The observation of significantly different athletic performances by groups or individuals with near-identical measurable characteristics may allow for a deeper understanding of how the seemingly unimportant aspects of their profiles may be instrumental in the eventual determination of their success. This work finds, in professional tennis, that individuals who earn entry into the Grand Slam tournaments through the qualification play-in tournament or through selection by the governing body of the tournament ('Wild Cards') perform better than their counterparts who earn their entry through world rankings or as a 'Lucky Loser'. This finding, showing that in matches of essentially equal absolute and relative difficulty - 'Qualifiers' and 'Wild Cards' perform significantly better than other entrants, highlights the important differences in the entry channels themselves that may be leading to outstanding performances. After proposing and testing numerous possible sources of the observed entry channel effect, this work goes on to analyze professional baseball (MLB) and college basketball (NCAA) to find that no such significant relationship is found between entry channel and tournament performance in the team sport environment.