Wimbledon

2023 Wimbledon tiebreaker rules, scoring system

Here’s everything you need to know about the scoring system at Wimbledon and the tiebreaker rules for the 2023 tournament.

Wimbledon
USA Today

It’s Day 4 of intense action at Wimbledon and tennis fans around the world are loving the grass-court competition.

Wimbledon made changes to the tournament scoring system last year, creating consistency with other grand slams and potentially less court time for players.

Here’s a look at some of Wimbledon's alterations and how they’re impacting players this year:

What are the tiebreak rules at Wimbledon?

When a match reaches 6-6 in the deciding set at Wimbledon, a 10-point super tiebreaker is played. The first person to win 10 points, with a margin of two points, will win the match.

This Wimbledon format remains consistent with the Australian Open, the French Open and the U.S. Open. This scoring format has been in use for the Australian Open since 2019 but is new to the others.

As a matter of fact, the longest match in Wimbledon history is the longest match in tennis history. 

The tennis world was stunned by John Isner and Nicolas Mahut’s 2010 match at Wimbledon which took 11 hours and five minutes over the span of three days. 

Isner won with a final score of 6–4, 3–6, 6–7 (7–9), 7–6 (7–3), 70–68 for a total of 183 games.

What are the origins of Wimbledon’s tennis scoring system?

In the past, players at Wimbledon had to keep competing until they won by a margin of two games in the final set. 

More recently in 2019, Wimbledon introduced the final set seven-point tiebreak -- but it only was applicable when the score reached 12-12 in games.

The ATP and WTA have not stated if these changes will be permanent.

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