Fifth Set Tiebreak Rules At Grand Slams (Tiebreak at 6-6, First Player To Win 10 Points With A Margin Of Two)

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.

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What Tennis Balls Do Grand Slam Tournaments Use?

Every Grand Slam has its “official ball partner”. Wilson balls are used at the French Open and US Open, Dunlop balls are used at the Australian Open and Slazenger balls are used at Wimbledon.

Balls Used At Grand Slam Tournaments

Australian Open – Dunlop

Australian Open currently uses Dunlop balls. Australian Open signed a 5-year deal with Dunlop in 2018 and started using Dunlop balls at the Australian Open in January 2019.

French Open – Wilson

French Open currently uses Wilson balls. In November 2019, French Open signed a 5-year partnership to use Wilson balls. Wilson balls were first used at the 2020 French Open. French Open was previously using Babolat balls.

Wimbledon – Slazenger

Wimbledon currently uses Slazenger balls. The partnership between Slazenger and Wimbledon goes back to 1902, making it one of the longest partnerships in sports.

US Open – Wilson

US Open currently uses Wilson balls. US Open has been using Wilson balls since 1978.

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