2022 WTA Finals tie break rules: Why is the match-decider played up to 7 points?

The 2022 WTA Finals reunites the women's tennis players that had the best season overall. From the WTA's World No.1 to the World No. 8 from the Singles division, each player competes to decide which one had the best season, especifically the 2022 WTA Tour. So, when these games get tougher and tougher is hard to untie a game in order to win, that's why in tennis, there's a tiebreaker.

In professional tennis, the tiebreaker was officialy unveiled in 1965 as an experiment at one U.S. pro tournament he sponsored at Newport Casino in Rhode Island. When it was first proposed, the tiebreak consisted of a two-system tie break, first a best-five-of-nine-points tiebreaker or the thoughest, best-seven-of-12-points tiebreaker.

Since it was introduced to the pro-level tennis, the tie break has suffered many changes. For example, in the Wimbledon Championships' tournament, it was first introduced in 1972 as a 12-point tiebreaker. Also, there was a time when the match-decider was up to 10 points. However, the tie break rules applied in women's professional tennis are up to 7 points each game or set.

2022 WTA Finals: Why is the match-decider played up to 7 points?

According to the ITF Ruling system, "Points are counted using ordinary numbering. The set is won by the player who has scored at least seven points in the tiebreak and at least two points more than their opponent. For example, if the score is six points to five and the player with six points wins the next point, they win the tiebreak (seven points to five). As well as the set (seven games to six). If the player with five points wins the point instead (for a score of six all), the tiebreak continues and cannot be won on the next point (7–6 or 6–7), since no player will be two points ahead."

Since March 2022, the ATP and the WTA both decided to try out a diffent set of tie break. So, the ATP, WTA and ITF announced that final-set tiebreaks in all Grand Slams will have a 10-point tie break when the set reaches six games all. So, the tie-break will be played up to 18 points if necessary, but only 10 points were needed to win the tie break.

However, both the ATP and WTA needed the games to be faster for the TV fans. So, they switched back the rule to a tiebreak up to sevent points to win, or more if those are necessary. Especifically for the 2022 WTA Finals, those same rules are applied in Fort Worth, Texas.