Count the points rather than waiting for advantage
Imagine a fictional game reaches 40–40 after each side wins three points. In ordinary advantage scoring, winning the next point creates advantage, and another consecutive point is needed to win the game. In no-ad, the next point itself decides the game.
The no-ad game in that example ends after seven total points. A viewer familiar with advantage scoring might think a game was skipped when the scoreboard moves directly from deuce to the next game, but that transition follows the declared format.
The receiving choice is part of the procedure
The ITF alternative no-ad procedure lets the receiver or receiving team choose the right or left service court for the deciding point, with specific doubles restrictions. In mixed doubles, the same-gender receiver provision applies. Those details are not permission to rearrange the receiving team however it wants.
A pause before the deciding serve can therefore concern the receiving choice rather than a dispute about the score. Watch the umpire’s announcement and the event’s format information before assuming the server is serving from the wrong half.
Do not confuse no-ad with a match tie-break
No-ad changes how a game is completed. A match tie-break can replace a deciding set under a separate format provision. An event can use one alternative, both or neither. Seeing a short final-set format does not by itself establish that every earlier game was no-ad.
ITF officiating guidance explicitly provides the deciding-point announcement when no-ad is used. For an archive, record the competition, year and applicable scoring method. The ordinary word deuce appears in both systems, so it is not enough to identify the procedure alone.
A useful replay note includes the game score before deuce, the announced receiving choice and the winner of the deciding point. This preserves the tactical importance of that point without inventing an extra advantage exchange or treating the completed game as a scoring error.
At deuce, both sides therefore have a direct chance to win that game on the next point.
Related questions
Does no-ad require two points after deuce?
No. One deciding point wins the game in that format.
Sources and scope
Scope notes distinguish published documentation, supplied information and editorial methods. They do not report a hands-on service test.
- USTA 2025 Friend at Court — ITF alternative no-ad procedure reproduced in federation handbook
- ITF officiating procedures — Deciding-point receiver-choice announcement
- ITF 2026 amendments — Current amendment context; no universal claim that every event uses no-ad
