diff --git a/src/svg/axis.js b/src/svg/axis.js
index 64c69196..260867d3 100644
--- a/src/svg/axis.js
+++ b/src/svg/axis.js
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ d3.svg.axis = function() {
 
       // Ticks, or domain values for ordinal scales.
       var ticks = tickValues == null ? (scale.ticks ? scale.ticks.apply(scale, tickArguments_) : scale.domain()) : tickValues,
-          tickFormat = tickFormat_ == null ? (scale.tickFormat ? scale.tickFormat.apply(scale, tickArguments_) : String) : tickFormat_;
+          tickFormat = tickFormat_ == null ? (scale.tickFormat ? scale.tickFormat.apply(scale, (tickArguments_ == null ? tickValues : tickArguments_)) : String) : tickFormat_;
 
       // Minor ticks.
       var subticks = d3_svg_axisSubdivide(scale, ticks, tickSubdivide),