When Coco Gauff withdrew from the Wuhan Open this week, her announcement came with a quotation about needing rest. That was not only good manners. The WTA’s 2026 Official Rulebook requires a withdrawing player to give a reason and a quotation the WTA can release, and it fines her if she does not. The same rulebook sets out what a late withdrawal costs and the few ways around the fine. One of them, the Prize Money Withdrawal, is the least understood. This explainer covers how it works and how it differs from the other options.
The default: a late withdrawal fine
A singles withdrawal counts as a Late Withdrawal once the player has been accepted into the main draw. The automatic fine depends on her ranking at the entry deadline and the level of the event. At a WTA 1000 it is $20,000 for a top-10 player, $10,000 for a player ranked 11 to 25, $5,000 for 26 to 50 and $2,500 below that. At a WTA 500 the scale runs from $7,500 down to $2,500, and at a WTA 250 from $5,000 down to $1,000.
Fines double with each further offence in the same tournament category, with some exceptions. Fines on top-10 players are split evenly between the WTA and the tournament; the WTA keeps the rest. A player who stays on the list, does not withdraw and fails to turn up for her first match commits a No-Show Offense, and the fine is 50 per cent higher than the late withdrawal fine. GTN’s guide to withdrawal rules in professional tennis covers the wider picture across both tours.
Option one: the Excused Withdrawal
Up to three times in a Tour Year, a player may withdraw from singles at a WTA tournament without a late withdrawal fine, provided the WTA receives her official withdrawal before her first match, qualifying or main draw. Doubles has its own allowance of three. A player is expected to use her best efforts to withdraw at least 12 hours before her first match; if she uses an Excused Withdrawal inside that window, the WTA may fine her anyway, and the withdrawal then does not count as excused. Excused Withdrawals cannot be used at the WTA Finals, and they do not cancel a zero-point ranking result where one applies. That zero is explained in GTN’s guide to WTA mandatory events.
Option two: the Prize Money Withdrawal
The Prize Money Withdrawal is built for the player who is already at the tournament and decides late that she cannot play. Up to twice in a Tour Year, a player who is on site may withdraw from singles without a late withdrawal fine, as long as the WTA receives her withdrawal inside a set window:
- From qualifying: on or after the day of qualifying sign-in, but before her first qualifying match.
- From a main draw at an event with qualifying: after qualifying has started, but before her first main draw match.
- From a main draw at an event without qualifying: on or after the day the main draw starts, but before her first main draw match.
Her place goes to the next eligible lucky loser, or an alternate where that applies. The withdrawing player and the replacement are both paid under a formula in the rulebook’s prize money section, and lucky losers who come in this way are subject to deductions from first-round prize money. Doubles has its own Prize Money Withdrawal, also twice a year, for an on-site team that withdraws after the draw is made but before its first match.
The limits
The two allowances share a ceiling. A player’s Excused Withdrawals and Prize Money Withdrawals may total four in a Tour Year: three excused and one prize money, or two of each. The rulebook adds several conditions on the Prize Money Withdrawal:
- It cannot be used at two consecutive WTA tournaments. The player must play a match at a tournament in between.
- It cannot be used at the WTA Finals.
- Except at her first tournament of the year, a player who has not competed at a WTA tournament, Grand Slam, ITF professional event, Billie Jean King Cup tie or Olympic event in the 60 days up to and including qualifying sign-in day cannot use one.
- A player who uses one and then plays any other event in the same week, from a WTA tournament or Grand Slam to an exhibition, must pay a fine of double the prize money she received for the withdrawal.
- It does not avoid a zero-point ranking result where one applies.
- For a player using a special ranking, the tournament counts as one of her special-ranking events. For a player subject to the WTA’s Age Eligibility Rule, it counts as one of the events she is allowed to play.
Option three: the Consecutive Withdrawal
A player who withdraws from a tournament because of a medical illness or a musculoskeletal injury that warrants medical evaluation or treatment, which the rulebook calls a Medical Condition, can also withdraw from the following tournaments she has entered without using another allowance or paying another late fine.
The timing rules are strict. At tournaments with no qualifying she must withdraw before the main draw is made, and elsewhere she must generally withdraw before qualifying starts; at a multi-week WTA 1000, a player who is on site has until the start of her first match. If the first withdrawal was off site, she must see an accredited physician and, within 10 days, submit a WTA Medical Information Form completed by that physician, with the clinical records, and provide a quotation the WTA may release. While the run of consecutive withdrawals lasts, she cannot play any WTA, Grand Slam, ITF, Billie Jean King Cup, Olympic or exhibition event.
What every withdrawing player owes
Whatever route a player uses, the paperwork is the same. She must give a statement with the reason for her withdrawal and a quotation the WTA may release to the media. Failing to do so strips the withdrawal of its excused or prize money status, so the late withdrawal fine applies, and adds a further fine of $1,000 for a singles main draw withdrawal at tour level. A player who announces a withdrawal publicly before submitting it officially is fined under the Code of Conduct.
A player who withdraws on site must also be assessed by the WTA’s on-site medical provider (the PHCP, in the rulebook’s terms) and the tournament physician before she leaves the city, and within 24 hours she must take part in one post-withdrawal activity of up to an hour, such as a sponsor visit, an autograph session or a kids’ clinic. If she skips these, the withdrawal loses its excused or prize money status, the late withdrawal fine applies and an extra fine is added, from $5,000 for a top-10 player down to $250 for a player ranked 101 or below. For retirements during a match, see GTN’s explainer on walkovers, retirements and defaults.
Season Snapshot: October 2026
Updated 8 October 2026. The figures and rules above are from the WTA Official Rulebook dated 27 July 2026. The WTA has not said which allowance, if any, applied to the Wuhan withdrawals of Gauff and Naomi Osaka announced on 7 October. The ATP runs its own withdrawal rules, which differ in detail. This snapshot is dated and will change. The rules above do not, until the WTA amends them.
