 10 0.9000 2 Philippoussis, Mark AUS 13 16 0.8125 3 Salzenstein, Jeff USA 8 10 0.8000 4 Lisnard, Jean-Rene FRA 10 13 0.7692 5 van Lottum, John NED 10 13 0.7692 6 Portas, Albert ESP 12 16 0.7500 7 Vacek, Jan CZE 9 12 0.7500 8 Burgsmuller, Lars GER 14 19 0.7368 9 Ramirez-Hidalgo, Ruben ESP 14 19 0.7368 10 Peya, Alexander AUT 8 11 0.7273 11 van Scheppingen, Dennis NED 10 14 0.7143 12 Montanes, Albert ESP 12 17 0.7059 13 Behrend, Tomas GER 7 10 0.7000 14 Ivanisevic, Goran CRO 7 10 0.7000 15 Lu, Yen-Hsun TPE 7 10 0.7000 16 Mahut, Nicolas FRA 7 10 0.7000 17 Mutis, Olivier FRA 9 13 0.6923 18 Moodie, Wesley RSA 11 16 0.6875 19 Hernandez, Oscar ESP 13 19 0.6842 20 Labadze, Irakli GEO 14 21 0.6667 21 Rochus, Christophe BEL 12 18 0.6667 22 Blanco, Galo ESP 10 15 0.6667 23 Schuettler, Rainer GER 19 29 0.6552 24 Malisse, Xavier BEL 17 26 0.6538 25 Enqvist, Thomas SWE 13 20 0.6500 26 Vliegen, Kristof BEL 9 14 0.6429 27 Clement, Arnaud FRA 14 22 0.6364 28 Dupuis, Antony FRA 14 22 0.6364 29 Ulihrach, Bohdan CZE 12 19 0.6316 30 Levy, Harel ISR 8 13 0.6154 31 Carraz, Gregory FRA 12 20 0.6000 32 Sanguinetti, Davide ITA 12 20 0.6000 33 Lapentti, Nicolas ECU 9 15 0.6000 34 Martin, Todd USA 9 15 0.6000 35 Popp, Alexander GER 9 15 0.6000 36 Mathieu, Paul-Henri FRA 6 10 0.6000 37 Acasuso, Jose ARG 10 17 0.5882 38 Ascione, Thierry FRA 10 17 0.5882 39 Tursunov, Dmitry RUS 10 17 0.5882 40 Ginepri, Robby USA 14 24 0.5833 41 Elseneer, Gilles BEL 7 12 0.5833 42 Hernych, Jan CZE 7 12 0.5833 43 Heuberger, Ivo SUI 8 14 0.5714 44 Karlovic, Ivo CRO 14 25 0.5600 45 Arthurs, Wayne AUS 11 20 0.5500 46 Hanescu, Victor ROM 13 24 0.5417 47 Berdych, Tomas CZE 8 15 0.5333 48 Gasquet, Richard FRA 8 15 0.5333 49 Bogomolov, Alex USA 9 17 0.5294 50 Corretja, Alex ESP 10 19 0.5263 * minimum 10 tournaments