Lucky loser

A lucky loser is a sports competitor (player or team) who loses a match in a knockout tournament or loses in qualifying, but who then enters the main draw, usually when another competitor withdraws during the tournament because of illness, injury, or other reasons. The lucky loser then re-enters the competition, normally in place of the withdrawn competitor.

In the event of a lucky loser's re-entry to a competition, it usually occurs before all competitors in the main draw have started their first match in the tournament.

Lucky losers as tennis tournament winners and finalists

It is rare for a lucky loser to win an ATP or WTA tournament; Heinz Gunthardt did it in 1978 (at Springfield), Bill Scanlon in 1978 (at Maui), Francisco Clavet in 1990 in Hilversum, Christian Miniussi in 1991 in São Paulo, Sergiy Stakhovsky in 2008 in Zagreb, Rajeev Ram in 2009 in Newport, Andrey Rublev in 2017 in Umag, Leonardo Mayer in the following week in 2017 in Hamburg and Marco Cecchinato at the Hungarian Open in 2018. In total, nine men have done it since 1978. Three men's doubles teams have won a tournament as lucky losers.

In March 1980, Kay McDaniel won a WTA minor league title in Atlanta as a lucky loser, but the WTA recognizes Andrea Jaeger as the first lucky loser to win a WTA title, in Las Vegas in 1980. Olga Danilović won a WTA event as a lucky loser in Moscow in 2018, where some sources have claimed she is the first women to win a main tour WTA singles title as a lucky loser. In October 2019, Coco Gauff defeated Jeļena Ostapenko 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz tournament in Austria at the age of 15 to become the third woman to accomplish the feat.

Vitalia Diatchenko joined the list of such winners when triumphing in the inaugural WTA 125K series tournament in Angers in 2021, although this is not regarded as a full WTA title. Not only did she win the title as a Lucky Loser, but she came back from a set and 0-4 down in the second round to defeat Daniela Vismane, the player who had beaten her in the final qualifying round.

Lucky losers who have reached the finals of a tennis tournament and lost include Andreas Haider-Maurer, who reached the final in 2010 Vienna before losing to top-seeded Jürgen Melzer, Marcel Granollers who lost against David Ferrer in 2010 Valencia, and Pablo Cuevas, beaten in the 2019 Estoril Open final by Stefanos Tsitsipas. Cuevas had lost to Salvatore Caruso in the second round of qualifying, but beat him when they met again in the first round proper. On the women's side, Melinda Czink reached the final of the 2005 Canberra International but lost to Ana Ivanovic, who had also defeated Czink in the final round of qualifying. In 2012, Coco Vandeweghe finished runner-up to Serena Williams at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford.

Ethical issues and change in policy in tennis

In tennis, the rule for choosing a player to enter the main draw as a lucky loser is as follows: from all players eliminated in the final round of qualifying, the highest-ranked player in the ATP or WTA rankings is the first one to enter the draw, followed by the second highest-ranked player and so on (if more players withdrew before the start of the tournament). On rare occasions that there are more late withdrawals than losers in the last qualifying rounds or players eligible for lucky losers are not available, a player who lost in the penultimate round of qualifying may enter as lucky loser.

Prior to the 2005 Wimbledon Championships, American player Justin Gimelstob faced George Bastl from Switzerland in the final qualification round. Gimelstob, who was the highest-ranked player remaining in the qualifying tournament, aggravated a chronic back complaint during his second qualification match against Vladimir Voltchkov. Gimelstob planned to withdraw before the match with Bastl, and informed his opponent of his intent. However, officials suggested that Gimelstob play at least one game, as it was almost certain someone would withdraw from the main draw before the tournament started, giving Gimelstob a good chance of getting a berth as a lucky loser (as well as giving him time for his back to recover). Gimelstob did indeed enter the main draw as a lucky loser after the withdrawal of Andre Agassi, reaching the third round, where he lost to Lleyton Hewitt.

While Gimelstob's behavior was not generally considered unethical, it raised concerns by pointing out that any player in a similar position would have little incentive to play a competitive match. For example, a high-ranking player paired against a lower-ranked friend might deliberately lose the match to help his friend gain entry to the tournament, if the first player had already clinched a lucky loser spot. The possibility of bribery was also a concern.

Shortly thereafter, a new policy was introduced in Grand Slam tournaments. Since 2006, a random draw has been held to determine the order in which players enter the Main Draw rather than using rankings. This element of uncertainty helps to ensure that final-round qualifying matches remain competitive.
However, this rule does not apply in all other tournaments.

Association football

After three teams which qualified for the 1950 World Cup withdrew, several teams which had failed to qualify were invited to replace them, but declined.

In qualification for the 1958 World Cup, Israel won the Asia–Africa group without playing a match after their opponents withdrew as part of a mass boycott. FIFA then required Israel to play off against a team drawn from among the other groups' runners-up. Italy and Uruguay declined to enter the draw, while Belgium were selected but withdrew. Ultimately, Wales, who had lost to Czechoslovakia in Group 4 of European qualification, were drawn, defeated Israel and reached the quarter-finals of the tournament.

The 1960–1999 European Cup Winners' Cup was intended for the winners of each UEFA member's domestic knock-out cup competition. However, where a club won the double of both the cup and the round-robin league, they entered the more prestigious European Cup reserved for league champions, with the losing cup finalists entering the Cup Winners' Cup. Five domestic cup runners-up won the Cup Winners' Cup:
Fiorentina ( 1960–61),
Rangers ( 1971–72),
Anderlecht ( 1977–78),
Dinamo Tbilisi ( 1980–81)
and Barcelona ( 1996–97). Similar provisions now apply for the Champions League and Europa League as respective successors to the European Cup and Cup Winners' Cup.

At the 1970 Women's World Cup, West Germany played and lost in two quarter-finals, because travel visa problems prevented Czechoslovakia from attending the tournament in Italy.

The Intercontinental Cup was intended to be contested by the winners of the European Cup and the Copa Libertadores, but on several occasions, the European champions declined to participate and were replaced by the runners-up. Atlético Madrid in 1975 became the only European loser to win the Intercontinental Cup.

Denmark lost to Yugoslavia in Group 4 of the qualifying round for UEFA Euro 1992. When Yugoslavia were suspended by a UN sports boycott owing to the Yugoslav Wars, Denmark replaced them and went on to win the tournament.

Manchester United withdrew from the 1999-2000 FA Cup as their first fixture in the tournament clashed with the 2000 FIFA Club World Championship in Brazil. A lucky loser from the second round ties were selected to take the final place in the third round draw, guaranteed an away tie. Darlington F.C., who were defeated by Gillingham F.C. in the second round, were selected and drawn away to Aston Villa F.C. Villa won the tie 2-1 and went on to reach the final, where they were defeated by Chelsea F.C.

Portugal lost to Russia in qualifying play-offs for UEFA Women's Euro 2022. However, Russia were suspended by FIFA and UEFA on 28 February 2022 due to their country's invasion of Ukraine. As a consequence, Russia were banned from the tournament and Portugal replaced them.

See also

* Bye (sports)
*Wild card (sports)

References

{{Reflist

Sports terminology
Tennis terminology