Protected Ranking (PR) is a system used to help players ease back into competition after an injury break. Without protecting ranking, the player’s ranking will drop when the player is rehabbing, making it very difficult to qualify for tournaments.

Protected ranking is meant to help players coming back to the tour from injury after at least a 6-month break.  The player’s ranking is frozen based on his average ranking during the first three months of injury. A player can use the protected ranking for the first nine tournaments or up to nine months, whichever comes first.

If a player is out of action for 12 months or longer, the ranking protection will apply for the first 12 tournaments or 12 months, whichever occurs first.

To qualify for the protected ranking, the player must request in writing to the President within six months of the last tournament.

When you see “PR” next to a player’s name in the draw, it shows that the player has used his protected ranking to enter the tournament.

Protected ranking can only be used for entry to tournaments. It cannot be used for seeding purposes.

Unlike other sports, tennis matches don’t end when a certain time limit is reached. Grand slam matches for men are played as best of 5 sets and may sometimes take up to 5 hours or more.

Over the years, Grand Slams have tried to add tiebreaks in the fifth as a means to end long matches. Before tiebreaks in the fifth set, the winner had to have a 2-game advantage in the final set.

At the 2010 Wimbledon championships, John Isner beat Nicolas Mahut 6–4, 3–6, 6–7^(7–9), 7–6^(7–3), 70–68 in a first-round match. It was the longest match in tennis history. The two players played 183 games in total and the match lasted 8 hours and 11 minutes. The match lasted more than 2 days because the play was suspended due to lack of light.

Fifth Set Tiebreak Rules At Grand Slams

In 2022, all four grand slams agreed to normalize tiebreak rules. Previously, each grand slam had its own rules the fifth set tiebreak, which confused fans.

For all four grand slams – Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open, the following rules apply.

• Tiebreak will be played at 6-6 in the fifth set
• The tiebreak will be a 10-point tiebreak. The first player to win 10 points with a margin  of two points wins the tiebreak and hence the match.

The Grand Slam Board considers this tiebreak rule change a trial and will review it after a year. If the results are satisfactory, the change will be made permanent.