Tennis Scoring Types

The various standards of scoring across all Tennis included in our portfolio.

Overview

Throughout the United Cup and Grand Slams covered by IMG, there are a number of tennis scoring types. These are returned as part of our "Match Status Update" packets within the live data stream, e.g below is a 5 set match, with Standard scoring type:

{
  "eventElementType": "MatchStatusUpdate",
  "matchStatus": {
    "courtNum": 1,
    "firstServer": "UnknownTeam",
    "matchState": {
      "locationTimestamp": "2024-09-08T14:10:53",
      "state": "Warmup"
    },
    "numSets": 5,
    "scoringType": "Standard",
    "teamAPlayer1": "J. SINNER",
    "teamAPlayersDetails": {
      "player1Country": "ITA",
      "player1Id": "S0AG"
    },
    "teamBPlayer1": "T. FRITZ",
    "teamBPlayersDetails": {
      "player1Country": "USA",
      "player1Id": "FB98"
    },
    "tieBreakType": "TieBreakInFinalSet",
    "tossChooser": "UnknownTossChooser",
    "tossWinner": "UnknownTeam",
    "umpire": "Unknown",
    "umpireCode": "Unknown",
    "umpireCountry": "Unknown"
  },
  "matchTime": "00:00:00",
  "seqNum": 3,
  "timestamp": "2024-09-08T18:10:53.966Z"
}

Tennis Scoring Types

The following are the possible Tennis Scoring types

Standard

scoringType	Description
Standard	A normal match, with advantage scoring, and a tiebreak at 6/6 in a set. The "tieBreakType" field will return info on whether the last set is a tiebreak or an advantage set
ModernSetWithNoAdv	All sets excluding the final set are as 'Standard' above, with no advantage scoring. Instead of playing a final set (at 2-2 in a 5 set match and 1-1 in a 3 set match) a 'Supertiebreak' is played. This is like a regular tiebreak but is first to 10 points rather than 7
ATPShortSetNoAdv	Sets are played first to 4 games, with a regular tiebreak at 3-3. No advantage scoring. No lets (serve is either in or a fault). Only 1 medical timeout per player
LastSetTiebreak12	A normal match, with advantage scoring, and a tiebreak at 6/6 in sets 1 and 2 (of a 3 set match) or sets 1 to 4 (in a 5 set match). The last set is also a tiebreak set, but the tiebreak will be at 12/12, rather than 6/6. A player can still win this last set by being two games clear after winning their 6th game (e.g. 6/4, 7/5, or 8/6 e.t.c)
MatchTieBreak	A normal match, with advantage scoring, and a tiebreak at 6/6 in a set. The "tieBreakType" field will return info on whether the last set is a tiebreak or an advantage set

ATP

The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP); the following scoring standard will cover United Cup

Match Type	Scoring standard	scoringType
Men's Singles (MS)	Best of 3, 3 tiebreak sets	Standard
Men's Doubles (MX)	Best of 3, 2 tiebreak sets, 3rd supertiebreak (No-ad scoring)	ModernSetWithNoAdv
Men's Qualifying Singles (QMS)	Best of 3, 3 tiebreak sets	Standard
Men's Qualifying Doubles (QMD)	Best of 3, 2 tiebreak sets, 3rd supertiebreak (No-ad scoring)	ModernSetWithNoAdv
Men's Singles (At ATP NextGenFinals Tournament only)	Best of 5, 5 tiebreak sets (No-ad scoring). Sets are first to 4 games, tiebreak at 3-3. No lets	ATPShortSetNoAdv

Hopman Cup

Match Type	Scoring standard	scoringType
Men's Singles (MS)	Best of 3, 3rd set with super tiebreak in final sets	MatchTieBreak
Ladies Singles (LS)	Best of 3, 3rd set with super tiebreak in final sets	MatchTieBreak
Mix Doubles (MX)	Best of 3, 2 tiebreak sets, 3rd supertiebreak (No-ad scoring)	ModernSetWithNoAdv

French Open

The below are the competition types at the French Open Grand Slam tournament. Please note that the standard scoring for French Open 2022 are standard tiebreaks apart from the last set which is a 10-point tiebreak set.

Match Type	Scoring Standard	scoringType
Men's Singles (MS)	Best of 5, 4 tiebreak sets, 5th advantage set. 5th tiebreak set at a 10 -point tiebreak.	Standard
Women's Singles (LS)	Best of 3, 2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set. 3rd tiebreak set a 10- point tiebreak.	Standard
Men's Doubles (MD)	Best of 3, 2 regular tiebreak sets, 3rd tiebreak set at a 10 point tiebreak.	Standard
Women's Doubles (LD)	Best of 3, 3 tiebreak sets. 3rd tiebreak set a 10- point tiebreak.	Standard
Mixed Doubles (XD)	Best of 3, 2 tiebreak sets, 3rd supertiebreak (No-ad scoring). 10 point match tiebreak in the final set.	ModernSetWithNoAdv
Men's Singles Qualifying (QMS)	Best of 3, 3 tiebreak sets. 3rd tiebreak set a 10- point tiebreak.	Standard
Women's Singles Qualifying (QLS)	Best of 3, 3 tiebreak sets. 3rd tiebreak set a 10- point tiebreak.	Standard

Wimbledon

The below competition types at the Wimbledon tournament. Please note that the standard scoring for Wimbledon 2022 are standard tiebreaks apart from the last set which is a 10 - point tie break. (We have kept the scoring type as the previous year as this year's 10 point tiebreak is a trial, if taken on in a permanent basis we will update the scoring type for next year.)

Match Type	Scoring Standard	scoringType
Men's Singles (MS)	Best of 5, 4 regular tiebreak sets, 5th tiebreak set at a 10 -point tiebreak.	Standard
Women's Singles (LS)	Best of 3, 2 regular tiebreak sets, 3rd tiebreak set a 10- point tiebreak.	Standard
Men's Doubles (MD)	Best of 3, 2 regular tiebreak sets, 3rd tiebreak set at a 10 point tiebreak.	Standard
Women's Doubles (LD)	Best of 3, 2 regular tiebreak sets, 3rd tiebreak set at a 10 point tiebreak.	Standard
Mixed Doubles (XD)	Best of 3, 2 regular tiebreak sets, 3rd tiebreak set at a 10 point tiebreak.	Standard
Men's Singles Qualifying (QMS)	First round matches, best of 3 sets. 2 regular tiebreak sets, 3rd tiebreak set at a 10 point tiebreak. Final round matches, best of 5 sets. 4 regular tiebreak sets, 5th tiebreak set at a 10 point tiebreak.	Standard
Women's Singles Qualifying (QLS)	Best of 3, 2 tiebreaks sets, 3rd tiebreak set at a 10 point tiebreak.	Standard

US Open

The below competition types at the US Open tournament

For US Open 2025 has a reduction in Mix Double matches from 32 to 16.

Match Type	Scoring Standard	scoringType
Men's Singles (MS)	Best of 5, 4 regular tiebreak sets, 5th tiebreak set at a 10 -point tiebreak.	Standard
Women's Singles (LS)	Best of 3, 2 regular tiebreak sets, 3rd tiebreak set at a 10 point tiebreak.	Standard
Men's Doubles (MD)	Best of 3, 2 regular tiebreak sets, 3rd tiebreak set at a 10 point tiebreak.	Standard
Women's Doubles (LD)	Best of 3, 2 regular tiebreak sets, 3rd tiebreak set at a 10 point tiebreak.	Standard
Mixed Doubles (XD)	Best of 3, 2 regular tiebreak sets to 4 games, 10 point match tiebreak in the final set.	ModernSetWithNoAdv
Finals Mixed Doubles (XD)	Best of 3, 2 regular tiebreak sets to 6 games, 10 point match tiebreak in the final set.	ModernSetWithNoAdv
Men's Singles Qualifying (QMS)	Best of 3, 2 regular tiebreak sets, 3rd tiebreak set at a 10 point tiebreak.	Standard
Women's Singles Qualifying (QLS)	Best of 3, 2 regular tiebreak sets, 3rd tiebreak set at a 10 point tiebreak.	Standard

• Tiebreak set - The set is played until a player reaches 6 or 7 regular games, with a 2-game margin. A tiebreak is played when the score is 6-6. Each point in a tiebreak counts for 1 point. To win a tiebreak, a player needs to win at least 7 points, with a 2-point margin -- 7-5, 8-6, etc.

• Advantage set - no tiebreaks are played, and the set continues until one of the players has a 2-game margin (8-6, 9-7, etc). Today, only the last and deciding set of the match (the 5th or the 3rd) can be played as an advantage set, while all the other sets are tiebreak sets

• Supertiebreak - A set that consists of a tiebreak, in which a player has to win at least 10 points with a 2-point advantage

• 10-point tiebreak set - The procedure of the 10-point match tiebreak is the same as in the 7-point set tiebreak, but the winning player or team must reach 10 points by a margin of at least 2 points to win the final set 1-0 and therefore the match

• No-ad scoring - A scoring method in which at 40-40 the next point is the deciding - whoever wins it, wins the game. This scoring is employed in ATP doubles matches, and in Grand Slam Mixed Doubles -- except for Wimbledon

• Ad scoring - after getting to 40-40, the player/team must win two points in a row to win the game -- the first of those is the "advantage" point