ABSTRACT
The tie break was introduced into major tennis championships in 1979 as a means of limiting the length of matches. If service is all-important, then a low percentage of service breaks is to be expected and a corresponding high percentage of tie breaks, thus making the latter a measure of service effectiveness. The data used were drawn from the Men's and Ladies' singles and doubles events at the Wimbledon and French championships, thus standardising for the highest level of play on the fastest and slowest surfaces.
