A couple of days ago when I should have started writing about the tennis tie-breaker, I inexplicably plunged down the Jimmy Van Alen VASSS rabbit trail. Today I bring that diversion back full circle. To truly understand the tennis tie-breaker it is important know that it was invented by Jimmy Van Alen in one of the many variations of VASS.
In the “Kicking VASSS” post, I wrote about an exhibition of the system staged by Jimmy Van Alen in Newport in 1965 where the winner of the match was the first to 31 points. What was not included in that write-up was the description of what occurred if a score of 30-30 was achieved.
Rather than allowing the match to be decided by a single point, what was initially coined as an “Extra Game” was devised in which the first player to reach 5 additional points was declared to be the winner. Somehow it didn’t seem to occur to anyone at the time, and it took almost a full year after implementation for it to happen, but eventually one of those extra games reached the score of 4-4.
Fortunately, or perhaps inevitably, the founder of the VASSS system was in the bleachers when this transpired so the players knotted at 4-4 had the opportunity to ask “What do we do now, Mr. Van Alen?” His answer was that the next point would decide the match. For the first time in tennis history, both sides had a match point. Sudden Death was born.
The tie-breaker was officially introduced into play in 1970 at the U.S. Open by decree of tournament director Bill Talbert. There was a very simple impetus for the innovation, television. Matches that could continue into perpetuity (hey to Isner-Mahut Winbledon 2010) were not acceptable for the constraints of network broadcast. The players hated it, but Talbert was resolute and was quoted with the observation “Players don’t buy tickets.”
As a delicious sidebar to the introduction of the tie-breaker, the umpire would wave a red flag whenever a match was heading into a tie-breaker. The flag was said to be emblazoned with the letters S and D, for Sudden Death, with a smaller inter-crossed V and A for Van Alen.
I have been unable to locate a picture of one of the flags but am desperately continuing that quest. There must be one of these at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, right? I now have a sudden urge to visit that institution and have added it to my bucket list.
- “1970: The Tiebreaker is Introduced“, Steve Tignor, Tennis.com, February 19, 2015.
- “Anyone Care to Play some VASSS?“, Frank Deford, Sports Illustrated, July 19, 1965.
- “Jimmy Van Alen“, International Tennis Hall of Fame Biography, viewed Feb 2, 2020.
