What Is a Walkover in Tennis? Rules and Examples

A walkover in tennis is awarded when a player advances to the next round because their scheduled opponent withdraws before the match begins. The abbreviation “W/O” appears in draw sheets and results. No balls are hit, no sets played — the advancing player simply moves on. This is distinct from a retirement, which requires at least one point to be played.

Walkover vs Retirement: The Key Distinction

These two terms are frequently confused, but they have a clear technical distinction:

Term	When It Occurs	Abbreviation
Walkover	Before the match starts (no play at all)	W/O
Retirement	During the match (after play has begun)	Ret.
Default	Player disqualified mid-match (code violation, etc.)	Def.

A player who starts warming up but then pulls out before the coin toss or first serve is still considered a walkover situation in most tour regulations. The key threshold is whether any official match play has occurred.

Why Do Walkovers Happen?

Players withdraw before matches for several reasons:

• Injury: A muscle strain or fatigue from a previous match that makes continuing the tournament impossible.
• Illness: A stomach bug, fever, or respiratory illness preventing competition.
• Personal or family emergency: Though rare, players do withdraw for off-court reasons.
• Strategic scheduling: At lower levels and some Challenger events, a player might withdraw if they have insufficient recovery time, though this is less common at Grand Slam level where scheduling is tightly controlled.

Ranking Points and Prize Money

When a player receives a walkover, they earn the ranking points for the round they have reached — the same points they would have earned by winning a played match. Prize money allocation varies by tournament: some tournaments pay the withdrawing player a portion of the round’s prize money (especially with a documented medical withdrawal); others may pay nothing to the withdrawing player beyond what they have already earned in earlier rounds.

The player receiving the walkover earns the full prize money for that round.

Notable Examples of Walkovers

Walkovers occur across all levels of professional tennis. At Grand Slams, a top-seed withdrawal before a second-round match is newsworthy because it affects the draw dynamics significantly — the lucky loser or a qualifier who might have faced a very difficult second-round match suddenly gets a free path into the third round.

High-profile walkovers often occur when a player pushes through pain to complete a match one day and then cannot recover in time for their next scheduled match.

Effect on Statistics

A walkover does not add to a player’s statistical record for that tournament in categories like:

• Aces served
• Double faults
• Winners and unforced errors
• Break points won or saved
• Games and sets played

The match simply does not appear in statistical breakdowns as a played contest. However, it does appear in the win-loss record for ranking purposes.

Walkovers in Doubles

In doubles tennis, a walkover is awarded if either player in a pair withdraws. Doubles walkovers follow the same rules as singles: the match is awarded before it starts, ranking points are distributed, and no match statistics are generated.

Is a Walkover a “Real” Win?

In competitive terms, a walkover is a legitimate advancement and a genuine win in the record books. Players often feel ambivalent about them — they advance without the rhythm-building benefit of match play, which can be a disadvantage in later rounds. Many professionals have said they would prefer to play even when given a walkover, partly because tournament tennis requires sustained match sharpness.

Quick summary: A walkover in tennis (W/O) is awarded before a match begins when an opponent withdraws. It counts as a win for ranking points and prize money but generates no match statistics. It is distinct from a retirement (Ret.), which occurs after play has started, and a default (Def.), which involves disqualification. Walkovers happen most commonly due to injury or illness.