What Is A Walkover In Tennis Betting?

The world of sport (and of sports betting) is chock full of highly specific, niche terminology, and tennis is no different. If you have a casual interest in tennis - or just a casual interest in betting on tennis - you might have heard any number of terms tossed around by tennis aficionados or commentators and felt completely baffled by them.

In this article, we’ll tackle the term ‘walkover’ - exactly what it means (and what it doesn’t mean), where it comes from, and the consequences a walkover can have on your tennis betting.

What Does A ‘Walkover’ Mean?

If a tennis match is a ‘walkover’, it means that one player has pulled out before the start of the match - specifically, before the first serve of the first game is struck. Even if a player pulls out during the pre-match warm-up, therefore, the match would be considered a walkover, as play itself hasn’t begun, even if the players are both on court.

As a result of a walkover, the opposing player effectively gets a free pass to the next round, without having to play a single point.

It’s a simple enough concept, but there are some specific regulations surrounding what is counted as a walkover, especially because it can have consequences for a player’s rank and prize money, which is of course of huge significance to their career.

More generally, people often use the word ‘walkover’ to mean any extremely one-sided contest, where one term or player is almost certain to win - to the extent that their opponents might as well have not bothered turning up. This is, however, very different to a technical walkover in tennis, so it’s important not to mix them up.

Types Of Walkover

The ATP (The Association of Tennis Professionals) defines a walkover as follows:

Walkover: Match did not begin because:

a) losing player was ill or injured or

b) losing player was subjected to penalties of Code of Conduct before first serve of match was struck or otherwise not permitted by ATP or tournament Supervisor to play.

Source: 2024 ATP Official Rulebook

There are therefore two main types of walkover acknowledged within tennis:

1. The player withdraws voluntarily, usually due to illness or injury. Occasionally, a player may also withdraw due to personal circumstances (for example, serious illness or death of a family member).

2. The player is not permitted to compete as a result of Code of Conduct violations, and so withdraws involuntarily.

The second type is, of course, very much rarer than the first, but it’s useful to be aware that this situation can occur, and would still be considered a walkover.

Where Does The Term ‘Walkover’ Come From?

There have been some contradictory claims regarding the origin of the term ‘walkover’, but dictionaries agree that the term originates in horse racing, and dates from the early 19th century.

It was much more common in the past for large numbers of horses to pull out of a race before it began, due to the fact that there was often no guarantee of any prize money for second or third place, only for the winner. In races where an owner might deem their horse to have little chance of winning, they would often withdraw their horse, rather than wasting its energy and risking injury on a race it was almost certain to lose.

As a result, it was not uncommon in races with a clear favourite for no horse but the favourite to be left by the start of the race. In that event, the remaining horse would still have to at least walk over the racecourse to be considered to have won the race - and this happened frequently enough for the dedicated term ‘walkover’ to come into use. The 18th century racehorse Eclipse, for example, was so dominant that around half of his eighteen wins were walkovers, as no other horse could hope to match him.

What’s The Difference Between A Walkover And Retirement, Withdrawal Or Default?

Retirement

The crucial difference between a walkover and a retirement from a match is that a walkover can only happen before a match begins. If a player becomes ill or is injured once a match has begun, and has to forfeit the match as a result, it would be counted as a retirement, and not as a walkover.

Withdrawal

Although the terms ‘walkover’ and ‘withdrawal’ are sometimes used interchangeably, ‘withdrawal’ also has a specific meaning in tennis. A withdrawal occurs when a player pulls out ahead of an entire tournament, rather than just a match within that tournament.

While this may sound like a pretty much identical situation to a walkover, because a withdrawal occurs before the entire tournament has started, another player will be able to take their place. This will generally be one who had been knocked out during the qualifying rounds, and so is known as a ‘lucky loser’, as they lost a qualifying match yet were still lucky enough to receive a spot in the main tournament.

Default

More rarely, a player may be obliged to ‘default’ on a match. A default occurs when the tournament supervisor, in conjunction with the umpire, decides that a player’s Code of Conduct violations have been so severe or so numerous as to justify their removal from the match.

One famous case of a default was during the 2020 US Open, when Novak Djokovic was defaulted due to hitting a ball in frustration, which struck a line judge in the throat. Although he hadn’t intended to hit the line judge, the fact that he had hit the ball in anger and that it caused injury to the line judge was enough to disqualify him from the US Open, lose him the ranking points he had earned during the tournament, and require him to pay a $250,000 fine.

Occasionally, all four of these terms can be confused, often by prominent websites, but they all have specific meanings and refer to separate, distinct situations.

What Effect Will A Walkover Have On A Tennis Bet?

Betting sites don’t always stick to the same rules when it comes to tennis betting, so it’s important to double check on the exact terms a betting site follows when placing tennis bets. Our full breakdown of tennis retirement rules for betting takes you through all the nitty gritty details, but we’ll stick to rules regarding walkovers here.

In most cases, in the event of a walkover, all bets placed on that match will be considered void, and the bettors will receive a refund of their stake. If you’re making money by Matched Betting, you may therefore need to place a new bet to replace the voided bet, to ensure you still make your expected profit.

If your bet has been placed on the overall winner of an entire tournament, however, it will still be valid even if your player advances to the next round as the result of a walkover. In this particular situation, a walkover works as a free pass for you just as much as for the player.

Notable Examples Of Walkovers

Although walkovers aren’t hugely common, they do happen regularly, especially because tennis players can be injured relatively frequently in the course of a tournament.

We’ve collated some of the most notable and significant examples in recent years below.

• Wimbledon 2024

Novak Djokovic received a walkover into the semi-finals of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships after his quarter-final opponent, Alex de Minaur, was forced to withdraw due to an injury to his hip sustained in the closing minutes of his previous match.

Djokovic consequently enjoyed a particularly easy run and an extra day off, which he no doubt appreciated having had knee surgery just three weeks before the start of the tournament. In spite of this piece of good luck, although he sailed through his semi-final against Lorenzo Musetti, he was defeated by Carlos Alcaraz in the final.

• French Open 2021

In a case that caused widespread controversy at the time, Naomi Osaka famously refused to attend any media interviews during the French Open in 2021. She had stated in advance that she would skip the customary interviews, as they contributed to her struggles with anxiety.

Players are, however, bound by tournament rules to perform media interviews - and neither tournament organisers nor the media were willing to allow her to escape her obligations, in case other players decided to follow her example.

After skipping an interview following her first round win, she was fined $15,000 by the French Open, and warned that continuing to refuse to speak to the press could result in her expulsion from the tournament.

Osaka responded by withdrawing from the French Open altogether. She stated that she didn’t want to become a distraction, and that she felt the best thing to do was to leave the tournament so that she could focus on her own well-being, and so that the media and other players could focus on the tennis.

• ATP Finals 2014

It’s incredibly unusual for a walkover to occur in the finals of an event - after all, the finals are what a player has been working towards for the entire tournament (or even their entire career), and many players would probably decide to play even with an injury rather than pull out of such a high profile match.

However, in 2014 Roger Federer did just that. After defeating Stan Wawrinka in three sets in the semi-finals, his persistent back issues were simply too pressing to be ignored. With less than an hour to go before the match’s scheduled start, he withdrew from the highly-anticipated final against Novak Djokovic, announcing his decision to a surprisingly understanding crowd at the O2 Arena.

It marked the first time in the 45 year history of the ATP Tournament that the final was decided by a walkover. Fortunately for the crowd, in place of the final, Djokovic played an exhibition match against Andy Murray, who followed it up by playing doubles with John McEnroe against Pat Cash and Tim Henman.

Summary

Because walkovers often attract a lot of press attention, especially during grand slam tournaments, they can give the impression of happening comparatively frequently. Overall, however, less than 1% of matches are won by walkover - a negligible percentage in the grand scheme of things.

For a bettor the most important thing to be aware of is that a walkover will, as a rule, result in a void bet, and a refund of your stake. You therefore shouldn’t lose any money as a result of a walkover - but, conversely, you won’t make any money either.