Well, here it is...a tradition started by Jacqueline Dupree (JD--the stat queen) back in 1990. So that would make this the 9th 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. It is sorted in two ways: By number of first round losses and then by percentage to total tournaments played. This list is courtesy of Jens Barthelmes from Joe's ATP Tour Statistics (what, you think I compiled this myself? :-) ). And an extra thanks to Jens for getting it done so fast this year. ;-)
The grand prize winners are Julian Alonso and Christian Ruud. Alonso, who, at this time last year I predicted would be in the top 10 by now :-) , suffered 21 first round defeats this year and dropped in the rankings from #36 to #103. This number of first round defeats ties Marc-Kevin Goellner's record set last year! As far as worst percentage, that goes to Norway's Christian Ruud who lost his first match in 11 of 13 tournaments (85%) this year. Ruud was also a contest winner in 1995! The full list is below.
For previous years' awards:
1997
1996 (JD)
1995 (JD)
1994 (JD)
Number of first round losses: First Total Round Tourn. Player Country Losses Played Percentage ----------------------- ------- ------ ------ ---------- 1 Alonso, Julian ESP 21 32 0.6563 2 Sanchez, Javier ESP 19 26 0.7308 3 Lapentti, Nicolas ECU 18 29 0.6207 4 Schalken, Sjeng NED 17 30 0.5667 5 Fromberg, Richard AUS 17 31 0.5484 6 Goellner, Marc-Kevin GER 17 25 0.6800 7 Clement, Arnaud FRA 17 25 0.6800 8 Campbell, Steve USA 16 25 0.6400 9 Marin, Juan-Antonio CRC 16 27 0.5926 10 Vacek, Daniel CZE 16 29 0.5517 11 Bruguera, Sergi ESP 15 24 0.6250 12 van Herck, Johan BEL 15 20 0.7500 13 Portas, Alberto ESP 15 24 0.6250 14 Rosset, Marc SUI 14 27 0.5185 15 Arazi, Hicham MAR 14 27 0.5185 16 Sargsian, Sargis ARM 13 26 0.5000 17 Delgado, Ramon PAR 13 22 0.5909 18 Damm, Martin CZE 13 27 0.4815 19 Filippini, Marcelo URU 13 16 0.8125 20 Norman, Magnus SWE 13 29 0.4483 21 Viloca, Juan-Alberto ESP 13 20 0.6500 22 Ivanisevic, Goran CRO 13 28 0.4643 23 Blanco, Galo ESP 13 25 0.5200 24 Santoro, Fabrice FRA 13 27 0.4815 25 Hrbaty, Dominik SLK 13 27 0.4815 26 Prinosil, David GER 13 25 0.5200 27 Costa, Carlos ESP 13 24 0.5417 28 Calatrava, Alex ESP 13 18 0.7222 29 Berasategui, Alberto ESP 13 25 0.5200 30 Nydahl, Tomas SWE 12 18 0.6667 31 Johansson, Thomas SWE 12 30 0.4000 32 Carlsen, Kenneth DEN 12 24 0.5000 33 Alami, Karim MAR 12 21 0.5714 34 Burillo, Jordi ESP 12 21 0.5714 35 van Lottum, John NED 12 21 0.5714 36 Stafford, Grant RSA 12 21 0.5714 37 Pescariu, Dinu ROM 12 15 0.8000 38 Steven, Brett NZL 12 21 0.5714 39 Ulihrach, Bohdan CZE 12 29 0.4138 40 Pavel, Andrej CZE 12 22 0.5455 41 Gaudenzi, Andrea ITA 12 25 0.4800 42 Black, Wayne ZIM 11 24 0.4583 43 Spadea, Vince USA 11 27 0.4074 44 Raoux, Guillaume FRA 11 27 0.4074 45 Pozzi, Gianluca ITA 11 27 0.4074 46 Ruud, Christian NOR 11 13 0.8462 47 Vinck, Christian GER 11 15 0.7333 48 Woodbridge, Todd AUS 10 21 0.4762 49 Grosjean, Sebastien FRA 10 19 0.5263 50 Haarhuis, Paul NED 10 20 0.5000 51 Tillström, Mikael SWE 10 21 0.4762 52 Woodforde, Mark AUS 10 24 0.4167 53 Craca, Marcello GER 10 12 0.8333 54 Roux, Lionel FRA 10 13 0.7692 55 Björkman, Jonas SWE 10 24 0.4167 56 Novak, Jiri CZE 10 22 0.4545 57 Knippschild, Jens GER 10 15 0.6667 58 Tarango, Jeff USA 10 29 0.3448 59 Stoltenberg, Jason AUS 10 23 0.4348 60 Meligeni, Fernando BRA 10 21 0.4762 61 Vicente, Fernando ESP 10 20 0.5000 62 Black, Byron ZIM 10 25 0.4000 Percentage of first round losses to total number of tournaments played: First Total Round Tourn. Player Country Losses Played* Percentage ----------------------- ------- ------ ------ ---------- 1 Ruud, Christian NOR 11 13 0.8462 2 Craca, Marcello GER 10 12 0.8333 3 Filippini, Marcelo URU 13 16 0.8125 4 Pescariu, Dinu ROM 12 15 0.8000 5 Ondruska, Marcos RSA 8 10 0.8000 6 Roux, Lionel FRA 10 13 0.7692 7 van Herck, Johan BEL 15 20 0.7500 8 Stolle, Sandon AUS 9 12 0.7500 9 Vinck, Christian GER 11 15 0.7333 10 Sanchez, Javier ESP 19 26 0.7308 11 Martelli, Marzio ITA 8 11 0.7273 12 Calatrava, Alex ESP 13 18 0.7222 13 Goellner, Marc-Kevin GER 17 25 0.6800 14 Clement, Arnaud FRA 17 25 0.6800 15 Nydahl, Tomas SWE 12 18 0.6667 16 Knippschild, Jens GER 10 15 0.6667 17 Burgsmüller, Lars GER 8 12 0.6667 18 Heuberger, Ivo SUI 8 12 0.6667 19 Alonso, Julian ESP 21 32 0.6563 20 Viloca, Juan-Alberto ESP 13 20 0.6500 21 Gross, Oliver GER 9 14 0.6429 22 Canas, Guillermo ARG 9 14 0.6429 23 Campbell, Steve USA 16 25 0.6400 24 Vasek, Radomir CZE 7 11 0.6364 25 Stark, Jonathan USA 7 11 0.6364 26 Kroslak, Jan SLK 7 11 0.6364 27 Bruguera, Sergi ESP 15 24 0.6250 28 Portas, Alberto ESP 15 24 0.6250 29 Lapentti, Nicolas ECU 18 29 0.6207 30 Reneberg, Richey USA 9 15 0.6000 31 Marin, Juan-Antonio CRC 16 27 0.5926 32 Delgado, Ramon PAR 13 22 0.5909 33 Alami, Karim MAR 12 21 0.5714 34 Burillo, Jordi ESP 12 21 0.5714 35 van Lottum, John NED 12 21 0.5714 36 Stafford, Grant RSA 12 21 0.5714 37 Steven, Brett NZL 12 21 0.5714 38 Sinner, Martin GER 8 14 0.5714 39 Schalken, Sjeng NED 17 30 0.5667 40 Larsson, Magnus SWE 9 16 0.5625 41 Arnold, Lucas ARG 9 16 0.5625 42 Vacek, Daniel CZE 16 29 0.5517 43 Fromberg, Richard AUS 17 31 0.5484 44 Pavel, Andrej CZE 12 22 0.5455 45 Paes, Leander IND 6 11 0.5455 46 Costa, Carlos ESP 13 24 0.5417 47 Ilie, Andrew AUS 8 15 0.5333 48 O'Brien, Alex USA 8 15 0.5333 49 Grosjean, Sebastien FRA 10 19 0.5263 50 Blanco, Galo ESP 13 25 0.5200 51 Prinosil, David GER 13 25 0.5200 52 Berasategui, Alberto ESP 13 25 0.5200 *minimum 10 tournaments compiled by Jens Barthelmes (Joe's ATP Tour Statistics)