Five types of tie-breakers are used in tennis. Also called tie-breaks, they can determine the winner of a game, a set or a match, depending on the league, match format or specific organizational rules. Knowing the scoring rules that govern your match can keep from turning your tie-breaker into a heart-breaker.
Game Tie-Breaker
In many tournaments and leagues, no-advantage scoring prevents extra-long games. In no-ad scoring, the game ends with the seventh point. At 40-40, or 3-3, the receiving player chooses which side from which she wishes to return. The server puts the ball in play, and the winner of that point wins the game. If you are playing the TeamTennis format, in a mixed-doubles match, the seventh point must be played gender to gender, meaning males serve to males, and females serve to females.
Set Tie-Breaker
If a regular set, played under United States Tennis Association (USTA) rules, goes to six games each, or if a pro set goes to the score determined by the match coordinators to trigger a tie-breaker, a tie-break is played, using one of two formats. The nine-point tie-break ends when a player wins five points; the player does not need to win by two points. The player who would have started the 13th game serves two points, starting from the deuce court. Players then serve two points each until one player reaches five. In doubles, if the score reaches four-all, the receiving team chooses on which side it wishes to receive the final point, and the fourth server serves a third point in a row. Players or teams switch sides after four points. The 12-point tie-break is played until one player wins seven points, leading by two. The player who is to start the 13th game serves one serve to the deuce court, then each player serves two points, starting from the ad court. Players switch sides every six points; in doubles, players keep the same serving order, even if it means they must serve from the opposite side on which they served their games during a match. The winner must win by two, so matches can go on indefinitely, unlike with a nine-point tie-break. In a TeamTennis match, if a set goes to five-all, the nine-point tie-break is used. If the score goes to four-all, the final server serves gender to gender.
Match Tie-Break
The USTA introduced the Super Tie-Break to end matches tied at two sets each. If players split the first two sets, a Super Tie-Break is used in lieu of the third set, played using the same format as the 12-point tie-break, with the only difference being that the winner must reach 10 points and win by by two. In TeamTennis, if the team trailing in total games won has won the last set of the match, that team may continue to play games in an attempt to tie the match and force a Supertiebreaker. For example, if Team A wins the final set of a TeamTennis match to Team B, and the total match score is 36 games for Team A to 40 games for Team B, the last set continues. If Team A wins four games in a row, the score goes to 40 games each--and to a Supertiebreaker. If Team B wins one of the next four games--before Team A can get to 40 games all--the match is over, and Team B wins. If overtime is forced, the nine-point tie-break format is played by the two strongest mixed-doubles teams to determine the winner, with one change; the winning team must reach seven points, not five. The Supertiebreaker is treated as a new set, following all rules regarding serving and receiving at the start of a new set. A coin toss determines who starts serving. A player who substituted out may return during overtime.
Member Comments