In tennis, “love” means nothing—literally. That scoring quirk and others can lead to confusion if you’re used to playing sports where one point equals, well, one point. Learning how to keep score, including switching sides of the court and net, will help you navigate your way through the games, sets, tiebreakers and matches that make up the tennis scoring system.
Points
A point starts when a server hits a ball which is tossed from her hand before it hits the ground, and the ball lands in the correct service box. A service box is the area on the opposite side of the net bounded by the three lines closest to the net, and the net. There are two service boxes, and the server must serve into the box on the diagonal from her (right to left, left to right). A player scores a point if the server fails to get a serve into the service box after two tries, or if one player, after the successful start of a point, does not keep the ball inside the outer lines of the court. Points are awarded in denominations of 15, 30, 40, deuce and advantage. The first point earned is 15, the second is 30 and the third is 40. If players split the first six points, the score is then 40-40, 40-all or “deuce.” The player who wins the next point has an advantage, and the score is called, “advantage in” if the score is in favor of the server and “advantage out” if the score is in favor of the receiver.
Games
Games are won when a player wins four or more points and leads by two. Theoretically, a game could go on forever if players trade points after 40-40. To prevent this from happening, some tennis competitions use no-ad scoring, with a sudden-death point played at 40-40. The receiver chooses on which side of the court to receive serve, and one point is played to determine the winner of the game.
Sets and Tiebreakers
A set is won when a player wins six games, leading by at least two games. A set can be won with a score of 7-5, but if players reach 6-6, a tiebreaker is usually played. The official tiebreaker used by the International Tennis Federation and most other competitions is the seven-point tiebreaker. The server begins by serving one point to the deuce court, then players serve two points each from then on, beginning from the ad court until one player wins seven points, with a two-point lead. In theory, this tiebreaker could go on forever if players reach 6-6 and trade points from then on. To shorten tiebreakers, a nine-point tiebreaker is sometimes used. The players start by serving two points each until someone reaches five points. If six points have been played and there is no winner, the final server serves the last three points, with the receiver choosing on which side to receive the final serve if the score goes to 4-4.
Match
In men’s professional tennis, the first player to win three sets wins the match. For women, matches are best-of-three. Variations of match scoring include eight- and 10-game Pro Sets, with tiebreakers played at 7-7, 8-8, 9-9 or 10-10. Super tiebreaks are used in lieu of a third set in many non-professional matches, including official USTA league competitions and recreational tournaments. These tiebreaks are played like seven-point tiebreakers, with the winner needing at least 10 points to win.
