Jannik Sinner & Novak Djokovic Register Impressive Bagels in 2023 But Iga Swiatek Eclipses Both Combined

Jannik Sinner was on a roll in the 2023 season, as his form in the second half went upwards. The Sinner vs Djokovic rivalry also found a new footing as the Italian trumped the World No.1 twice in a span of 2 weeks. Interestingly, the buck doesn’t stop there as the Italian went ahead of Djokovic when it comes to securing the most number of ‘bagels’ and ‘breadsticks’ by any men’s singles tennis player in 2023.

For the unversed, bagel means a player winning a set 6-0 while breadstick means a 6-1 set win. So combining both, Jannik Sinner had 25 of those to his name this year. Remarkably, he shares the record with the man he beat in the Davis Cup 2023 men’s singles final a few days ago, Australia’s Alex de Minaur. Novak Djokovic follows Sinner and de Minaur, with 21 bagels and breadsticks combined.

It is another supreme achievement for Novak Djokovic, considering that he is 36 years of age and has been on the Tour nearly for the last 20 years. Another Italian, who won the Davis Cup 2023 with Jannik Sinner, made it to the top 5, with 20 such wins. It is the World No.27 Lorenzo Musetti who completed the top 5 with Alexander Zverev, who also had 20 to his name this year.

Co-incidentally, the last bagel win for Jannik Sinner was in the Davis Cup 2023 men’s singles final which was against Alex de Minaur. Sinner won the match comprehensively, 6-3, 6-0. The Italian also had the upper hand over the Australian in the final match of the Rogers Cup 2023, winning 6-4, 6-1 for his first-ever ATP Masters 1000 title.

Some of the other high-profile names as ‘breadstick’ victims of Jannik Sinner in 2023 included Carlos Alcaraz, Stan Wawrinka (twice), Daniil Medvedev, Holger Rune, Hubert Hurkacz and Sebastian Korda.

On the other hand, Novak Djokovic achieved the bagel once at the US Open 2023 in the first set of his first round match after 2 years in New York City. The other instance is in the second set of the second round of the French Open 2023. He also claimed the bagel in the second round of the Australian Open 2023.

Novak Djokovic gave the ‘breadstick’ to Carlos Alcaraz twice in one match on two occasions. One was the French Open 2023 semifinal which the Serb won in 4 sets. The other was the Wimbledon 2023 final which he ironically lost to the Spaniard in a 5-setter. Apart from Alcaraz, Andrey Rublev and Stan Wawrinka were Djokovic’s other victims, that too in the same tournament.

At the US Open, Djokovic won two 6-1 sets against fellow Serbian, Laslo Djere and B Zapatta of Spain each respectively and American top seed, Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals. And earlier at the Australian Open in January 2023, the other big names Djokovic earned the breadstick against, were once again Rublev, Tommy Paul and unfortunately for Australian tennis fans, Alex de Minaur’s name comes up again in this regard.

Iga Swiatek trumps Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic easily

Even then, Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic were not the highest in numbers when it comes to bagels and breadsticks combined in singles tennis matches in 2023. It is the women’s tennis superstar from Poland, Iga Swiatek who tops the overall list at a stunning 54 such wins. In fact, after Swiatek, comes the billionaire tennis heiress from the United States, Jessica Pegula with 26 of those wins, which is one more than the No.1 among the men, Jannik Sinner.

Iga Swiatek cannot be belittled for such an incredible achievement across Grand Slams and WTA matches alike, more so since she lost the World No.1 ranking despite dominating in such a manner. So the competitiveness in women’s tennis has perhaps increased in 2023. Jessica Pegula, followed by Coco Gauff and then the current World No.1, Aryna Sabalenka, shows that the gap between the best isn’t much now, making it a more interesting field.

However, 54 is too high a number which shows that to achieve such dominance in men’s singles tennis, remains comparatively tougher to an extent.