What is a tiebreak?

By B.F.

THE NERVES of myriad sports-lovers were shredded last weekend. After almost five hours of tennis, Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat Roger Federer of Switzerland in a fifth-set tiebreak at Wimbledon. Ten miles away, at Lord’s, England beat New Zealand to win the Cricket World Cup by a ridiculously narrow margin. Tied after 50 six-ball overs, the sides played out a final “super over”, which was again tied. But that was sufficient for England to emerge triumphant, since they had hit the ball to the boundary more times than New Zealand during the course of the day. Without such tiebreak measures, cricket fans might have been left with no clear winner; Messrs Djokovic and Federer might still be playing.

Tiebreaks in sport deliver a victor in situations where rivals have not been separated by conventional means. Sometimes—think league matches in football—a draw is considered acceptable. At other times—joint World Cup winners, anyone?–such a result just will not do. Only 17% of rugby fans were satisfied after the British and Irish Lions’ three tests against New Zealand in 2017 failed to produce an overall winner, according to a poll by Sky Sports. Many of the players were keen to play on and get a result, too. As the New Zealand rugby coach, Steve Hansen, put it: “We've ended up with one hand on the trophy each, which is a bit like kissing your sister.”