Tennis Rules on a Tie

Few tennis moments compare to when two players are tied, and forced to play a tiebreaker. Whether it's a deuce point in a game, a set-clinching tiebreaker or the third and deciding set of a doubles match, tennis' tiebreakers offer a variety of different ways for opponents to break a deadlock and emerge victorious.

  1. Deuce

    • Deuce occurs when a tennis game is tied at 40 point apiece. Tennis rules dictate that each game must be won by two shots, so at 40-all the game shifts to deuce. At this stage of the game, the player that wins the next point is given the "advantage." This is scored as "advantage server" if the serving player wins the point, and "advantage receiver" if the receiving player is the victor. If the player with the advantage wins the following point, he is awarded the game. If the other player captures the point, the game returns to deuce. Play continues until one player wins from the advantage position, thereby capturing the game.

    Set Tiebreakers

    • When a set is tied at six games apiece, the players face off in a tiebreaker. This final game is a race to seven points, with the winning player needing to win by two points. The first player serves the first game of the tiebreaker, with the winning player awarded a point. Service then switches to the second player for the second and third points, with each player given consecutive serves for the remainder of the tiebreak game. The players switch sides after every six points played. The game continues until a player has reached seven points, with a winning margin of at least two points. The set is recorded as a 7-6 victory for the game winner, and the match continues with the player who received the first serve in the tiebreaker given the first serve in the next set.

    Doubles Tiebreaker

    • Doubles competitions used to be played using the same scoring as singles matches. In 2006, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) adopted a "super tiebreaker" format for the third and deciding set of all doubles matches. If teams are tied at a set apiece, the third set is played as a race to 10 points. It is contested using the same rules as a standard set-deciding tiebreaker, with one team given first serve and the other team awarded the second and third serves. Both members of a team are given one serve each during their service opportunity, with teams switching sides every six points. The first team to record 10 points, and win by at least two, is declared the match winner.