In tennis, a Bye is when a player automatically moves to the next round without playing a match. It usually happens in the first round of a tournament.
Byes are given to top-seeded players as a reward for their high ranking. They allow these players to rest and prepare for later rounds.
Tournaments use Byes when the number of players isn’t a power of two. For example, in a 28-player draw, the top 4 seeds get byes. Byes can be an advantage, but some players prefer to play a first-round match.