Here is what I am currently working on: to document (in articles about individual tennis players) how a walkover (succinct definition: walkover) affects the Win-Loss (W-L) record in ATP (men's) tennis. For the ATP, the beneficiary of a walkover advances one round, but counts that round as neither a win nor a loss. The man who withdrew (triggering the walkover) counts wins up to that point as wins, and does not count the non-played round as a loss.
Examples (edits of the table in the 'Singles Performance Timeline' section):
user:free2brag/test
The W-L consequences of a walkover in WTA (women's) tennis are different. I hope to later document (in articles about individual tennis players) those consequences.
- No, they are not different. Same rule applies for the women. Vinkje83 (talk) 08:24, 7 January 2015 (UTC)
Now I know the source of most of the confusion (and I agree with the statement of Vinkje83 (talk) "Same rule applies for the women."). The "STATS" given by the WTA for a player's YTD and CAREER match record do, indeed, treat walkovers the same way as men's tennis does (the walkover does not count as a win for the person (or doubles team) who benefits from the walkover, and the walkover does not count as a loss for the person (or doubles team) who withdrew).
However, in the WTA's "GRAND SLAM HISTORY" tables, the WTA does the opposite, and this (unfortunately) is also how many women's tennis articles in Wikipedia treat walkovers. Thus, if a Wikipedia editor uses the YTD and the CAREER match record from the WTA "OVERALL STATS" table as a source for the overall statistics, and uses the "GRAND SLAM HISTORY" tables as a source for the Grand Slam statistics, there is a contradiction within Wikipedia, just as there is within the WTA. After a discussion at User_talk:Fyunck(click)#How_walkovers_are_counted_in_women's_tennis, I believe that we should correct that contradiction in Wikipedia. (This has also been briefly discussed on the WikiProject_Tennis talk page.)
The doubles performance timeline of Alisa Kleybanova provides an example of the contradiction: the STATS for Alisa Kleybanova say that her French Open doubles Win/Loss record, through 2014, was 5/4 (based on round 2R finishes in 2008, 2009, and 2010, and a round 3R finish in 2014); however her "RESULTS" for French Open doubles show (a) that in 2009 she (and Jelena Dokic) conceeded round 2R as a walkover, so that year's Win/Loss record is 1/0 not 1/1, and (b) that in 2014 she (and Jelena Jankovic) benefited from a walkover in round 2R, so that year's Win/Loss record is 1/1 not 2/1. Thus, her French Open doubles Win/Loss record, through 2014, is actually 4/3, rather than the 5/4 record listed in the WTA "STATS" Grand Slam Doubles table.
The STATS for Alisa Kleybanova give her career doubles Win-Loss record, through 2014, as 146-87. In these counts there are 3 walkover benefits which do not count as wins (2006 Campobasso, 2009 Tokyo & 2014 French Open) and 3 walkover concessions which do not count as losses (2004 Porto, 2009 French Open & 2014 Miami). If these walkovers were treated in the way that WTA "STATS" Grand Slam Doubles table suggests they are, the Kleybanova's overall Win-Loss record would be 149-90, not 146-87. (A spreadsheet documenting this is available upon request; Free2brag (talk) 19:36, 8 January 2015 (UTC))