Australian Open to have fifth set tie-breaker from 2019

12/22/2018

Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley has announced that after consulting with members of the tennis fraternity, they have decided to scrap advantage final sets system, replacing it with a tie-breaker. The change will come into effect from the next Australian Open that starts next month.

The Australian Open, like every other Grand Slam event, functioned under the same scoring system on the Men’s side of the draw where the fifth set would be decided with an “advantage” system. This meant that a player would have to go a break up before or after consolidating his serve in order to win the match. However, the Australian Open organisers have decided to change their scoring system.

“We asked the players – both past and present, commentators, agents and TV analysts whether they wanted to play an advantage final set or not, and went from there,” Tiley announced, reported the AO website.

From next year, the final set, in case the set score is tied at 6-6, would go into an extended tie-breaker where the first player to reach 10 points would be declared the winner. Tiley explained that the reasoning behind the extended tie-breaker was to keep the concept of a "special finales" intact in the sport of tennis.

“We went with a 10-point tiebreak at six-games-all in the final set to ensure the fans still get a special finale to these often epic contests, with the longer tiebreak still then allowing for that one final twist or change of momentum in the contest. This longer tiebreak also can lessen some of the serving dominance that can prevail in the shorter tiebreak.

“We believe this is the best possible outcome for both the players and the fans around the world,” Tiley added.