What is a bagel in tennis as Rafael Nadal bagels Novak Djokovic in 2020 French Open

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Saiyed Adeem Karim

A bagel in tennis is an embarrassing score and Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic produced one in the 2020 French Open

Rafael Nadal was able to bagel Novak Djokovic in the 2020 French Open and that got many people talking.

Nadal was searching for a record-equalling 20th Grand Slam, and he is one of the best to have ever played tennis.

Novak Djokovic walks away after getting a bagel in the French Open final
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic reacts as he plays against Spain’s Rafael Nadal during their men’s final tennis match at the Philippe Chatrier court (Photo by THOMAS SAMSON/AFP via Getty Images)

The Spaniard has won 12 titles at the French Open and produced an incredible performance in the final of the 2020 edition.

Nadal won the first set 6-0 over Djokovic, who is also considered as one of the greatest ever. Losing a set without winning a game is called a bagel in tennis, and it is rather incredible how Nadal was able to demolish Djokovic in the first set.

Nadal ended up winning his 20th Grand Slam and tied Roger Federer for winning the most Slams. However, his bagel certainly was something brilliant as he celebrated his 13th French Open.

A history of producing bagels

Of course, Nadal isn’t the only player to have achieved such a feat in tennis. There are several cases of single bagels but double bagels aren’t uncommon too.

Sofia Kenin was on the end of a double bagel in the 2020 Italian Open
Sofia Kenin of The United States reacts in her round two match against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus during day four of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia at Foro Italico on September 17, 2020 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Angelo Carconi – Pool/Getty Images)

Sofia Kenin, the Australian Open champion from 2020 got double-bageled recently. Nadal picked up another bagel in a Grand Slam, however, he is some way off the man with the most bagels in Grand Slams.

American legend Andre Agassi has recorded 50 bagels in his Grand Slam career. The one coming second is Roy Emerson with 47 and Roger Federer has 45.

Jimmy Connors has 44 with Ivan Lendl getting 42. John Bromwich has 41 while Bill Tiden comes in eighth with 40. Djokovic has 38 while Nadal comes in 10th in the list.

Pete Sampras Andre Agassi nicknames
NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 24: Tennis players Andre Agassi (L) and Pete Sampras attend Nike’s “NYC Street Tennis” Event on August 24, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images)

However, when it comes to total career bagels, Nadal, Federer and Djokovic don’t feature at all in the list.

Bill Tiden of American has 479 bagels while Josiah Ritchie comes in second with 464. The third name on this list is Anthony Wilding with 280 career bagels.

For the women, Chris Evert holds the most bagels with 106, second comes Margaret Court with 89 and Martina Navratilova is third in the list with 72.

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