Lucky Loser: Explaining The Greatest Term In Tennis

Typically you call someone a loser at your own peril.

But in tennis, when a player is told by tournament officials that he is a ‘lucky loser’, those two words are music to his ears.

A lucky loser is a player who lost in the qualifying rounds but later was given passage into the main draw following a player’s withdrawal from the main draw, typically due to illness or injury.

On Sunday, German Jan-Lennard Struff will attempt to become the first lucky loser to win an ATP Masters 1000 title when he plays top seed Carlos Alcaraz in the Mutua Madrid Open final. In the semi-finals, Struff also had the rare satisfaction of avenging his defeat in the final round of qualifying to Aslan Karatsev.

So how does the lucky loser process work?

The timing of a player’s withdrawal from the main draw determines which qualifying losers have the chance to gain entry to the main draw as a lucky loser.

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. If a second main-draw withdrawal occurs after the completion of qualifying, the second slot is awarded to the second highest-ranked loser from the final round of qualifying.

If one 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. 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 two main-draw slots.

After falling to Karatsev in qualifying 11 days ago, Struff has been on a tear, defeating fast-rising American Ben Shelton, Banja Luka champion Dusan Lajovic, Pedro Cachin and fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas before exacting revenge against Karatsev to become the first lucky loser to reach the final at an ATP Masters 1000 event (since 1990). If he beats Carlos Alcaraz and wins his maiden tour-level title on Sunday, the 33-year-old will become the second lucky loser to triumph at a tour-level event this season.

Soonwoo Kwon lost against Tomas Machac in the final round of qualifying in Adelaide in January before he defeated the Czech in the main draw en route to the trophy at the ATP 250.