How Does A Tennis Tiebreak Works? Rules, Longest Record & More

If you have ever watched an official tennis tournament, you may noticed a set that is different than the others. For example, instead of the standard scoring of 15, 30, 45, the game uses singular points starting from 0, 1, 2, and so on. That game you watched is called a tiebreaker.

So, how do tennis tiebreakers work?

A tennis tiebreaker starts when the score of a set reaches a 6-6 tie. The players will then engage in a 7-point or 10-point tiebreak match where a winner has to win by a two-point margin. The player that wins the tiebreak gets the edge on the set by increasing their point to 7-6.

In this article, we will dive deeper into the rules of tiebreaks, different types of tiebreaks, tips for winning tiebreaker games, the longest tiebreaks recorded by professional players, and many more. Keep reading if you are interested!

Different Types of Tennis Tiebreaks

There are two different formats of tiebreaks used by official tournaments:

The 7-Point Tiebreak

The 7-point tiebreak is the standard and most common tiebreaker match. It is usually played if a score of 6-6 is reached in a set to decide the winner.

To win the 7-point tiebreak and the set 7-6, either player or team has to win at least 7 points by a margin of 2 points. For example, this can be 7-5, 8-6, or even 20-18.

There is no limit to how high the score of a tiebreak is, as long as it is within a margin of 2 points and a minimum score of 7 points.

The 10-Point Tiebreak

The 10-point tiebreaker is won by the first player or team that reaches 10 points with a margin of 2 points.

Like with the 7-point tiebreaker, a winner is decided when a player wins by 2 points but to 10 instead of 7.

If the score is tied at 9-9, play will continue until one side wins by 2 points. In this case 11-9.

The 10-point tiebreak is gaining more popularity today. It is the tiebreaker rule that is used by all four grand slams when the score reaches a 6-6 tie.

Tennis Tiebreak Rules

Win by a Two-Point Margin

The points are counted singularly in a tiebreak instead of the general 15-30-40 scoring system. So, it starts from 0, 1, 2, and so on.

A winner is decided when a player wins by a two-point margin.

For example, in a first-to-seven tiebreaker, a player wins when the score reaches 7-5, 7-4, and so on.

If the score tied at 6-6. Then, a win is decided when the score hits 8-6.

Note that there is no limit to how high the score can go in a tiebreaker. A tiebreaker can end on 20-18 or even as long as 100-98. A tiebreaker only ends when either player wins by 2 points.

Once a victor is decided on a tiebreaker, the score changes from 6-6 to 7-6. The exact score of the tiebreaker does not matter.

The tiebreaker score can be 7-5 or 7-0 and will still be 7-6 on the set score.

Change Ends After Every Six Points

At the start of the tiebreak, both players will remain on their side of the court as in the last game.

But every time the score reaches a combination of 6 points, the players have to change ends, meaning that they have to switch sides of the court.

So, in a tiebreak, changing ends will happen when the sum of points is at 6 or in multiples of six, such as (6-0, 3-3, 4-2, 6-6, and so on).

Unlike usual changeovers, there are no water breaks during tiebreakers.

Serving Order: Who Serves First in a Tiebreak?

At the start of the tiebreaker, the side that serves first is determined by which side served and received in the previous game.

The player that received in the previous game will start the serve. After the first point, the opponent will then serve the next two points. Then, back to the first player for the next two and so on.

So, the players will alternate servers every two points from then on. Only the start of tiebreaks requires players to serve just one point.

Then, after the tiebreak concludes and there are still more sets, the player or team that did the first serve at the start of the tiebreaker will receive first in the first game of the next set.

Let’s go into more detail with examples.

Serve Order in Singles Tiebreaker

Let’s say player A and player B are in a match with a 6-6 score, and they are going for a tiebreaker. Player B did the last serve to get the 6-6 score.

The sequence of the serving order will look like this:

Score starts with 0-0. Player A starts the tiebreaker as the serving player.
After the first point, player B performs the second serve.
After the second point, player B still performs the third serve.
After the third point, player A performs the fourth serve.
After the fourth point, player A still performs the fifth serve.
After the fifth point, player B performs the sixth serve. There are now 6 points combined, so as per the rule, both players change ends.

After the players switch ends and the tiebreak resumes, the sequence restarts from number 1 again.

So, the player that starts the serve after changing ends only serves for the first point. After that, both players will take turns serving for 2 points until the next change ends.

Serve Order in Doubles Tiebreaker

In doubles, the rules for the serving rotation are the same as in singles.

The side that starts only serves for one point, followed by alternating the order every 2 points until change ends.

But since now there are 4 players instead of 2, the rotation now involves 4 players instead of just 2, which can get complicated.

The team that did the serve to make the score 6-6 will receive first in the tiebreaker.

The player who starts the serve first in the tiebreaker is the player who did not serve the last game for his team.

Let’s give an example:

Team A – Player A1 & Player A2

Team B – Player B1 & Player B2

Let’s say player B2 from team B serves last to get the score to 6-6. So, the tiebreaker will start with team A as the serving side and team B as the receiver side.

But who will be serving from team A?

It will depend on which player last served on team A. If player A2 last served for team A, player A1 will start the serve on the tiebreaker.

The sequence of the serving order will look like this:

Score starts with 0-0. Player A1 starts the tiebreaker as the serving player.
After the first point, player B1 performs the second serve.
After the second point, player B1 still performs the third serve.
After the third point, player A2 performs the fourth serve.
After the fourth point, player A2 still performs the fifth serve.
After the fifth point, player B2 performs the sixth serve. There are now 6 points combined, so as per the rule, both players change ends.

As with singles, the order restarts from 1 again after the tiebreak restarts from switching ends.

The History of Tie-break

Tiebreak was first proposed in the 1950s by James H. “Jimmy” Van Alen, who was also the founder of the Tennis Hall of Fame in Rhode Island.

The tiebreak was introduced as a solution to limit the length of a tennis match.

Since tennis has no time limit, the matches can get drawn out than spectators and players would like to enjoy.

The first version of tiebreaks was a first-to-five tiebreak.

Unlike today’s tiebreak of winning by a 2-point margin, the winner was decided with a sudden death to match point if the score tied at 4-4.

This scoring rule was first advocated by the Van Alen Streamlined Scoring System (VASSS).

The tiebreak gained popularity and started being used by major tournaments such as the Grand Slam. The U.S. Open was the first to adopt this scoring system.

The system eventually evolved into a first-to-seven tiebreaker that we see in today’s games.

And today, we also start seeing more use of the first-to-ten tiebreakers.

The Longest Tennis Tiebreak Ever in History

The longest tennis tiebreak in men’s singles record was a 70-point tiebreak (36-34) win by Benjamin Ballarat against Guillaume Couillard at the 2013 Men’s Future tournament qualifications. This match score was verified by the ITF and ATP.

For women’s singles, the longest tiebreak was a 42-point (22-20) tiebreaker win by Akgul Amanmuradova against Anna Zaja.

The Longest Tennis Tiebreak in Grand Slam Tournaments

The longest tennis tiebreak in Wimbledon was a 38-point (20-18) tiebreak win by Björn Borg against Premjit Lall in the 1973 Men’s singles first-round match.

The longest tennis tiebreak in U.S. Open was a 38-point (20-18) tiebreak win by Goran Ivanišević against Daniel Nestor in the 1993 U.S. Open first-round match.

The longest tennis tiebreak in Australian Open was a 38-point (20-18) tiebreak win by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga against Andy Roddick at the 2007 Australian Open.

The longest tennis tiebreak in the French Open was a 36-point (19-17) tiebreak win by Lorenzo Sonego against Taylor Fritz at the 2020 French Open.

Tiebreakers in Grand Slam Tournaments (Wimbledon, U.S Open, Australian Open, French Open)

Grand slam tournaments used to handle tiebreaks differently from each other.

However, this changed in 2022 when tennis organisers announced a new rule to be followed by all four grand slams.

As of today, the four grand slams, Wimbledon, U.S Open, Australian Open, French Open use a 10-point tiebreak to decide the final set when the score reaches a 6-6 tie.

The tiebreak set will be played until one player win 10 points with an advantage of 2 points.

The new rule has been approved by the Rules of Tennis Committee governed by the ITF and will apply to Men’s singles and doubles, Women’s singles and doubles, wheelchair and junior singles.

This rule change was implemented in order to limit the length of a match that can be go on for hours and hurt the player’s fatigue.

Tips For Winning The Tiebreak

Tiebreak games can be mentally stressful because this will usually be a deciding game over who wins the tennis match.

But the nervousness will not just be felt by you. Your opponent will also feel the same way when approaching a tiebreaker game.

Knowing this can be to your advantage. You can aim to be more aggressive to get the first few points and get a couple of points to start off strong in the tiebreaks.

If your opponent is inexperienced, you can win the tiebreaks easily, as these first few points will make your opponent feel more pressured.

If the other way around happens and you lose the first few points, do not give up on the game!

Remember, tiebreaks go up to 7 or 10 points, so even if you are down at the beginning of the tiebreak, the momentum can change just as fast.

Take it one point at a time, and don’t think about the overall score.

Be consistent, stick to your strategy, and most importantly, just have fun whether you win or lose!

Wrapping Up

Tiebreak is one of the most essential scoring rules to know in tennis. If you are new to tennis, the rules can be complicated to learn at first glance. But I hope this article explains everything you need to know about tiebreakers in tennis.

Now that you have learned the theory, it is time to put it into practice by playing more tennis matches!

Is a Tiebreak to 7 or 10?

A tiebreak can be either to 7 or 10, depending on the rules of the tournament. The 7-point tiebreak is the more common one where a player or team that reaches at least 7 points with a margin of 2 points wins the tiebreak.

Which Grand Slam has no Tiebreak?

All Grand Slam Tournaments (Wimbledon, U.S Open, French Open, Australian Open) now feature a 10-point tiebreak. French Open was the only grand slam tournament that did not play a tiebreak but an advantage set. But starting 2022, all grand slam tournaments play 10-point tiebreaker games.

How many Tiebreaks has Djokovic Won?

As per 2023, Djokovic tiebreaker record is 18-3. At Grand Slams, Djokovic has won 15 tiebreakers in a row. His last tiebreak loss was in the second round of the Australian Open against Enzo Couacaud.

What is the Difference Between a Tiebreak and a Super Tiebreak?

A tiebreak is usually mentioned when talking about the standard 7-point tiebreaker. A super tiebreak is a 10-point tiebreaker where players play until 10 points instead of the common 7 points.

When Do You Change Ends in a Tiebreak?

Players change ends every time 6 points are reached in any score combination. This will continue until the tiebreak ends (a player won by 2 points). For the start of the tiebreaker, both players will remain on the same side of the court as the last game, until 6 points is reached for the change end.

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