Tie Break Tens[1] is an exhibition short 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 the same. The winner-take-all charity prize money is US$250,000 for each tournament.
It is a short-format version of tennis, similar to other alternative forms of traditional sports, such as T20 Cricket and rugby sevens.[2]
Since then, tournaments have been played in Vienna, Madrid, Melbourne, New York, Indian Wells and Dubai with the world's current top tennis professionals competing for the grand prize.
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). Rock-paper-scissors 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 continues 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.
Format
A knock-out format is used, with quarterfinals, semifinals and final.
2015: London
The inaugural Tie Break Tens[4] tournament took place on 5 December 2015 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. A round-robin format was used, with six players divided into two groups of three. It 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 competition.
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 took place on 23 October 2016, the opening weekend of the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna.[7] Andy Murray, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Dominic Thiem, Tommy Haas, Goran Ivanišević and Marcus Willis competed.[8] It also was competed as a round-robin. Dominic Thiem won, defeating Andy Murray 10–5 in the Final.[9]
Tie Break Tens Tens took place at the Caja Mágica in Madrid on 4 May 2017.[12] It featured both men's and women's tournaments for the first time. Grigor Dimitrov won the men's title with Simona Halep taking the women's title.[13] The knock-out format debuted here and has been used ever since.
The first Tie Break Tens competition of 2018 was played on 10 January at the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne, Australia.[16] It featured an 8-player men's singles tournament.
The women's only tournament was played on 5 March 2018 in New York City at Madison Square Garden. This was the first time the competition had been staged in the United States.
The 2024 tournament was organized as the event's second mixed doubles tournament and was played on 5 March 2024. It was held at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden for a third consecutive year, ahead of the 2024 Indian Wells Open.[33]
Each Tie Break Tens tournament is broadcast live around the world. Some of the broadcast partners have included: Sky Sports,[35] Dubai Sports, Canal+, DAZN, Facebook Live, CNN Open Court,[36] presented by Pat Cash, SuperSport, Teledeporte TVE, BeIN Sports, Dave[37] ESPN 2 and ESPN 3,[38] and Tennis Channel.[39]
^"Opening Tournament Results". Tie Break Tens. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
