The world of elite sports is highly demanding, with athletes putting their bodies under immense stress during their training and in competition. 

Professional tennis players are highly conditioned individuals with teams of experts around them to coach them and look after their physical and mental well-being, including advice on avoiding injuries.

Even so, there will inevitably be times when a player is injured seriously enough that they need to withdraw from a competition.

When Matched Betting on the match result of a tennis game, it’s essential to check the retirement rules carefully, to avoid losing money on your bets.

You can then decide whether to back and lay your bet at a betting exchange or if you need to dutch your bet with another bookmaker in the same group.

In this article, we’ll look at why players withdraw from matches, the difference between a walkover and a retirement, how different bookmakers handle tennis retirements, and what to do if you’re using the tennis match result market for Matched Betting.

What Is A Tennis Retirement?

Retirement is often used to describe the time when people choose to stop working. Whilst tennis players retire at the end of their career, this generally isn’t what ‘tennis retirement’ means in the tennis world. 

Tennis retirement is where a player withdraws from a match after it has started. 

The retirement is generally medically related, due to illness or injury. 

Retirement is different from a walkover, when a player withdraws from a match before it starts, meaning their opponent gets a ‘free pass’ to the next round without needing to play a game. 

How Common Is Retirement In Professional Tennis?

The training undergone by professional tennis players is very thorough, leading them to have very well-conditioned bodies.

This, in conjunction with excellent technique, minimises the risk of strains and injuries.

Despite these obvious advantages over recreational tennis players, the sheer volume and intensity of professional matches means that retirements are fairly common. 

The Grand Slam tournaments, comprising the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open, are the most prestigious tennis competitions. 

A study of the rate of retirements and walkovers between 1992 and 2017 showed an upward trend in players withdrawing from ATP Grand Slam events. In 1992, withdrawals affected 2.56% of games. This had gradually increased to 5.51% by 2017. 

Data from all the ATP tournaments and the four Grand Slam tournaments in 2000 revealed that tennis retirements affected 2.1% of matches (around 1 in 50). 

One of Roger Federer’s many impressive career accomplishments is that he never retired from a tennis match, despite playing 1526 games and winning 20 Grand Slam titles.  

Reasons Why Players Withdraw From Matches

A study looked at all 89 United States Tennis Association (USTA) Pro Circuit matches played in 2013.

These were made up of 47 men’s tournaments and 42 women’s tournaments.

It showed that 80% of the withdrawals were due to injury; four times higher than the rate for illness. 

Whilst there’s plenty of crossover, the type of injury leading to a player withdrawing from a match tends to vary depending on the court surface. 

In general, muscle and tendon injuries are very common in tennis. 

Here’s a breakdown of some of the reasons for injuries across the three main surfaces upon which tennis is played. 

Clay

• Longer rallies lead to upper limb injuries due to overuse.

• Overstretching due to sliding and direction changes can lead to groin and adductor muscle injuries.
  

Grass 

• Muscle strains of gluteals, quadriceps and hamstrings caused by overstretching from slipping on the grass are common. 

• Low back injuries can be caused by bending the knees or hips to reach the ball. 

• Sudden stopping and the relatively low ball bounce can lead to anterior knee pain (at the front of the knee).
  

• Achilles tendon issues can occur due to sliding and the low bounce.

• The increased amount of volleying can lead to wrist injuries. 

Hard

• A lack of shock absorption by the surface can lead to low back and knee injuries. 
• Blisters on the foot are common, as are other forms of foot pain. 

Even the very best tennis players, with the best training and equipment, sometimes retire for seemingly unlikely reasons. Jannik Sinner, currently ranked number 1 in the ATP rankings, withdrew from a 2022 Miami Open match against Francisco Cerundolo due to blisters causing movement to be very difficult.  

Why Tennis Retirement Rules Are Important For Bettors

Bookmakers and exchanges have their own rules for dealing with tennis retirements, and these have the potential to affect your bets. 

If you're Matched Betting using the tennis match result (betting on the winner of the game), it’s vital to take care with the tennis retirement rules for a particular bookmaker.

The issue is that the different retirement rules could lead to you lose money on your Matched Bet.

There are three main tennis retirement rules groups, which we’ll look at in the next section. 

The differing rules mean it’s important to only back and lay your match result bets if the bookmaker you’re betting with is in the same group as the exchange you’re laying on.

All exchanges are in the same group, which we’ll call Type 1. 

If your bookmaker is in a different group to the exchanges, you’ll need to dutch your match result bets with another bookmaker in the same group. 

Dutching involves placing multiple back bets to cover all outcomes. When betting on the tennis match result, you dutch your bets by backing one player/pair with one bookmaker and the other player/pair with another bookmaker. 

What Are The Tennis Retirement Groups?

When Matched Betting on the match result market, you should carefully check the tennis retirement rules for your bookmaker so you know if you can back and lay your bets or if you’ll need to dutch with another bookmaker in the same group. 

This section includes the tennis retirement rules for a large number of different bookmakers and the four betting exchanges.

Links to the retirement rules for the bookmakers and exchanges are included. 

Bear in mind that the rules are subject to change at any time. If you’re unsure of the rules, you should always check for yourself.

The rules below are correct as of the writing of this article. 

Tennis Rules Type 1

Bets are valid if one set is completed.

With this category, all bets are valid if at least one set is completed in the match. All of the exchanges fall into this category, so if you're backing a tennis bet with one of the bookies in this group, you can safely lay your bet on one of the exchanges.

Tennis Rules Type 2a

Bets are only valid if the full match is completed.

In this category, bets are only valid if the full match is completed. If a player retires early, all bets are void. There are no exchanges in this category, so you should not lay bets off against bookies in this category. Instead, you would need to dutch your bets between bookies in this group.

Tennis Rules Type 2b

Bets are only valid if the full match is completed, however matches do not need to be complete if a player is disqualified.

In this category, bets are only valid if the full match is completed. If a player retires early, all bets are void.

There are no exchanges in this category, so you should not lay bets off against bookies in this category.

Instead, you would need to dutch your bets between bookies in this group. The difference here is that if a player is disqualified, all bets will be settled on the player progressing to the next round/deemed the winner.

Disqualification is incredibly rare (9 players have been disqualified since 1990).

If you're prepared to take the small risk then you can dutch this group with group 2a. In the event of a disqualification, you will have one losing bet and one void bet.

These rules can change at any time so it’s important to double-check the rules yourself. 

Summary

At a professional level, tennis puts great physical demands on players.

It’s no surprise that despite their high levels of conditioning there will be occasions when injury or illness leads them to withdraw from a match. 

If a player withdraws from a match after it’s started, this is known as a retirement. 

When betting on the match result of a tennis match whilst Matched Betting, it’s vital to check the tennis retirement rules for the bookmakers, so you know whether you can safely back and lay your bet, or if you need to dutch your bet with another bookmaker in the same group. 

If the bookmaker uses Type 1 rules, you’re fine to lay your bet at any exchange. 

For bookmakers that use Type 2a or 2b rules, you’ll need to dutch your bet with another bookmaker in the same group, by backing one player/pair with one bookmaker and backing the other player/pair with the other.