THIRD LESSON – PLATFORM TENNIS 301

By Charles E. Vasoll

(Continuation of an educational series for new players)

The Tiebreak

What happens when each team has won six games in the set? At one time, they played on until one of the teams won two consecutive games. This sometimes caused matches to go on and on and on. While it was a challenge for the players, it became boring for the spectators. A tiebreak had to be invented. Tennis had created one, but the tiebreak eventually adopted by our sport is superior. But I will turn to more about the background later. Let’ get to the procedure in use now.

The Official APTA tiebreak requires winning seven points by a margin of two points. Thus the score in the tiebreak could be 7-5 or 8-6 or even 14-12. It cannot be 6-4, for example, because the leading team must win seven points. Likewise it cannot be 10-7 because one team must have lead 9-7 and won. When the final score of the match is reported to the scorekeeper, the set is stated as 7-6 (6) with the tiebreak score indicated by the losers’ total in the parenthesis. That’s how the tiebreak is scored. Now let’s see how it got that way.

Remember the set score in games was 6-6. That means 12 games were played with each player serving three times. To begin the tiebreak player (A) who served to start the match is the one who starts the tiebreak. (In this discussion, (A) and (B) are partners and (C) and (D) are partners.) That player also will be serving from the same end of the court at which play was started. There is one difference. The first serve will be made from the ad (or left) side of the court. One point will be played and then the teams change ends. Teams will change ends after each additional four points have been played (1-5-9-13-17 etc.)

The player (C) who served first for the second team during the set now serves twice, first from the deuce (right) side of the court and then from the ad (left) side. Two points are contested. Then the first team’s second player (B) becomes the server. Two more points are served, deuce court, ad court. Then court ends are changed as five points (an odd number) have been completed.

After changing ends, partner (D) now serves two more points, deuce court, ad court, for a total of seven. Thereafter, each player serves twice from the same end of the court that the player served during the set.

While all of this may seem complicated, it has one important pattern. Each service is made from the same end of the court from which the player served during the opening 12 games. This is crucial during daylight hours when the sun could be a factor and for a team that has both right-handed and left-handed servers. This is a big plus compared to the tennis tiebreak, in which the first six points are played without changing ends, necessitating one team (or player) to play all six points facing the sun.

The final step in the process is the determination of the identification and location of the server for the next set. The team receiving service for the first point of the tiebreak shall begin serving the next set from the opposite end from which it received the first point. It does not matter how many points were played in the tiebreak.

Again, I refer you to the APTA web site, www.platformtennis.org, for the Official Rules and Appendix C where you will find “The APTA Approved 12-point Tiebreak for Platform Tennis”.

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