tiebreakers Archives - World Tennis Magazine

None of the four tennis major Grand Slam tournaments will feature extended final sets, as of this season – as part of a trial. This was the news announced by the Grand Slam board, who hope the decision will ensure “greater consistency” and “enhance the experience for the players and fans alike”.

Under the new rules, a tie break will only commence if the final set is 6-6, and the winner will be the first player to reach 10 points, with an advantage of two or more points. This rule is set to be rolled out in both singles and doubles tournaments, including qualifying matches, wheelchair and junior tennis fixtures.

While extended final sets can make it tricky to predict the winner, particularly when looking at the latest Betfair tennis odds, we have seen some arduous and excessively lengthy final sets in recent years – not least involving American John Isner.

At Wimbledon, in 2010, he won his first round match over Frenchman Nicolas Mahut with a mammoth final set victory of 70-68. And in the same competition as recently as 2018, he was on the losing end of his semi-final clash with Kevin Anderson – this time with a slightly less lengthy set (26-24). The former is the longest match in Grand Slam history – at 11 hours and five minutes, played over three days – and you can see why change is needed.

Of course, the change in rules isn’t expected to be universally popular – particularly when you consider that the women’s game already adopts a best-of-three structure. However, the main aim of the trial is to see how it will affect the Grand Slam tournaments, before rolling out a permanent change. A statement on behalf of the board revealed:

“The Grand Slam Board plan to review the trial during the course of a full Grand Slam year, in consultation with the WTA, ATP and ITF, before applying for any permanent rule change.”

All four Grand Slam tournaments have enforced different rules, when it comes to the final sets of single matches – and the French Open at Roland-Garros is the only major tournament which doesn’t have a final set tiebreak. The Australian Open is the only major to already follow this newly enforced structure. The US Open uses a conventional tiebreak, whereby at 6-6, the first player to seven is the winner; while at Wimbledon, a tiebreak isn’t played until the score reaches 12-all, and the winner is the first to score seven points and win by a two-point margin.

It’s at Roland-Garros where the new rules will come into play, and the clay-court tournament commences in late May. It’s already understood that despite his stance on the vaccination, World Number 1 and reigning champion Novak Djokovic will be allowed to enter the French Open. While the record holder and 13-time winner, Spaniard, Rafael Nadal, seemed unbothered by the new changes.

Speaking after one of his Indian Wells Master matches, Nadal explained:

“I don’t think in Roland Garros makes a big impact. My opinion the biggest impact going to be in Wimbledon. […] But I don’t feel that for Roland Garros change a lot.”

Of course, some of tennis’ most epic battles have been a long hard slog, and eradicating those from the game may not be a popular move. Since the pandemic, there have been changes across the board, and not solely with regards to the four major Grand Slam tournaments. While the change is only temporary at this stage, it’s hoped the shake-up can provide a more consistent solution to tight matches.

SAN JOSE, Calif. —Andy Roddick was outplayed for most of the night by Sam Querrey. But when the match got to the tiebreakers, Roddick took charge.

The top-seeded Roddick beat the seventh-seeded Querrey, 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(4), on Saturday night in a protracted semifinal at the SAP Open that featured a combined 53 aces.

Roddick reached the final of the event, which will be held on Sunday, for the fourth time. He will face Spain’s Fernando Verdasco, who reached his first final since October by beating Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 earlier in the day.

“I’m not going to say I wasn’t fortunate or lucky,” Roddick said. “Sam pretty much outplayed me the entire match. When I’m not hitting the ball as well, I use my serve to get me some points. I figured if I get to the tiebreak in the second set it could turn real quick.”

Querrey, a San Francisco native, never faced a break point and had 32 aces.

“I played well the entire match,” Querrey said. “It was just a couple of loose errors in the tiebreaks. I just kind of sprayed a couple.”

Roddick held serve in 30 of 31 previous games, but was broken by Querrey twice in the first set. Querrey held serve in all but one game of the tournament.

“I was just sticking around,” said Roddick, who improved to 13-1 on the year and won his 11th tiebreaker in 13 chances. “It seemed like Sam aced me every other point. I need to get a better look at those shots.”

Roddick, who reached his 46th ATP World Tour final, has a seven-match winning streak against Verdasco and is 9-2 against him all-time.

The second-seeded Verdasco will attempt to become the first Spaniard to win a title in the Bay Area since Manuel Santana in 1964.

“I was not playing great in the first set, but I wasn’t missing,” Verdasco said. “We were both up and down and when it came to end of the match I tried to push harder, make good returns and send the ball deep. I hit two good forehands and he made a couple of mistakes. He’s playing well this year and he’s dangerous.”

Istomin, enjoying a breakout season, beat a pair of seeded players to reach his first career ATP Tour semifinal. He reached the third round of the Australian Open.

“I’ve started the season well and I hope that leads to a good year,” said the 23-year-old Istomin, who plays next in Marseille, France before playing in the Davis Cup. “Every match is an opportunity to improve. I can play with these guys. I can battle with these guys.”

Verdasco reached his 10th ATP World Tour final, and his second on American soil. He won his third tour title in New Haven, Conn., last August. He becomes the first left-hander to reach the finals here since Greg Rusedski beat Andre Agassi in the 2001 championship match.

“If I was going to be honest with myself I did not expect to get to the final,” Verdasco said. “After the Australian Open I took 10 days off to rest and only practiced three days in Los Angeles before coming up here.”

Santana remains a pivotal figure in Spanish tennis and is the tournament director of the Masters Series in Madrid. Verdasco invited him to Wimbledon two years ago as an adviser.

“I never saw him play but everybody tells me he had talent,” Verdasco said. “We’ve had a relationship for many years already.”