By Nicholas McCarvel
Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic both suffered 6-1, 6-1 losses to Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic, respectively, notching just the 11th and 12th-ever results at the ATP World Tour Finals in which the losing player has failed to win at least three games in a match. (Photo Credit: CameraSport)
“It was my worst match of the whole season.”
Tomas Berdych was rather decisive in summing up his performance against Stan Wawrinka Monday at the ATP World Tour Finals, in which the world No. 7 from the Czech Republic managed just two games in 58 minutes. It was a match that would have been much sooner forgotten had Marin Cilic not repeated the feat hours later, locked out by Novak Djokovic by the same score in the evening session.
Berdych and Cilic will play a Toilet Bowl of sorts on Wednesday, each trying to salvage a frustrating Monday at the office. “This is just a bad day,” Berdych summarized. “That's how it is.”
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What other players had no good, very bad days at the World Tour Finals in years past? A few:
Roger Federer def. Gaston Gaudio, 6-0, 6-0
Shanghai, 2005
It’s the only double bagel on the books for the season-ending championships, and one that actually took place in the semifinals, not the round-robin group play. Roger Federer was near “perfect,” the papers reported, and Gaston Gaudio double faulted nine times in just six service games. The event’s lineup had been ravaged, with Rafael Nadal, Andre Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt all pulling out prior to the tournament. Federer would go on to lose David Nalbandian in a five-set final.
John McEnroe def. Mats Wilander, 6-1, 6-1,
New York, 1985
It was the most lopsided of the 13 matches these two legends played against one another, a head-to-head in which John McEnroe finished just ahead, 7 to 6. Hometown boy McEnroe would go on to beat Ivan Lendl for a second straight year in the final, one of Mac’s three World Tour Finals victories in singles. Wilander would exact revenge the next time they met, however, winning a French Open semifinal against McEnroe en route to his triumph there.
Manuel Orantes def. Harold Solomon, 6-1, 6-1
Melbourne, 1974
One of two names that shows up twice on the two-games-or-less list is Harold Solomon’s, who in fact lost 6-1, 6-1 not once but twice at the Finals in 1974 in Melbourne. It was the first time the American, then 22, had made the tournament, but after Mexico’s Raul Ramirez had defeated Solomon by the same scoreline earlier in the tournament, Orantes of Spain did just the same. Solomon faired a little bit better to close down his tournament: he lost 3&4 to Ilie Nastase in his last round robin match.
Andre Agassi def. Alberto Berasategui, 6-2, 6-0
Hanover, 1994
It’s Berasategui’s name (like Solomon’s) that appears twice among the WTFs WTF?! results, the Spaniard losing to Agassi 2&0 before Michael Chang laid the smack down on the world No. 7, 6-1, 6-0. It was Berasategui’s only appearance at the event. He had won seven clay titles in 1994 and made the finals at the French Open. But his indoor record that year? A dismal 1-7. And if you want, you can watch the entirety of this baby (with some vintage ESPN graphics and voices!) below: