What is a walkover in tennis? Wimbledon rules explained

What happens when a player is unable to start their match?

Wimbledon is down to its business end with Novak Djokovic and Elena Rybakina still in the hunt to defend their singles titles at the All England Club.

It’s been a thrilling week of action so far at the Championships, with Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek emerging as contenders as the top seeds find their feet on grass.

It was at this stage last year that Rafael Nadal withdrew from Wimbledon due to injury, handing Nick Kyrgios a walkover into the men’s final.

But what is a walkover? And what are the rules regarding them?

What is a walkover?

Simply, a walkover occurs in tennis when a player advances to the next round without playing their match because their opponent is injured, ill, or has been thrown out of the tournament.

It is different to a retirement, which is when a player starts their match but is unable to finish because of injury or illness, automatically giving their opponent victory.

Confusingly, some live scores apps such as Google’s Wimbledon widget display retirements as walkovers, such as in Daniil Medvedev’s match against Jiri Lehecka in the Wimbledon fourth round .

Lehecka retired from the contest after the first two sets, but Google displays the result as a ‘walkover’.

Daniil Medvedev’s result is display as a ‘walkover’ (-)

Jiri Lehecka retired from the match (Getty Images)

A walkover can only occur before the match starts, such as when Rafael Nadal pulled out of his Wimbledon semi-final with Nick Kyrgios due to injury.

This gave Kyrgios a ‘walkover’ to the Wimbledon final, where he was beaten by Novak Djokovic in four sets.

Does a walkover count as a win?

Walkovers are not included on players’ records - as the match never actually happened. It’s not counted as a win or defeat for either player.

The player receiving the walkover still advances to the next round and is able to collect the prize money available for reaching that stage of the tournament.