Tennis Betting Rules: Retirements, Walkovers and Dead Heats

Say a player pulls up in the second set and can’t continue. What happens to your bet depends entirely on which market you backed. A mid-match retirement can settle as a win, void your stake, or leave it standing on results already banked. Below is how each market handles it, plus our rules on walkovers, dead heats, and suspended matches.

What happens to your bet when a player retires mid-match?

Each market settles a retirement differently. Take one match: you’ve got action on a first-round US Open contest, and your player’s opponent retires down 6-4, 3-1 in the second set.

Match winner. Your bet stands and settles as a win. Once one set is completed, we settle match-winner moneyline markets on the player who advances. Back the retiring player’s opponent at 1.85 (-118) for $50 and you collect $92.50. Back the player who retired and you lose. Not every sportsbook works this way. Some require two full sets or a completed match before a moneyline pays out. We settle on the first completed set, so check the rules before you assume.

Set betting. Void, stake refunded. The correct-set-score market (say 2-0) needs a final score to settle against, and a retirement doesn’t produce one. Your $20 stake comes straight back.

Total games. Void, stake refunded. The over/under on total games assumes the match goes the distance. A retirement cuts it short, so we void it. Bet $100 on over 21.5 games and the match ends at 14 games played, you get the $100 back.

Live bets. Already-settled legs stand. Open ones void. If you took a live bet on the first set and it settled before the retirement, that result holds. A live market still open when the retirement happens, like a game-winner or an unfinished set, gets voided. Our Rain Delays piece goes deeper on how stoppages affect in-play positions.

Retirements are most common on hard and clay courts, where the wear on joints is worst and late-summer heat piles on. Flushing Meadows is the usual flashpoint. The US Open now runs an extreme heat policy that lets players take a 10-minute break between sets when conditions get dangerous. When a player can’t beat the heat, a retirement is often how the match ends, and knowing how your bet settles beats finding out the hard way.

What is a walkover, and does your bet get refunded?

A walkover voids every market and refunds your full stake. It happens when a player withdraws before the first serve, so their opponent advances without a ball being struck.

Per the ATP’s official rulebook, a retirement starts after at least one point is played. A walkover is a pre-match withdrawal, and the box score reads “w/o” instead of a set count. A retirement can settle a moneyline, but a walkover never does, because there’s no completed set to grade.

Outright and futures markets work differently. If you backed a player to win the tournament and they pull out with a walkover before their match, that bet is a loss, not a refund. They’re out of the draw, and your outright had them going deep. Bet a player to reach the final at 4.50 (+350) for $50, and they hand their opponent a walkover in round two, you lose the $50. The refund rule covers the specific match that was walked over, not futures riding on the withdrawn player.

“Walkover” gets used loosely, so the distinctions matter. A default is disciplinary (code violation, can happen mid-match). A withdrawal before the tournament starts is different again. For settlement, the only question is whether a ball was struck.

How does a dead heat split your stake?

A dead heat divides your stake by the number of tied selections and settles the reduced stake at full odds. Dead heats show up on outright and prop markets, like “most aces in the tournament” or a name-the-finalist market, when two or more selections finish level.

You back a player at 5.00 (+400) for $100 and they tie with one other player. Your stake gets halved, so $50 is now live at the full 5.00. That pays $250, including your returned portion. The other $50 is lost.

Three-way tie? Divide by three. A $90 stake on a selection tied with two others leaves $30 running at full odds. The rest is gone. The principle stays the same no matter how many selections tie: stake divided by the number tied, settled at full price on what’s left.

When is a suspended or abandoned match settled, and when is it void?

Markets already decided before a suspension stand. Undecided markets void if the match isn’t completed within our timeframe. A suspended match is one that’s paused and expected to resume, whether for weather, darkness, or heat. An abandoned match isn’t coming back.

It all turns on what was already banked. Say the first set finished 6-3 and play was suspended in the second. The first-set-winner market has a result, so it settles. The match-winner market waits. If the match resumes and completes, everything settles normally. If it’s abandoned, undecided markets void and stakes return.

Our terms set the window for a suspended match to resume before we void open markets. Those windows differ across the industry, so read our tennis rules rather than assuming a match that dragged across two days settles the same way everywhere. Our Rain Delays article goes deeper on how suspensions affect live in-play bets.

What happens if the venue, surface, or date changes?

A date change usually keeps your bet live. Pushed to the next day for weather? Bets stand. A change of venue or surface can void it, depending on the market and the event.

If a match moves to a different surface entirely (indoor hard to outdoor clay, for instance), the conditions your bet was priced on have changed, and some markets void as a result. Surface and format affect odds more than most bettors expect. Slams run their own rulebooks on court moves, and a fixture switched between show courts at the same venue is treated differently from a full venue change. When in doubt, the rules on your bet slip are the final call.

The tennis bet settlement matrix

One scenario down the side, one market across the top, the outcome in the cell. This is the fastest way to see how any bet grades out.

Scenario	Match winner	Set betting	Total games	Outrights / futures
Retirement after 1+ completed set	Settles on advancing player	Void, stake refunded	Void, stake refunded	Stands (player is out)
Retirement before a set completes	Void, stake refunded	Void, stake refunded	Void, stake refunded	Stands (player is out)
Walkover (no ball struck)	Void, stake refunded	Void, stake refunded	Void, stake refunded	Loss on withdrawn player
Suspended, then completed	Settles normally	Settles normally	Settles normally	Settles normally
Abandoned, not completed	Void if undecided	Void, stake refunded	Void, stake refunded	Stands if already decided
Dead heat on a market	N/A	N/A	N/A	Stake split, full odds on reduced stake
Date change only	Stands	Stands	Stands	Stands
Venue or surface change	May void	May void	May void	Check match rules

FAQs

Does a tennis retirement count as a win on the moneyline?

Yes, once at least one set is completed. We settle match-winner markets on the player who advances after a retirement, so a bet on that player wins and a bet on the player who retired loses. If the retirement comes before any set finishes, the moneyline voids and stakes return.

Do I get my money back on a walkover?

Yes. A walkover means no ball was struck, so every market on that match voids and your full stake is refunded. The one exception is outright or futures bets on the withdrawn player, which settle as a loss because that player is out of the draw.

What’s the difference between a retirement and a walkover for betting?

Timing. A retirement happens after the match starts and at least one point is played, and it can settle a moneyline on the player who advances. A walkover is a pre-match withdrawal with no score, so it voids the match and refunds stakes. The dividing line is whether a ball was struck.

How is a dead heat settled?

Your stake is divided by the number of tied selections, and the reduced stake settles at full odds. Back a selection at 5.00 for $100 that ties with one other, and $50 runs at 5.00 for a $250 return. The other $50 is lost.

Are total games bets refunded if a player retires?

Yes. The over/under on total games needs a completed match to settle fairly, so a retirement voids the market and returns your stake regardless of how many games were played before the stoppage.

Our full tennis settlement rules live in the terms attached to every tennis market, and they’re the final word on any bet. When our rule differs from general industry practice, we say so on the market itself. See our tennis markets for current lines across the tour and the slams, or start with our full guide to tennis betting markets.