This article is part of On the Baseline’s Tennis 101 series. Please click here to find the rest of the articles.
One of the most daunting things to a new tennis fan is the seemingly complicated scoring system.
It is actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it, as long as you remember that love means absolutely nothing.
A tennis match is composed of sets, generally best of three or five. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour only plays three sets in singles matches.
Sets are broken down into individual games, which consist of points. The scoring concept is different than any other sport as a player has to win four points in order to score one game.
Instead of counting to 1-4 points, tennis is scored by using love (0), 15, 30, 40.
If both players reach 40-40 (three points each), a deuce is declared, meaning a tie. Play then continues until one player gains the “advantage” (one point more than the other) and then secures the next point to take the game.
A player can only win the set if she wins four games and then two more games than the opposing player. If both players score six games each (6-6), matchplay then converts to a tie-break.
A tie-break always goes to a minimum of seven points (counted using regular numbering) and the winner must have two points higher than her opponent.
Tie-breaks are not played in the deciding, or last set of Grand Slam matches at the Australian Open, Roland Garros, or Wimbledon, only at the U.S. Open.
For more information on how to score tennis, read Wikipedia’s extensive scoring guide.
Deuce is first reached after /three/ points each.
Andrew, thanks for pointing that out! It has been fixed.
One take on the etymology of “love” meaning no points is that it came from “for love of the game.” Without any points, the only reason one could be playing is “for love of the game.”
Wow – that’s a fascinating look at the word “love”. Never thought about that one! Thanks!