Why I Love Final Set Tiebreaks!

After some technical difficulties, I'm back!

With the U.S. Open in full swing, I thought I'd share my thoughts on one of the aspects that makes the Open unique among the Grand Slams. The U.S. Open is the only Slam that utilizes the final set tiebreak instead of the win by 2 format of the others. In a nutshell, no 70-68 score is coming to come out of New York in the month of September.

I for one, love the tiebreak format for this event. I know it has its detractors but I think it adds a great deal to the game. For one, I think it creates a sense of urgency with the players. No offense to Isner or Mahut, but that epic Wimbledon match was largely 2+ days of neither doing anything on the other player's serve. The tiebreak rewards players willing to stay aggressive on their return games and go for shots. It limits the ability to focus on just your serve and brings a focus on balancing serve and return games. I also think it ups the ante on the end of the match being a battle of mental toughness. Knowing you are mere points away, rather than games I think really lays bare who has the mental fortitude to find a way to win and who is going to crumble under pressure. You also can't discount the crowd factor as well. A tiebreak can provide for a very exciting finish and the crowd can get fired up knowing every single point counts.

What do you think? Is the final set tiebreak a great way to keep the only American slam unique or should we let the players grind it out as in the other majors?

Ps. As a friend pointed out today, I find it very bizarre for Grand Slam mixed doubles to use no-ad scoring w/ gender specific serving (as seen in the final today). It's not local league, they are all professionals on that court!