Tie Break Tens

Updated on Feb 02, 2024

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Tie Break Tens is a tennis format in which only tie-break matches are played. There are no games or sets, only tie-break matches and the winner is the first player to reach 10 points and lead by a margin of two. Most other traditional rules of tennis are observed.

The inaugural Tie Break Tens event took place at the Royal Albert Hall on 5 December 2015 and was won by Kyle Edmund.

A second edition of Tie Break Tens took place on 23 October 2016 in Vienna at the Erste Bank Open 500, with Dominic Thiem defeating Andy Murray in the final.

A third edition of the event will take place on 4 May 2017 in Madrid with men's and women's events running side-by-side for the first time. Maria Sharapova, Garbine Muguruza, Simona Halep, Kei Nishikori, Grigor Dimitrov, Feliciano Lopez are scheduled to take part.

It is a short-format version of tennis, similar to other alternative forms of traditional sports, such as T20 Cricket and Rugby Sevens

Match Rules

Tie Break Tens is played using traditional tie-break rules. Players win by reaching 10 points (provided that they have a clear margin of two points). A coin toss determines who serves first, and from which end of the court they play. The player who wins the toss, serves first. The other player then serves twice, and with the rest of the match continuing with the players alternating serves every two points. Players change ends after every six points. Players are allowed an unlimited number of line-call challenges using review technology during each match, until an incorrect challenge is made. After this, no more challenges are allowed until the next match.

Tournament Format

At the first two events, a round-robin format was used, with six players divided into two groups of three. The top two players in each group progressed to the semi-finals.

At the third event in Madrid, a knockout format is planned, with quarterfinals, semifinals and final.

2015 - London

The inaugural Tie Break Tens event took place on the 5th December, 2015 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The event was staged in partnership with Champions Tennis and promoted by IMG with a winner-take-all prize of $250,000. Andy Murray, John McEnroe, Tim Henman, David Ferrer, Kyle Edmund and Champions Tennis qualifier Xavier Malisse participated in the event,

In the final, Edmund defeated Andy Murray 10-7 and took away the $250,000 prize, more than doubling his earnings for 2015.

Tie Break Tens Results 2015 (Royal Albert Hall, London)

Source: Tie Break Tens

2016 - Vienna

The second edition of Tie Break Tens took place on 23 October 2016, the opening weekend of the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna. Andy Murray, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Dominic Thiem, Tommy Haas, Goran Ivanisevic and Marcus Willis competed.

Source: Tie Break Tens

2017 - Madrid

A third edition of Tie Break Tens was announced on 21 February 2017, and is scheduled to take place in Madrid on 4 May 2017.

It is expected to feature both men's and women's tournaments for the first time, with a knockout system rather than round-robin.

Kei Nishikori and Feliciano Lopez are due to play in the men's event, with Maria Sharapova and Garbine Muguruza in the women's event.

TV Coverage

Tie Break Tens 2015 was broadcast live on SkySports 3. 14 other TV Channels covered the event around the world, including Dubai Sports, SuperSport and Canal +. The event was also covered by CNN Open Court, presented by Pat Cash and Soccer AM.

Tie Break Tens 2016 was broadcast live on Sky Sports 3 in the UK, ORF in Austria, on BeIN Sports in the USA and Canada, TVE in Spain, and live-streamed on Facebook Live (with 812,000 views as of October 26) and Tennis.com. Eurosport carried delayed highlights and the BBC Sport website carried short video highlights.

Tie Break Tens Madrid is expected to be broadcast on Teledeporte TVE in Spain.

Tie Break Tens Wikipedia

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