- The term, ‘bagel’ comes metaphorically from the fact that the zero on the scorecard looks like a bagel. It can also be used as a verb, in such a way as, ‘I bageled him in the first set.’ A double-bagel is when a player wins a 2/3 match 6-0, 6-0, and a triple-bagel is only possible in Grand Slams when players play 3/5 sets. A triple bagel has not occurred in the modern era.
Bagel
noun; zero derivation
A set of tennis in which one player holds the other to zero games; a 6-0 set.
Etymology : zero-derivation, from ‘bagel’ - Yiddish, ‘beygl’.
Source : Mike Kennelly, August 2010.
Last modified: 8 December 2010