Alucky loser is a sports competitor (player or team) who loses a match in aknockout tournament or loses in qualifying, but who then enters the main draw. This can occur when another competitor withdraws during the tournament because of illness, injury, or other reasons, in which case the lucky loser re-enters the competition in place of the withdrawn competitor, or due to the structure of the tournament.
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.
It is rare for a lucky loser to win anATP orWTA Tour tournament;Heinz Gunthardt did it in 1978 (at Springfield),Bill Scanlon in 1978 (at Maui),[1]Francisco Clavet in 1990 inHilversum,Christian Miniussi in 1991 inSão Paulo,Sergiy Stakhovsky in 2008 inZagreb,Rajeev Ram in 2009 inNewport,Andrey Rublev in 2017 inUmag,Leonardo Mayer in the following week in 2017 inHamburg,Marco Cecchinato at theHungarian Open in 2018, andKwon Soon-Woo at the2023 Adelaide International 2.[2] In total, ten men have done it since 1978.
In May 2023,Jan-Lennard Struff became the first lucky loser to reach a final of anATP Masters 1000 event, at the2023 Mutua Madrid Open.[3] Three men's doubles teams have won a tournament as lucky losers.[4]
In March 1980,Kay McDaniel won a WTA minor league title in Atlanta as a lucky loser,[5] but the WTA recognizesAndrea Jaeger as the first lucky loser to win a WTA title, in Las Vegas in 1980.[6]
In 2018,Olga Danilović won a WTA Tour event as a lucky loser inMoscow in 2018, where some sources have claimed she is the first woman to win a main tour WTA singles title as a lucky loser.[7]
In October 2019,Coco Gauff defeatedJeļena Ostapenko 6–3, 1–6, 6–2 at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz tournament at the age of 15 to become the third woman to accomplish the feat.[8]
The next to do so wasMaria Timofeeva, who won the title at the2023 Hungarian Grand Prix. She defeatedKateryna Baindl in the final, after losing toAnna Sisková in the final qualifying round. Not only was she a lucky loser, it was also her first main-draw appearance in a WTA tournament. She became the first player to win on debut sinceAngelique Widjaja in 2001.[9]Just two weeks after Timofeeva's triumph in Budapest,Nao Hibino became the fifth woman to win a WTA title as a lucky loser, defeatingLinda Nosková in the final of thePrague Open.[10] And it was only three more weeks before yet another lucky loser triumphed, this one beingSara Sorribes Tormo at theTennis in the Land tournament in Cleveland, Ohio.[11]
Vitalia Diatchenko joined the list of such winners when triumphing in the inaugural WTA 125 series tournament inAngers 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 defeatDaniela Vismane, the player who had beaten her in the final qualifying round.[12]
Lucky losers who have reached the finals of a tennis tournament and lost includeAndreas Haider-Maurer, who reached the final in 2010Vienna before losing to top-seededJürgen Melzer,Marcel Granollers who lost againstDavid Ferrer in 2010 Valencia, andPablo Cuevas, beaten in the2019 Estoril Open final byStefanos Tsitsipas. Cuevas had lost toSalvatore 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 2005Canberra International but lost toAna Ivanovic, who had also defeated Czink in the final round of qualifying.[13] In 2012,CoCo Vandeweghe finished runner-up to Serena Williams at the Stanford Classic. In 2021,Jaqueline Cristian finished runner-up toAlison Riske Amritraj at the WTA event in Linz.
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 theATP orWTA 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 the2005 Wimbledon Championships, American playerJustin Gimelstob facedGeorge 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 againstVladimir 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).[14] Gimelstob did indeed enter the main draw as a lucky loser after the withdrawal ofAndre Agassi, reaching the third round, where he lost toLleyton 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 inGrand Slam tournaments to help prevent this potential problem. If a main-draw withdrawal occurs after the completion of qualifying, then the highest-ranked player who lost in the final round of qualifying moves into the main draw as a lucky loser. Similarly, if a second main-draw withdrawal occurs after the completion of qualifying, this slot is awarded to the second highest-ranked loser from the final round of qualifying. This same method of choosing would continue if there are further main-draw withdrawals in the tournament. However, if a main-draw withdrawal occurs before the completion of qualifying, then the two highest-ranked losers in the final round of qualifying go into a random draw for the main-draw spot. Similarly, if two main-draw withdrawals occur before the completion of qualifying, then the three highest-ranked losers in the final round of qualifying go into a random draw for the two main-draw slots.[15]
After three teams whichqualified for the 1950 World Cup withdrew, several teams which had failed to qualify were invited to replace them, but declined.
Inqualification for the 1958 World Cup,Israel won the Asia–Africa group without playing a match after their opponents withdrew as part ofa mass boycott. FIFA thenrequired Israel to play off against a team drawn from among the other groups' runners-up.Italy andUruguay declined to enter the draw, whileBelgium were selected but withdrew. Ultimately, Wales, who had lost toCzechoslovakia inGroup 4 of European qualification, were drawn, defeated Israel and reached the quarter-finals of the tournament.[16]
The 1960–1999UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was intended for the winners of eachUEFA member's domesticknock-out cup competition. However, where a club wonthe double of both the cup and theround-robin league, they entered the more prestigiousEuropean 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), andBarcelona (1996–97).[17] Similar provisions now apply for theChampions League andEuropa League as respective successors to the European Cup and Cup Winners' Cup.
At the1970 Women's World Cup,West Germany played and lost in two quarter-finals, because travel visa problems preventedCzechoslovakia from attending the tournament in Italy.
TheIntercontinental Cup was intended to be contested by the winners of the European Cup and theCopa 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.[17]
Denmark lost toYugoslavia ingroup 4 of the qualifying round forUEFA Euro 1992. When Yugoslavia were suspended by aUN sports boycott owing to theYugoslav Wars, Denmark replaced them and went on to win the tournament.[17]
Manchester United withdrew from the1999–2000 FA Cup as their first fixture in the tournament clashed with the2000 FIFA Club World Championship in Brazil.[18] A lucky loser from the second round ties were selected to take the final place in the third round draw, guaranteed an away tie.[19]Darlington, who had been defeated byGillingham in the second round, were selected and drawn away toAston Villa. Villa won the tie 2–1[20] and went on to reach the final, where they were defeated byChelsea.[21]
Mamelodi Sundowns won the2016 CAF Champions League despite losing toAS Vita Club in the second qualifying round, which originally sent the team down to the2016 CAF Confederation Cup. They were reinstated to the Champions League after losing the Confederation Cup play-off as Vita Club was found guilty of fielding an ineligible player in their preliminary round tie againstMafunzo and was disqualified, henceforth nullifying the second qualifying round and Mamelodi was the winner by forfeit.
Portugal lost toRussia inqualifying play-offs forUEFA Women's Euro 2022. However, Russia were suspended by FIFA and UEFA on 28 February 2022 due to their country'sinvasion of Ukraine. As a consequence, Russia were banned from the tournament and Portugal replaced them.
NCAA Division I men'scollege basketball teams compete to earn a place in anannual tournament to determine that season's champion. Teams may qualify for the tournament by earning anautomatic bid as the champion or other designated representative of theirconference or by being selectedat-large by acommittee.
In general, each conference conducts a tournament at the conclusion of its regular season to determine which team gets its automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Each conference determines its own format for its tournament, including how many of its teams participate and how match-ups are determined. Some conferences have member teams that are not eligible for the NCAA tournament due to either being in transition to Division I or sanctions as a result of rules violations. While some conferences exclude such teams from the conference tournament, others do not. A team in transition to Division I is generally not eligible for the NCAA tournament during its first four years as a Division I team. Some conferences exclude teams from the conference tournament for part, but not all, of the transition period.
If a conference allows ineligible teams to participate in its tournament, it must have a system in place to determine to which team the automatic bid will be awarded, should an ineligible team win the conference tournament. In 2023, six of the 32 Division I conferences allowed some or all of their ineligible teams to participate in the conference tournament. Five of these placed no restriction on participation; one, theNortheast Conference, allowed teams in their third and fourth years of transition to participate.
The rules used to determine the automatic bid for conferences allowing ineligible teams to participate in 2023 conference tournaments were as follows:
Since many teams are selected for the NCAA tournament despite losing in their conference tournament, and it is not uncommon for them to win the NCAA tournament, not every such team can be branded a lucky loser. However, many conferences are regarded as weaker and will clearly have only one team representing each of them at the NCAA tournament. Further, the seeding of a team that receives an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament implicitly confirms or disproves the team would have received an at-large bid. Therefore, a team that qualifies for the NCAA tournament despite losing in its conference tournament and clearly would not have received an at-large bid has characteristics typical of a lucky loser.
In 2022, theBellarmine Knights won theASUN Tournament but were ineligible for theNCAA tournament, because they were in the second year of their four-year transition period fromDivision II. TheJacksonville State Gamecocks, who lost in the ASUN tournament semifinals, were awarded the conference's automatic bid, because they were the conference's regular-season champions.[28] The Gamecocks lost their first-round game in the NCAA tournament toAuburn, 80–61.[29]
TheMerrimack Warriors were ineligible for the2023 NCAA tournament, because they were just a few months away from completing the mandated four-year reclassification process from Division II to Division I. Merrimack's victory in the semifinals of the conference tournament was completed before the second semifinal between theFairleigh Dickinson Knights and theSaint Francis Red Flash began,[30] which meant both teams knew that the winner of their semifinal game would get the automatic bid. The Knights defeated the Red Flash, 70–50, to earn the automatic bid.[31] Three days later, Fairleigh Dickinson became a lucky loser, when it lost the NEC tournament championship game to Merrimack, 67–66.[32] Fairleigh Dickinson went on to defeat theTexas Southern Tigers, 84–61, in aFirst Four contest on March 15,[33][34] before its63–58 upset of thePurdue Boilermakers atNationwide Arena two days later, to become the second-everunderdog to win a #1 vs. #16 match.[35][36] Fairleigh Dickinson was eliminated from the NCAA tournament with a 78–70 loss to theFlorida Atlantic Owls in the second round on March 19.[37]
Because conferences do not determine which team gets their automatic bid the same way, a lucky loser college basketball team may qualify for the NCAA tournament either before or after it loses in its conference tournament. In the 2022 ASUN tournament, when Jacksonville State, the 2022 ASUN regular-season champion, lost its semifinal game, Bellarmine had already defeated Liberty in the other semifinal. Therefore, Jacksonville State had an opportunity to become a lucky loser, if Bellarmine (which was ineligible) were to defeatJacksonville in the ASUN tournament final, because the ASUN gives its automatic bid to the regular-season champion, if the tournament champion is ineligible. Had Bellarmine lost the ASUN tournament final, Jacksonville would have earned the ASUN's automatic bid.
In contrast, the Northeast Conference gives the automatic bid to its tournament runner-up, if the tournament winner is ineligible. Since Merrimack was ineligible in 2023, and had already won its semifinal game to reach the tournament final before the second semifinal between Fairleigh Dickinson and Saint Francis (PA) began, those two teams were assured of the automatic bid with a semifinal victory. Since Fairleigh Dickinson's loss in the Northeast Conference tournament came after it had secured a berth in the NCAA tournament, its lucky loser status was acquired in a game in which it could not be eliminated.
Inbeach volleyball at the Summer Olympics, the tournaments are structured such that wild card rounds are required for the number of teams in the final rounds to be apower of two. under the rules used for the2020 and2024 Summer Olympics, 24 teams compete in around-robin tournament in six pools of four teams each. The first- and second-place teams from each pool advance to the eighthfinalround of 16, while the third-place teams from each pool compete in a playoff to fill the remaining 4 spots.[38]
TheFour Hills Tournament events follow a knock-out system first introduced for the 1996–97 season. Unlike most ski jumping events where the best 30 out of 50 competitors in the first round qualify for the second round, the 50 competitors are divided into 25 pairs. All 25 winners of these duels plus the five best "lucky losers" qualify for the second round.
