Home British & World English double fault

Definition of double fault in English:

double fault

(also double-fault)

noun

Tennis

  • An instance of two consecutive faults in serving, counting as a point against the server.

    • ‘The Frenchman serves two consecutive double faults before sending an attempted lob clear of the baseline.’
    • ‘She admitted to being a little rusty, which showed in several double faults and foot faults.’
    • ‘The British No 2, now up to No 98 in the rankings, was not disturbed by 12 double faults in the match.’
    • ‘She found herself down 3-0 after getting broken in her first two service games with four double faults and failing to get a ball back in Raymond's first service game.’
    • ‘But she stuttered badly in the second with a string of double faults, helping Seles to take four games on the trot to claim the set from 2-4 down.’

verb

[no object]

  • Serve a double fault.

    ‘she double-faulted on the final point’
    • ‘Rafter started the brighter and broke serve when Agassi double-faulted, holding out to take the first set.’
    • ‘But Enqvist stormed back to tie it, only to double-fault on his last serve before Agassi hit a backhand cross-court winner to end the first set.’
    • ‘Last year, when she double-faulted at break point in the Wimbledon final against her sister, there were dark rumours that it had been decreed as Serena's year.’
    • ‘But the Williams serve went awry in the seventh game allowing Capriati to counter-attack and then double-faulting to lose her serve for the second time.’
    • ‘He double-faulted on his serve; he flubbed a shot at the net.’
    • ‘After two evenly-matched sets, Haas double-faulted in the ninth game of the third set to hand Agassi a 5-4 lead, and the American held on to win.’
    • ‘He dropped one last forehand on the baseline to reach match point, and when Agassi double-faulted, Calleri sank to his knees in jubilation.’
    • ‘She double-faulted to lose her serve for 4-all, then double-faulted again in the final game to reach match point.’
    • ‘Henman messed up the first-set tie-break after coming back from 5-down only to double-fault at 5-5 and allow Saulnier to serve out.’
    • ‘In the next game, Hingis double-faulted to give Capriati setpoint and then sliced a backhand long to hand the American the set in 39 minutes.’
    • ‘Agassi, seeded No 1 at Queen's and playing here for the first time, was tentative with his usually solid ground strokes and double-faulted 14 times.’
    • ‘A shaky Karlovic double-faulted twice to lose the first game, then double-faulted twice more in his next service game to fall behind 3-0.’
    • ‘She double-faulted at match point when leading 5-4 in the second set to allow sixth-seeded Williams back into the contest, but regrouped in the third to complete her victory.’
    • ‘The two held serve in the next two games with Davenport taking the tiebreaker 7-1 as Williams double-faulted twice and sprayed her inconsistent forehands into the net.’
    • ‘The 29-year-old, who twice double-faulted on match point, promptly collapsed in a heap - before leaping up the steps to embrace his father courtside.’
    • ‘Serving for her first place in the semi-finals of the French Open in 11 years, she tensed up, double-faulted and blew a match point.’

Pronunciation

double fault