How many sets are played in tennis

This may seem like a lie, but one of them was played for longer than 11 hours. These events vary in size, but they are usually played by players ranked between 1 and in the world. Both men and women play 2 out of 3 sets at tour events regardless of whether it is qualifying or main draw match.

In such events, the 3rd set is always played with a tiebreak in case players tie at 6 games to 6. In the past, the finals of ATP events used to be played as 3 out of 5 sets, but the increasingly demanding calendar of players forced the ATP to change how many sets were played in finals. Future and challenger tournaments are the starting point for every aspiring professional tennis player. They are much less glamorous than Grand Slams and Tour Events, and they pay significantly less.

In Future and Challenger tennis singles matches, both men and women play 2 out of 3 sets in the main draw. This is a new rule that was put into place in in order to shorten matches for players in qualifying. The reason why qualifying matches are shorter than main draw matches is to not excessively tire players who qualify to the main draw. Doubles events get significantly less attention from tennis fans, and they are played in a shorter format in order to maximize television revenue.

The matches are usually very dynamic and fun to watch. The majority of tennis doubles matches are played in a best-of-three sets format, with a point tiebreak in lieu of a third set.

In tour events, both men and women doubles events are played as 2 out of 3 sets with a match tiebreak up to points in lieu of the third set. While there are only 4 Grand Slams per year, there are several different tour events spread across the world throughout the year. Tournament organizers always benefit from having the famous singles players joining in the doubles events; they usually draw larger crowds, which means more revenue. For that reason, doubles matches were made shorted in an effort to have more singles players joining the doubles events.

The same goes for futures and challengers. Both men and women play 2 out of 3 sets with a match tiebreak for the third set. In these smaller tournaments, most of the players are competing in both the singles and doubles matches. It would be unrealistic to have players compete in so many matches with a 2 out of 3 full sets format — hence why the point tiebreak format was adopted. While the match formats mentioned above are the main set formats adopted by professional tennis tournaments, there are several different set formats for amateurs that play tournaments.

Below are some of the ones that you may see in your next tournament. This will be the most used format for a tournament at any level. The rules of a tiebreaker are different than normal games. One wrinkle in the amount of games played in a set, however, are tiebreakers and the "win by two" rule.

A player cannot win simply by reaching six games first because if that is the case it will give a strong advantage to the player who serves first. If no "breaks" occur, a score of will occur, with the player serving first winning the match. That is why, in order to win a set one has to win by two games. If the score is or , another game or two will be played until a score of is achieved.

If the score ends up , different rules apply in different major tennis tournaments but the most common rule is a "tiebreak. The player set to serve first serves then the other player serves twice and back to the first player to serve twice as well. The scores go up until one player has gotten at least seven points and has won by two more than their opponent. Common tiebreaker scores are , , etc. The amount of sets played is different for men and women, men play until someone has won three sets while women play until two.

A score in which one player has dominated a match, for instance, would be ,, Fail to fulfil those criteria and you lose the point. You also lose if you deliberately hit the ball twice an accidental double hit means you play the point again. In doubles, hitting the ball after your partner also loses you a point.

The ball may legally strike the net as long as it crosses it eventually with the exception of a serve. The game starts with a serve. Who goes first is usually decided on a coin toss or the spin of a racket. You can score whether you have the serve or not in tennis, unlike in many racket sports.

You must serve with both feet behind the baseline and on the correct side of the court — start on your right-hand side, and serve diagonally into the opposite service box over both the net and the centre line.

A legal serve starts a point, two illegal serves costs the server that point. Tennis is played in points: Four points win a game, six games win a set, and two or three sets win a match. You can decide how long you want your game to be but most matches are played as best-of-three or five set contests.

Service stays with one side for the duration of each of those four-point games, which — thanks tennis! There is no limit in the rules to the number of times players can tie at deuce.

At the end of a game, serve switches sides, and after the first, third, fifth and any subsequent odd-numbered games players should change ends too. Each set is won by the first player to win six games with a lead of at least two games. In all sets but the final set if the score reaches a 6 — 6 tie rather than the highest possible 7 — 5 win it triggers a tie-break.

A tie-break is won by the first player to score 7 points. The 15s, 30s, and 40s are dropped for simple numbers. The first serve is taken by the player who would have served next had the set continued. They serve first, their opponent serves the next two points, and then they swap after every two points.

Ends are changed after every sixth point. Again, there is no upper limit on the scoring needed to get that two-clear-point win.