Wimbledon to introduce fifth-set tiebreaker to championships in 2019

“Our view was that the time had come to introduce a tie-break method for matches that had not reached their natural conclusion at a reasonable point during the deciding set,” said Philip Brook, the chairman of the All-England Club.

“While we know the instances of matches extending deep into the final set are rare, we feel that a tie-break at 12-12 strikes an equitable balance between allowing players ample opportunity to complete the match to advantage, while also providing certainty that the match will reach a conclusion in an acceptable timeframe.”

Brook said in the news release that the All-England Club, which hosts one of tennis’ four annual Grand Slam championships, studied match data from the past 20 years and solicited feedback from players and officials before making the change.

While gridlocked fifth sets are still rare in tennis, Wimbledon has seen a fair share of marathon matches over the past decade. John Isner and Nicholas Mahut famously played an 11-hour match over parts of three days at Wimbledon in 2010, with Isner eventually winning the final set, 70-68. It was the longest match, both in terms of duration and number of games played, in the history of tennis.

Isner then found himself in another seemingly-never-ending fifth set this year, losing to Kevin Anderson in a semifinal that lasted more than six hours and was the longest match ever played on Wimbledon’s Centre Court. That final set went to 26-24.