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Do you believe in luck in tennis?

  • Yes. Some players are extremely lucky.

    Votes: 32 80.0%
  • No.

    Votes: 8 20.0%

Do you believe in luck in tennis?

3K views 54 replies 38 participants last post by  Puschkin 
#1 ·
Few posts between me and duong today caused me to open this one.

We can very often read or write ourselves that some player is lucky/unlucky. But apart from jokes and obvious trolling - do you believe in luck in tennis (let speak only about this beautiful game ;))? If yes, then in what it occurs?

Personally I don`t believe in luck when if we mean easy/"lucky" draws, bad days for opponents on regular basis, stable chokes and so on. Everyone deserves his own luck, as simple as that.

What do you think?
 
#3 ·
Luck is always equal to 0 in the long run. The main question - how long should the run be to get down to zero.

In tennis, imo luck counts a lot. And indeed it's mostly about the draws.

A few first round losses against bad draw top players could affect your confidence and get you in a whirlpool of bad decisions for your program, additional losses to lower ranked players and waste a big chunk of your season.

Of course, when you get 32 it won't matter anymore as you would have had enough chances to develop the way yu did and got the results you got, but in a matter of half a season, one season, sometimes more - luck could be the main reason for a great or horrible run.
 
#6 ·
Luck is always equal to 0 in the long run. The main question - how long should the run be to get down to zero.

In tennis, imo luck counts a lot. And indeed it's mostly about the draws.

A few first round losses against bad draw top players could affect your confidence and get you in a whirlpool of bad decisions for your program, additional losses to lower ranked players and waste a big chunk of your season.

Of course, when you get 32 it won't matter anymore as you would have had enough chances to develop the way yu did and got the results you got, but in a matter of half a season, one season, sometimes more - luck could be the main reason for a great or horrible run.
:worship: I should have written it. Point, set, maybe match can be won due to favourable circumstances, but "luck" is going the same ways "bad luck" does, you can`t hide.
 
#4 ·
Of course. My favourite players never have it and the players I dislike/hate have nothing but it. :shrug:
 
#32 ·
Of course. My favourite player never have it and the players I dislike/hate have nothing but it. :shrug:
:haha::haha::haha::haha::haha:
 
#7 ·
On this message board, people frequently blame luck for the accomplishments of players that they hate. Luck is used to diminish certain players' well-earned accomplishments.

That being said, sometimes things happen that are very fortunate for a player, like a crucial point being decided by a net cord.
 
#8 ·
There is luck, but it favors a random person each time. Naturally, after multiple lucky 'incidents', some players will be favored more than others.
But each player's chances of getting lucky at a given moment are absolutely equal. If Player A had 10 lucky net cords so far and Player B had none, they both have an equal chance of 50% to get the next let cord.

Is that what you meant?
 
#9 ·
Duong compared Gasquet`s and Almagro`s seasons and saying that Almagro to his mind deserved it (Top-10 year-end) more, because as one of the reasons Gasquet was more "lucky". I don`t agree as a year, IMO, where players take part in many tournaments and play dozens matches is enough to nullify any "luck".

I like the first latso`s passage here, it`s all about run. I guess maybe during one tournament you can say that player was lucky/unlucky, but more...

For example, Murray lost 3 last matches from mps. Was he unlucky? Maybe after one I could agree, but 3 - looks to be not coincidence or randomness. :shrug: Though this topic isn`t about some very situation, bit luck overall in relatively long run and how everyone understands this word speaking about tennis.
 
#10 ·
Of course luck has a lot to do with it. A lot more than we dare admit, most of the times. And we have had so many situations in tennis showing us that. Obviously, as a fan, I mostly remember situations where Nole was lucky or unlucky.

USO 2007 final against Roger, 1st set, we had set points. He lost one set point because one of his shots was 1mm out. Had he won that set, the result might have been very different.

USO 2011, SF vs Roger, those MPs he defended. The first one, that return of serve, as awesome as the shot is in itself, it was still incredibly lucky. One shot, he approaches the ball 10 milliseconds later, the ball hits the racket 1 cm up or down, and it would be one less slam in his career.

Luck has a huge part in everything, not just tennis.
 
#11 ·
I don't believe in someone having 'the force' for a certain match. Like Janowicz this week for example, or Rosol. I think they were so motivated and 'in the zone' that they were going to succeed. I think it's lazy to call it luck.

However I do believe in luck in individual points, like net chords, mis-hits etc.
 
#15 ·
Roddick has been unlucky practically his entire career.
 
#16 ·
of course luck plays a role in anything in life. and luck just as in, sometimes life works out even when it shouldn't, or things happen you wouldn't expect, etc. for example if a tennis player mishits their stroke and the ball looks like it's going to net and it just barely hits the chord and rolls over, winning them the point, then that is luck. and often in instances like that, the luck helps give that player momentum and frustrate their opponent...

weather conditions can be considered lucky/favorable for players, etc, how draws unfold, on and on...

luck plays a part in life and certainly in tennis. but the reality is that players do not get lucky all the time, and very great champions in a way create their own luck because regardless of circumstances or happenings they find a way to win. certainly luck has helped players at small moments though
 
#17 ·
A formerly considerable junior tennis player and old friend of mine once told me "There's no such thing as luck in tennis, only percentages." Since then, I've always thought back to that adage as it relates to this sport.

Luck is what we ascribe to certain miniscule and sometimes "uncontrollable" factors that might contribute to a given outcome. If we look close enough, everything has causation that might otherwise be perceived as "luck". The concept is universal, meaning it applies to everyone, and in some sense, it could be a factor of every thing (that happens in tennis, at least) as well. Because of its broad application, I tend to think it's negligible.

In the end, players usually have the greatest say in what happens, be it in a match or their career.
 
#18 ·
Ask Murray and the wind... Luck even gave him a GS when he was completely scared to win it.
 
#21 ·
I would agree that the conditions alligned and so did his draw but he certainly fought and did a lot of things to make it happen too. that's a mixed bag there, Murray/US Open
 
#22 ·
Of course. Mugerer winning the French Open at the only time Nadal was mysteriously absent, and then winning Wimbledon in 2012 at the only time Nadal was absent.

Oh wait...this topic is about luck? My bad. I thought it was about match rigging and legacy-making by the ATP.
 
#26 ·
WoW guys ..... please ..... sense yourselves !
OF course there is LUCK !
THE exact moment when the ball leaves the racket and begins it's trajectory you had given some EXACT properties to the ball (spin,pace,placement) these properties CHANGE at A DIFFERENT RATE EVERYTIME and that is cause of RANDOM FACTORs which are not constant EVEN THE ATMOSPHERE PRESSURE is changing CONSTANTLY the temperature too there is no place on earth where there is absolutely no WIND at ALL !!!(oh gosh i feel like here are persons that doesn't know in what a world we live in and i'm 17 talking about IQ ... ) SINCE you can't CHANGE THOSE variables hence it's luck! THE MOMENT when the ball leaves the racket everything from there on till the next contact with the opponents racket is luck !
THERE are no two opinions about this clearly ... guys sort yourself up ... :eek: just as i thought that humanity is slowing it's degrading levels i prove myself wrong ...
 
#30 ·
No, but I believe in Warlucq :cool:
 
#33 ·
Hell yeah.Some players are so lucky that it's disgusting.Certain player has been so lucky that you have to wonder did he sell his soul to the devil.
 
#36 ·
There is certainly luck to SOME degree but I never feel a particular situation is either no luck or entirely luck.. Because take a netcord ball that lands short for a winner as a scenario. Many people will instantly say "what luck" but remember, there are so many factors involved. Perhaps the player hitting the ball really had to chase for the shot to begin with, which certainly isn't luck. The player could have hit the ball a tad bit lower and the ball would have just stopped dead at the net rather than trickle over the tape, so that isn't really luck. He could have played the right amount of spin for the ball to crawl over the net, that isn't really luck either. I could go on but you get my point. Yes, there are many "lucky" events that happen to a player, but if you look at those situations objective, you can point out many things the player to get to that event during a point which wouldn't be attributed to luck.

Of course might just be verbiage, but I always prefer the term "fortunate" rather than "luck" for tennis. Luck has a kind of negative connotation to me, and implies that "luck" created the whole situation while having some "fortune" seems to me to add to a player's scenario rather.



This isn't the biblical times. Go spew your usual stupidity and hatred elsewhere.

Of course. Mugerer winning the French Open at the only time Nadal was mysteriously absent, and then winning Wimbledon in 2012 at the only time Nadal was absent.

Oh wait...this topic is about luck? My bad. I thought it was about match rigging and legacy-making by the ATP.
So the ATP pay these players like Djokovic and Nadal to let Federer have the glory? Interesting.
 
#44 ·
Noserer has been the luckiest player of all time, closely followed by Mugray. RG2009/USO2012 were easily 2 of the biggest cases of luck in the open era.
 
#45 ·
Facts can't be denied, whether you like 'em or not.
 
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