Who invented tennis's tie-break scoring system?

Jimmy Van Alen invented tennis's tie-break scoring system. The American sportsman and tennis administrator developed the idea to prevent sets and matches from becoming excessively long, eventually creating the format that transformed modern tennis scoring.

Van Alen first promoted a broader reform called the Van Alen Streamlined Scoring System, or VASSS. Used experimentally in the 1955 and 1956 U.S. Professional Championships, it borrowed ideas from table tennis, including point-based games and limited serving turns. Traditionalists disliked the changes, and the tournament returned to conventional scoring in 1957.

His tie-break concept proved more durable. It was tested at Newport Casino in 1965, and the U.S. Open introduced a best-of-nine sudden-death version experimentally in 1970. The format later evolved toward the best-of-12-point tiebreak used widely today. Jack Kramer, Dwight Davis and Bill Tilden were important figures in tennis history, but they did not invent the tie-break.