Tennis Tiebreak Rules: Serving Order, Switching Ends and the 10-Point Tiebreak

Serving order, point by point

Point	Who serves	Side
1	Player A (whose turn it was)	Right (deuce)
2	Player B	Left (ad)
3	Player B	Right
4	Player A	Left
5	Player A	Right
6	Player B	Left
Change ends after point 6
7	Player B	Right
8, 9	Player A	Left, then right
10, 11	Player B	Left, then right

The pattern comes from Rule 5b: the next server serves one point, the opponent serves the next two, and then each player serves two points in a row until the end. Rule 17 adds that tiebreak serves alternate halves of the court, starting from the right (ITF). A quick memory aid: the sum of points played tells you when to switch ends (every 6), and every odd-numbered total is when the serve changes hands.

How the tiebreak is won

• First to 7 points, with a margin of 2. At 6-6 you keep going until someone leads by 2, so 12-10 or 15-13 is possible (USTA).
• The winner takes the set 7-6.
• The player who served first in the tiebreak receives in the first game of the next set (ITF Rule 5b).
• Because 7-6 is an odd total, players change ends before the next set starts (USTA).

Doubles tiebreak rules

The doubles tiebreak follows the same pattern, with the rotation of servers continuing in the same order as in the set. The ITF says the two points after the first are served by "the player of the opposing team due to serve next" (ITF Rule 5b).

Example, if A and B play C and D, and A is due to serve:

Points	Server
1	A
2, 3	C (or D, whoever was next in that team's order)
4, 5	B
6, 7	D
8, 9	A

Receiving order also carries over: under ITF Rule 15, the receiving order chosen at the start of a set continues through that set.

Switching ends

Players change ends after every six points and at the end of the tiebreak, without a rest, according to USTA Comment 5.3 in Friend at Court 2026. Some events use the Coman Tiebreak Procedure, which is identical except that ends change after the first point, then every four points, and at the end. A tournament has to announce that it is using Coman before play starts.

The 10-point tiebreaks

There are two kinds of 10-point tiebreak, and they are easy to mix up. Both are first to 10 points, win by 2 (ITF Appendix VI).

	Match tiebreak	Final-set tiebreak
When it is played	At one set all (or two sets all in best of 5), instead of a final set	At 6 games all in the final set
Replaces	The whole deciding set	Only the rest of the final set
Who uses it	Any event that announces it in advance	Grand Slams (2026 rule book)
How it is written	1-0(x) or the tiebreak score in [brackets]	7-6(x)
Set break before it	120 seconds	Normal changeover

For the match tiebreak, the ITF says the original serving order continues, doubles teams may change who serves and receives first, there is a 120-second break before it, and balls are not changed before it even if a change is due.

The 2026 Grand Slam Rule Book states that a 10-point tiebreak will be played in the final set at all four majors. The USTA notes that the four Grand Slams adopted the 6-6 final-set 10-point tiebreak in 2022, after the Australian Open had used it since 2019 (USTA).

Short sets (first to 4 games) can use a 5-point tiebreak with a deciding point at 4-4, if the sanctioning body chooses (ITF Appendix VI). If your league uses no-ad games, our explainer on no-ad scoring in tennis covers how deciding points work.

Writing the score

Friend at Court says a set tiebreak is written 7-6(x) or 6-7(x), where x is the points won by the loser of the tiebreak. So 7-6(4) means the tiebreak finished 7-4, and 6-7(14) means 14-16. A match tiebreak played instead of a final set is written 1-0(x), or with the tiebreak score in brackets (Friend at Court 2026).