Tennis Retirement Rules

When betting on tennis you need to be very careful. Sometimes, a player will "retire", meaning they forfeit the match. When this happens, the other player wins.

This can cause problems with our matched bets.

Bookmakers have different rules on how they settle bets when a player retires. Unfortunately they don't always settle the retired player as a loser, and the other player as a winner. Because of this, you need to understand retirement rules before placing any bets on tennis, or your funds could be at risk!

Below we have a very easy to use table, which will help you place your bets on tennis worry-free!

If you are backing & laying a bet on tennis then you can only use a bookmaker from group 1. In group 1, the bookies retirement rules are the same as the exchanges.

If you are doing an offer with a bookmaker from group 2, then you must dutch your bet with another bookmaker also from group 2.

Note: Dutching is where you place multiple back bets to cover all outcomes. Rather than backing and laying, we are placing back bets on player 1 and player 2 at different bookies. 

If you're backing with any bookie in group 3, you should also dutch with another from group 3. The only difference between Group 2 and Group 3 is disqualification (which is VERY rare). So, my advice when doing small stakes is to treat Group 2 and Group 3 bookies the same. Dutch between them, as the chances of disqualification are minimal.

If you don't check retirement rules, you could lose a lot of money.

Lets say you have £20 on Roger Federer and £20 on Rafael Nadal in a match. Rafael Nadal then decides he can no longer continue and retires. If you haven't made sure the retirement rules match, your money could be at risk.

Bookmaker 1 might void Federer as the match hasn't finished, refunding your £20 stake.

Bookmaker 2 might settle Nadal as a loser, losing you £20.

You'd be down £20, as bookie 1 voided the bet rather than settling it as a winner. For this reason, make sure you check the table below!

You can find a full up to date list of bookmakers and their tennis retirement rules over on Outplayed.com here.