Definition of the word tiebreak

The word "tiebreak" originated in the game of tennis during the late 19th century. Prior to that, if two players in a match ended up with an equal number of sets, the game would result in a draw. However, this created a problem in tournaments with multiple players, as it becomes difficult to declare a winner. In 1887, during the Wimbledon tournament, the British Lawn Tennis Association came up with a solution to this issue. They introduced a new game called the "challenge round" where the winner of the previous year's tournament would face the winner of the current year's tournament in a one-off match. However, this system proved to be unsatisfactory as the winner of the previous year's tournament could often go on to win the tournament without much of a challenge. To address this, they came up with a new method called the "final set" tiebreak system. Under this system, if the players reached a 6-6 scoreline in a set, they would play a tiebreak game. In this game, each player would serve five times, alternating for each service attempt, and the winner would be the player to score seven points with a two-point advantage. This new format not only resolved the issue of draws in tournaments but also made matches more exciting and entertaining for spectators. The term "tiebreak" soon became popular among the tennis crowd and has since been adopted in other sports such as badminton, squash, and basketball to resolve close matches.