Sudden Death (sport) - Tennis and Volleyball

Tennis and Volleyball

In contrast with the usual sudden-death procedure of awarding the victory to the next side to score, tennis and volleyball require that the margin of victory be two. A volleyball game tied at the target score continues until one team's score exceeds the other's by two points.

The traditional requirement that a tennis set be won by two games sometimes resulted in five-set matches lasting six hours or longer, which is a major disruption to a television schedule. To shorten matches, sets tied at six games each can now be broken by a single tiebreaker game. This is awarded to the first player to score seven points. The winner must lead the loser by two points, so tiebreaker games can become lengthy in their own right.

Tiebreakers are not used in major tournaments in the final set, except at the US Open.

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Famous quotes containing the word tennis:

    The boneless quality of English conversation, which, so far as I have heard it, is all form and no content. Listening to Britons dining out is like watching people play first-class tennis with imaginary balls.
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