‘Luckiest loser’ has lost 7 times this year in Grand Slams.
NEW YORK — Sitting in the lobby of a Manhattan hotel, Peter Polansky was struggling with the attention generated by his record-setting year at the Grand Slam events.
“I had to turn notifications off for Twitter,” he said. “It was kind of annoying, actually. I can see now how the celebs have it.”
Polansky was joking, of course; even he knows he is still more of a curiosity than a celebrity, despite his year of remarkable resilience. Four times this year Polansky lost in the final round of qualifying for a Grand Slam event, and four times he was able to enter anyway, drawn to a replace a latewithdrawing player.
He thus completed the first calendaryear Grand Slam of being a lucky loser. Not that he wanted any part of the feat.
“You don’t want to take that risk of losing in qualies — it doesn’t make any sense,” Polansky said. “You always want to get through on your own.”
Polansky, 30, will have been eliminated from a Grand Slam singles draw eight times this year, double what most players manage.
“It’s not the best accomplishment,” he said. “But it’s something that I think is super fun. I don’t think it will ever happen again. I feel like I could be a question on Jeopardy! or something.”
There was more to Polansky’s feat than just luck or losing, however. This year, he also had to manage a run of relentlessly middling performances: results that were good enough to be one of the highest seeds in qualifying but not good enough to grant him direct entry into the draw.
Four times he advanced through two qualifying rounds, which are some of the most pressure-packed weeks of the year, only to lose in the third. And each time that happened, Polansky needed a player to withdraw, and for his ranking to be high enough to secure a spot in the lucky loser draw.
So when he lost in his final qualifying match once again Friday, falling by 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 to Donald Young, the stage was set for Polansky to complete his regrettable but remarkable sweep.