Despite a loss in qualifying, Canada’s Frank Dancevic is a lucky loser at Wimbledon

ROEHAMPTON, London – The day started off poorly for Canadian Frank Dancevic, as he was eliminated from Wimbledon qualifying by the same man, Jimmy Wang, who knocked him out a year ago.

But then, some good news: after some late withdrawals from the men's singles, four lucky losers – players who reached the final round of qualifying but didn't win – would be allotted spots in the main draw.

And Dancevic was one of them.

Highlights of Dancevic's loss in Wimbledon qualifying Thursday.

"I knew I had a good chance; there were four lucky losers out of six (possible) guys. And I was the first pick. I ran out of the office fist-pumping, yelling 'C'MON!!!!!" Dancevic said.

Another lucky loser, Malek Jaziri of Tunisia, was with Dancevic when the names were

announced, and he was pretty excited, too. "We were hugging each other outside, rolling around on the grass," Dancevic said.

Yes, he was joking. Probably.

The procedure for lucky losers used to be that the highest-ranked player losing in the final round would be first in line for the lucky loser's spot, and then the next-highest, and so on. But sometimes, players already know before they play that final-round match that someone has withdrawn, and that they will get in regardless.

So to avoid players not giving full effort in those matches, Grand Slam tournaments now take the four highest-ranked players and draw them randomly to establish a priority list. Because there were four spots available this time, not the usual one or two, they added two more names to that list. Out of the six, Dancevic's name was picked first.

It was a great break, because Dancevic had feared the worst before his match with Wang, a 29-year-old from Chinese Taipei currently ranked No. 148 who, despite a standout junior career, never reached higher than No. 85 in the rankings (and that was back in 2006).

Dancevic said the court he was assigned, one of only two on the upper level of the Bank of England complex (and an actual real, permanent grass court, not a temporary one laid out on the rugby field) was much slower than the others.

"I went to practice up there this morning and it was SUPER slow. Oh, God. That was a huge disadvantage for me," Dancevic said. "But everything ended up working out."

Dancevic is staying in a bed and breakfast in Wimbledon village. Despite the main-draw slot, and the guaranteed prize money that goes with it (£25,000 - or $46,090.45 Canadian at today's exchange rate), he may not make a change.

Considering he came in Sunday after winning a clay-court Challenger in Kosice, Slovakia, and had to turned around and play on grass on Monday, it's a terrific outcome. "I was completely out of it Monday; luckily I got somebody (Victor Crivoi of Romania) who wasn’t a grass-court player because I struggled," Dancevic said. "I slowly worked my way through, and got lucky today."