Give way, top tennis player said (4)
I believe the answer is:
cede
'give way' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'top tennis player said' is the wordplay.
'top tennis player' becomes 'seed' (a seeded player).
'said' shows a homophone (sound like).
'seed' sounds like 'CEDE'.
(Other definitions for cede that I've seen before include "Give up (power to another)" , "Allow" , "Reluctantly give up" , "Transfer" , "Give up rights or possession" .)