What Is A Walkover In Tennis? (All You Need To Know)

Tennis is a sport of many rules and unusual words that you can’t understand without knowing their meaning. Today, you’re going to learn what the famous walkover is, among other things, as they are seen frequently with the game left unplayed.

A walkover is when a tennis player decides not to play with less than 24 hours to the game because of an injury, sickness, or personal emergency. An administrative error such as giving a player the wrong time to start the match and being late more than 30 minutes can also result in a walkover.

So, a walkover occurs when one player can’t attend the game for one reason or another. Walkovers are quite common in tennis, so the chances are that you have encountered one, whether that is playing yourself or watching tennis.

Now, you should stick with me and learn more about walkovers, their meaning, and how they reflect into other things such as withdrawing a match.

Does a Walkover Count as a Win In Tennis?

Given that a walkover means canceling the match for one reason or another. What does it mean for the player that didn’t get to play the match, even if they could have? Does it count as a win?

Walkovers doesen’t count as victories in tennis, even though the player who didn’t issue a walkover will proceed to the next round. There are no re-scheduling matches in tennis; however, the walkover won’t affect the player’s win-loss ratio, nor will it be shown on any records.

I do count a walkover as a free ”victory’ myself because you will proceed to the next round in the tournament without actually needing to play the match. That’s a free advancement. However, it isn’t considered an official win, nor do I personally consider it one because it doesen’t show anywhere.

Is getting a walkover nice? Yes, you get to proceed further for free; however, don’t expect roses thrown at your feet for advancing further.

Tennis Walkover Rules

Walkovers are a somewhat common sight in tennis for many reasons they can occur. Even at the highest level of play, tennis players are humans like you and me and will experience unexpected events in their lives. So, what are the rules and reasons considering tennis walkovers?

Walkover reasons;

1. Illness
2. Injury
3. Lack of rest or feeling unwell
4. Personal emergency

Walkover rules;

1. If a match has been agreed but it’s canceled with less than 24 hours’ notice
2. If a player is more than 30 minutes late

Facts known, a walkover can’t be given if the player isn’t just feeling it and wants to drink may this on the beach. Also, if the player notices more than 24 hours left before the game, a replacement match can be issued in addition to other reasoning.

Now that I have explained many things about walkovers and how they work, many other instances are usually mistaken as walkovers. I suggest that you learn more.

Walkover Vs. Withrawal Vs. Default Vs. Retirement In Tennis

A walkover isn’t the only unusual thing that can mess up regular games. In addition to walkovers, there are withdrawals, defaults, and retirements that you must know to understand tennis properly.

Below I have visualized the circumstances, match scenarios, and reasons for each one to quickly see the differences. However, I think you should read more in-depth about each one.

Circumstance	Match	Reasons
Walkover	Never began and disclosed late	Illness Injury Personal emergency
Withdrawal	Never began and disclosed early	Illness Injury Personal emergency
Default	Never began or left unfinished	Late Missing Refusal to begin/resume Code violation
Retirement	During a match	Illness Injury Personal emergency

Tennis Walkover Vs Withdrawal

Withdrawal is the closest thing to walkovers in tennis, but there is a twist to it that makes it a different thing.

What makes a withdrawal different from walkovers is that a withdrawal can be made before 24 hours of the game for any reason, given that the entries haven’t closed yet.

However, a reason must be explained, and the withdrawal must be because of an illness, injury, or a personal emergency if the entries have closed.

Tennis Valkover Vs Default

A walkover occurs when the player can’t come to the match because of an injury, illness, personal emergency, or administrative error. Default is given when the opponent refuses to play for any other reason. Also, an official can judge that a player can’t resume the match due to a violation.

A walkover can only happen before the match has started and for a valid reason, but a default can happen before or during a match, and it’s given because of an invalid reason or violation.

Tennis Walkover Vs Retired

When a player retires, it can be due to unwellness, injury, or a personal issue during the game, which means that retirement is given when a player experiences one of the valid reasons during the tennis match when a walkover is given if a valid reason occurs before the match.

Retiring isn’t the same as default, even when both can happen during the game, because a retirement requires a reason, either from injury, illness, or a personal emergency. In other cases, default is given.

Popular Walkovers In Tennis

I have explained during this article that walkovers are somewhat common, so I couldn’t proceed if I didn’t give you some proof of some walkovers. As it turns out, I selected a few popular ones for you to enjoy!

Serena Williams against Venus Williams

Probably the most famous walkover in tennis history is one made by Serena Williams in the 2001 Indian Wells tournament against her sister, Venus Williams.

Venus Williams complained to the officials that she wouldn’t play the semi-final match against her sister Serena Williams in this walkover. This was because of an issue in Venuse’s knee, and it was called just before the game would start.

This wasn’t the end of it as the walkover started an outrage where people claimed that the Williams sister’s matches were pre-fixed and that the outcomes were controlled by their father, Richard Williams. However, this was never and isn’t proven and shouldn’t be considered as anything less than a regular walkover.

This walkover granted Serena the final position against Kim Clijsters that Serena Williams ultimately won.

Victoria Azerenka against Naomi Osaka

Because of a hamstring injury, Victoria Azarenka gained a walkover against Naomi Osaka in the 2020 Western & Southern Open finals.

What makes this walkover so notable is that it was done in the final match, which resulted in the victory of Victoria Azarenka. This is unpleasant even for both Naomi and Victoria, in addition to the audience.

Yet, it was necessary. You can only imagine the issues and pain Naomi was experiencing to give a walkover in the final match.

Novak Djovic against Roger Federer

Another famous walkover in tennis is one gained by Novak Djokovic by Roger Federer in the 2014 ATP Finals due to health issues.

The walkover was announced just an hour before the match started, and you can imagine the fan’s response because this high profile and the highly anticipated match resulted in a walkover. However, the fans didn’t get angry, at least most, and they gave Roger respect.

Roger spoke to the crowd, apologized in person, and explained that he couldn’t play because of health issues related to his back. This is more than understandable as health should become before everything, including tennis! This is because of the way it was handled.

As it turns out, the fans were very understandable, and Novak gained the season-ending crown.

Check out the video of the great act from Roger Federer.

Who Has Most Matches Won by Walkover?

Walkovers are free passes to proceed further on the tournaments as the player is given one step closer to the tournament trophy, as the name walkover.

There are many excellent tennis players globally, so who has the most after all this talk about walkovers? Below, you can see who else than Roger Federer.

Player	Country	Matches Won
1. Roger Federer	Switzerland	14
2. Ilie Nastase	Romania	13
3. Novak Djokovic	Serbia	13
4. Raymond Moore	South Africa	12
5. Rafael Nadal	Spain	11

These five players are the only ones with more than ten wins by a walkover. Imagine more than ten free passes on the tournament where the prizes are massive, especially for players with this status. That’s pretty interesting!