Tie Break Tens
Tie Break Tens[1] 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 the same. The winner-take-all prize money is US$250,000 for each tournament. To date prize money paid out totals over US$1 million.
It is a short-format version of tennis, similar to other alternative forms of traditional sports, such as T20 Cricket and rugby sevens.[2]
The inaugural Tie Break Tens tournament took place at the Royal Albert Hall on 5 December 2015. It was won by Kyle Edmund who beat Andy Murray in the finals.[3]
Since then, tournaments have been played in Vienna, Madrid, Melbourne and New York, 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.
Men's singles
Group 1 | Match W–L | Point W–L | Differential | Standings | ||||
10–7 | 5–10 | 1–1 | 15–17 | -2 | 2 | |||
7–10 | 7–10 | 0–2 | 14–20 | -6 | 3 | |||
Q | 10–5 | 10–7 | 2–0 | 20–12 | +8 | 1 |
Group 2 | Match W–L | Point W–L | Differential | Standings | ||||
10–4 | 10–7 | 2–0 | 20–11 | +9 | 1 | |||
4–10 | 3–10 | 0–2 | 7–20 | -13 | 3 | |||
7–10 | 10–3 | 1–1 | 17–13 | +4 | 2 |
Semifinals | Final | ||||||||
Q | 4 | ||||||||
10 | |||||||||
10 | |||||||||
7 | |||||||||
10 | |||||||||
1 | |||||||||
2016: Vienna
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 Ivanisevic and Marcus Willis competed.[8] Dominic Thiem won, defeating Andy Murray 10-5 in the Final.[9]
Men's singles
Group A | Match W–L | Point W–L | Differential | Standings | ||||
10–4 | 10–3 | 2–0 | 20–7 | +13 | 1 | |||
4–10 | 10–6 | 1–1 | 14–16 | -2 | 2 | |||
3–10 | 6–10 | 0–2 | 9–20 | -11 | 3 |
Group B | Match W–L | Point W–L | Differential | Standings | ||||
10–3 | 10–7 | 2–0 | 20–10 | +10 | 1 | |||
3–10 | 8–10 | 0–2 | 11–20 | -9 | 3 | |||
7–10 | 10–8 | 1–1 | 17–18 | -1 | 2 |
Semifinals | Final | |||||||
10 | ||||||||
5 | ||||||||
10 | ||||||||
5 | ||||||||
10 | ||||||||
7 | Third place match | |||||||
8 | ||||||||
10 |
2017: Madrid
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]
Men's singles
Stan Wawrinka, Grigor Dimitrov, Lucas Pouille, Feliciano López, Dan Evans, Tomas Berdych, Jack Sock and Fernando Verdasco competed in the men's tournament. Dimitrov defeated Lopez in the final.
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||||
14 | ||||||||||||||
12 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
8 | ||||||||||||||
6 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
7 | ||||||||||||||
12 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
8 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
1 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
Source: Tie Break Tens[14]
Women's singles
Maria Sharapova, Garbiñe Muguruza, Agnieszka Radwańska, Johanna Konta, Simona Halep, Madison Keys, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Monica Puig played in the women's competition with Halep defeating Kuznetsova in the final.
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
12 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
6 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
5 | ||||||||||||||
6 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
2 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
5 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
6 | ||||||||||||||
Source: Tie Break Tens[15]
2018: Melbourne
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.
Men's singles
Initially, 5 of the 8 players were confirmed: Novak Djokovic, Nick Kyrgios, Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka (withdrew, replaced by Milos Raonic) and former tennis player Lleyton Hewitt.[17] Later, Dominic Thiem, Tomas Berdych and Lucas Pouille also announced their participation, thus completing the field. Tomas Berdych won the $250,000 prize defeating Nadal in the final 10-5.[18]
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
6 | ||||||||||||||
11 | ||||||||||||||
13 | ||||||||||||||
1 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
5 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
8 | ||||||||||||||
11 | ||||||||||||||
9 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
7 | ||||||||||||||
Source: Tie Break Tens[19]
2018: New York
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.
Women's singles
It featured an 8-player woman's singles tournament including Serena Williams, Venus Williams, CoCo Vandeweghe, Daniela Hantuchová, Elina Svitolina, Marion Bartoli, Shuai Zhang and Sorana Cîrstea.[20]
It marked the return of Serena Williams playing her first singles competition since giving birth to her daughter.[21]
Svitolina from the Ukraine won the $250 000 winner-takes-all prize defeating Zhang in the final 10-3.[22]
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
7 | ||||||||||||||
0 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
3 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
3 | ||||||||||||||
5 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
11 | ||||||||||||||
13 | ||||||||||||||
4 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
2019: Indian Wells
The men’s singles tournament was played on 5 March 2019 at Indian Wells Tennis Garden. This was their first competition at Indian Wells.
Men’s singles
It was an 8-player men’s singles tournament including Dominic Thiem, Stan Wawrinka, Gaël Monfils, Milos Raonic, Taylor Fritz, Rafael Nadal, Marin Čilić and David Goffin. The tournament was played in Stadium 2 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, in front of 8,000 people.
Raonic won the $150,000 prize by defeating Wawrinka 10–6 in the final.[23]
Quarterfinals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||||
11 | ||||||||||||||
9 | ||||||||||||||
3 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
7 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
6 | ||||||||||||||
5 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
13 | ||||||||||||||
11 | ||||||||||||||
8 | ||||||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||
Media coverage
Each Tie Break Tens tournament is broadcast live around the world. Some of the broadcast partners include; Sky Sports[24], Dubai Sports, Canal +, DAZN, Facebook Live, CNN Open Court,[25] presented by Pat Cash, SuperSport, Teledeporte TVE, BeIN Sports, Dave[26] ESPN 2 and ESPN 3.[27]
Sponsors
Past and current sponsors of the tournament include Voss Water[28], Betway[29], Tennis.com[30], Mutua, Rolex, Mercedes, Estrella, Wilson[31], TransferMate, [32], FILA[33] and Masimo[34]
References
- Island, The. "Exciting new concept in tennis | Tie Break Tens | Tennis". Tie Break Tens. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
- "Tie Break Tens: How to put together a successful tennis tournament | Tennis | The Sport Review". The Sport Review. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
- "Andy Murray misses out on hefty prize losing to Dominic Thiem at exhibition event| Tennis | The Telegraph". The Telegraph. 23 October 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
- "Kyle Edmund beats Andy Murray". Tie Break Tens. 5 December 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
- "Tie Break Tens Order of Play". Tie Break Tens. London. 3 December 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
- "Opening Tournament Results". Tie Break Tens. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2016.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
- Sporting, Life (4 October 2016). "Tie Break Tens Returns in Vienna". sportinglife.com. Sporting Life.
- https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Tennis_Stories/37576/tie-break-tens-dominic-thiem-beats-andy-murray-and-wins-250000-dollars/
- "Andy Murray misses out on hefty prize losing to Dominic Thiem at exhibition event". The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
- "Vienna - Order of Play". Tie Break Tens. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
- "Thiem Takes Tie Break Tens Title With Final Victory Over Murray" (PDF). Tie Break Tens. Vienna. 23 October 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
- "Tie Break Tens | Madrid 4 May 2017". TieBreakTens. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
- EFE (4 May 2017). "Dimitrov y Halep se imponen en el 'Tie Break Tens'". El Periódico (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 May 2017.
- "Tie Break Tens - Madrid Draw - Men". Tie Break Tens. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
- "Tie Break Tens - Madrid Draw - Women". Tie Break Tens. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
- "Tie Break Tens Melbourne – Press Release". London: Tie Break Tens. 18 December 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
- "Nadal to play Tie Break Tens". Australian Open. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
- "Rafael Nadal survives another hit-out ahead of the Australian Open". London: ESPN. 11 January 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
- "Tie Break Tens - Melbourne". Tie Break Tens. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
- "Serena, Venus Williams Headline Tie Break Tens At Madison Square Garden". Forbes. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
- "Serena Williams returns, loses in semifinal at Tie Break Tens event". espn. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
- "Tie Break Tens: Elina Svitolina dominates eight-woman event in New York". Sky Sports. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
- "Milos Raonic wins the inaugural Eisenhower Cup, presented by Masimo, a Tie Break Tens event" (PDF). Indian Wells, California: Tie Break Tens. 5 March 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
- "Andy Murray beaten by Kyle Edmund in inaugural Tie Break Tens final". Sky Sports. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
- Mac and Murray test a new fun format - CNN Video, retrieved 17 October 2016
- https://corporate.uktv.co.uk/news/article/uktv-serves-new-live-tennis-dave/
- "ESPN3 Adds "Tie Break Tens" from Madrid on May 4 with Sharapova, Wawrinka in Star-Studded Fields - ESPN MediaZone". espnmediazone.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
- "VOSS Water | For The Ultimate Purist". Voss Water. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
- "Betway to sponsor Tie Break Tens tennis tournament". iGaming Business. 4 December 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
- "Tie Break Tens | Vienna 23 October 2016". Tie Break Tens. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
- "Wilson becomes a Global Series Partner of Tie Break Tens – Press Release". London: Tie Break Tens. 22 February 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
- "Tie Break Tens Announces VOSS Water of Norway as the Official Bottled Water of the New York Competition at Madison Square Garden – Press Release". London: Tie Break Tens. 29 December 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
- "Fila Tennis | FREE Delivery over £50 at FILA". www.fila.co.uk. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
- "Masimo - Home". www.masimo.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.