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 on 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.

“Beating Donald Young yesterday, I would take that over this ‘record,’” Polansky said Saturday, making quotation marks with his fingers. “But at the same time, I was thinking, Wow, this could be a fourth lucky loser in a row at a Slam, it was something that’s unheard-of. It was kind of a fun thought to have in the back of my mind, but I was never planning on anything like that.”

Polansky hung around for five hours after his loss to Young, awaiting his fate. Pablo Cuevas had pulled out of the main draw on Thursday to open up one lucky loser spot, and when Jared Donaldson pulled out on Friday afternoon — after Polansky lost — there was suddenly a second.

Polansky rushed to the referee’s office after the final qualifying match had ended to witness the determination of the lucky loser order, knowing he would need to be drawn into one of the first two spots. Tournament officials, aware of what was at stake, let Polansky pull the chips himself.

He picked his own, No. 2, first; next came 1 (Lorenzo Sonego), then 3 (Ruben Bemelmans), then 4 (Nicolas Mahut). Bemelmans and Mahut eventually made it into the main draw too after two more players withdrew.