Tennis Scoring System Explained

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Tennis Scoring System Explained

Tennis is one of the most popular recreational sports in the world enjoyed by millions who play

the game at all levels, it is also highly regarded as one of the biggest spectator sports in the world

behind Football (Soccer), NASCAR, American Football and Formula 1. Tennis was developedin 19th

Century England where it was originally named Lawn Tennis and played in a very similar

fashion to what it is now, give or take a few rules. However, the origins of Tennis and its scoring

system are thought to date back as far as 12th

Century France when players would use their handto strike the ball with Racquets not being introduced until the 16

thCentury. Millions of people

around the world love the sport yet, not many of them are able to explain the origins of Tennis

Love, 15, 30, 40, Game scoring system, here I hope to shed a little light on that subject.

First I will explain that a Tennis match is made up of Sets, in a normal ATP or WTP game there

are three Sets in a match. In Major tournaments Wimbledon, U.S Open, Australian Open and

French Open there are five Sets to every match. Within each set there is a possibility of 13

games, the first player to get to six games, or two games clear wins the set, should both playersfinish on six games each then the Set will go to a tie-break. Technically a tie break can go on for

some time, I will explain tie-break scoring a little further down.

Think: Game - Set - Match, it is important to note that weather it be a "Game" a "Deuce" score or

a "Tie-break" that a player must win by two clear points before being awarded the "Game"

Tennis has a five point scoring system for each game within a Set which I have displayed for you

in the table below.

Tennis Scoring Explained "5 Points"

Game Start Love

1 Point 15

2 Points 30

3 points 40

4 points Game


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Source:http://en.wikipedia.org

An Example of How It Would Go

Lets say its Roger Federer v Rafael Nadal, its the best of five sets. They start the first game of

the first set and Federer scores the first point. The referee would call 15 Love meaning 1 0 toFederer. The same goes if Federer were to go 30 Love (20) and 40 Love (30), on the final

point which Federer wins again the referee would announce Game Federer. This means that

Roger Federer has won the first game of the first set. The players then switch ends, serve and the

referee will announce First Set second Game Federer leads 1 game to nil, Nadal to serve. Fromthis point the scoring system starts again.

What Happens if its A Draw In Tennis?

There are two draws which can be achieved in Tennis, one is at the end of a set where a tie-break

game which I mentioned above would commence, the other is in the game of a set. Ill use

Fedrer again, he scores the first point from his serve, then Nadal wins the second. The refereewould call 15 all, the same goes for 30 all. Its not until the next point where the draw

matters however, this is not called 40 all, this will be announced Deuce. Ill explain what

Deuce means a little further down. At Deuce the palyers are drawn, technically its 3 3. Theyhave to play for the next point and lets say Federer wins that again, the referee would call

Advantage Federer, this means if he scores the next point he wins that game however, if Nadal

wins the point then the score goes back to Deuce. They keep playing until one player gets

Advantage and then manages to win the following point.

What is a Tie-break In Tennis?

A tie break is the game the players would enter should the Set end six games all. The tie-breakgame is scored differently to a normal game, typically you must win the game 75, these points

are scored individually as in 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. A player must be two points clear to win a tie-break

set, this is the same ruling as a normal game where the score is Deuce and the player must winthe Advantage and then the final point, thus winning by two points. In theory either of these

two games could go on for a very long time.
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What Does Deuce Mean In Tennis?

Like the game of Tennis, its scoring system is derived from Medieval French, then players used a

clock on the court which was moved 15 minutes each time someone scored a point. This meantthat at 60 the game was finished. In order to combat this the score Deuce was introduced and

the 45 minute changed to 40. This meant that when players where 40 all Deuce would becalled meaning that a player then had to gain an advantage before winning the final point andmoving onto 60 for the game to be finished. This meant that a player had to be two points clear

of their opponent before they could win the game.

The word Deuce is derived from the Latin language and means "two" but, the word is used in

Tennis from a French saying "a deux le jeu" which in English means "two the game". It is also

thought to stand for "to both is the game".

What is a "Love" Score In Tennis?

This one is relativly easier to explain than "Deuce", look at it like this love = 0, so you could gowith the example I used at the top with Federer and Nadal. In a game of a set if Federer wins the

first point it's 1 - 0, the referee will announce "15 love".

The usage of the word Love in tennis again goes back to the games French origin, it is derived

from the French word L'oeuf which means "The egg" in English, from that it continued and

emerged as it is now.

Tennis scoreFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Final score of the 2005 singles final in San Jose ofAndy RoddickvsCyril Saulnier

Atennismatch is composed ofpoints, games, and sets. A match is won when a player or a

doubles team wins the majority of prescribed sets. Traditionally, matches are either abest ofthreesets orbest of fivesets format. The best of five set format is typically only played in the

Men's singles matches atMajorsand Davis Cup matches.

A set consists of a number ofgames (typically six to twelve), which in turn consist ofpoints,with a tiebreak played if the set is tied at six games per player. Tennis scoring rests on the

premise that serving is advantageous over receiving, hence it is only possible to win a set or

match bybreaking the opponent's service gameat least once, before a tiebreak is required.

Likewise, it is not possible to win a tiebreak without winning at least one point during anopponent's turn at serve (called amini-break).

Contents

1 Scoring a gameo 1.1 Alternative game scoringo 1.2 Game scoring origins

2 Scoring a seto 2.1 Scoring a tiebreak gameo 2.2 History of the tiebreako 2.3 Alternative Set Scoring formats

3 Scoring the matcho 3.1 Total points wono 3.2 Total games won

4 Announcing the scoreo 4.1 Variations and slang

5 Notes 6 References

Scoring a game

A game consists of a sequence ofpoints played with the same player serving, and is won by thefirst player (or players) to have won at least four points by two points or more over theiropponent. In scoring an individual standard game of tennis, the server's score is always called

first and the receiver's score second. Score calling is unique to the sport of tennis in that each

point has a corresponding call that is synonymous with that point value.
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Number of points won Corresponding call[1]

0 "love"

1 "15"

2 "30"

3 "40"

4 "game"

In tennis, scoring in tie situations in which both players have won the same number of points also

varies. If each player has won three points, the score is described as "deuce" rather than "40all".

From this point on, whenever the score is tied, it is described as "deuce" regardless of how manypoints have been played.

In standard play, scoring beyond a "deuce" score, in which both players have scored three points

each, requires that one player must win two consecutive points in order to win the game. This

type of tennis scoring is known as "advantage scoring" (or "ads"). In this type of scoring, theplayer who wins the next point after deuce is said to have the advantage. If the player with

advantage loses the next point, the score is again deuce, since the score is tied. If the player with

the advantage wins the next point, that player has won the game, since the player now leads by

two points. When the server is the player with the advantage, the score may be stated by himbefore the next point as "advantage in." When the server's opponent has the advantage, the server

may state the score as "advantage out." These phrases are sometimes shortened to "ad in" and"ad out." Alternatively, the server may simply use players' names; in professional tournamentsthe umpire announces the score in this format (e.g., "advantage McEnroe" or "advantage Borg").

Point score examples Corresponding call

34 "advantage out"

43 "advantage in"

4 4, 5 5, 6 6, etc. "deuce"

4 6, 3 5 "game"

The current point score is announced orally before each point by the judge, or by the server ifthere is no judge. When stating the score, the server's score is stated first. If the server (or the
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judge) announces the score as "30love", for example, it means that the server has won two

points and the receiver none.

Alternative game scoring

A popular alternative to advantage scoring is "no-advantage" (or "no-ad") scoring, developed byJames Van Alenin order to shorten match playing time.

[2]No-Advantage scoring is a scoring

method in which the first player to reach four points wins the game. No-Ad scoring eliminates

the requirement that a player must win by two points. Therefore, if the game is tied at deuce, thenext player to win a point wins the game. This method of scoring is used in most professional

doubles matches. When this style of play is implemented, at deuce, the receiver then chooses

from which side of the court he desires to return his opponent's serve. However, in no-ad mixeddoubles play gender always serves to the same gender at game point and during the final point of

tiebreaks.[3]

Game scoring origins

The origins of the 15, 30, and 40 scores are believed to be medieval French[citation needed]

. It ispossible that a clock face was used on court, with a quarter move of the hand to indicate a score

of 15, 30, and 45. When the hand moved to 60, the game was over. However, in order to ensure

that the game could not be won by a one-point difference in players' scores, the idea of "deuce"was introduced. To make the score stay within the "60" ticks on the clock face, the 45 was

changed to 40. Therefore, if both players have 40, the first player to score receives ten and that

moves the clock to 50. If the player scores a second time before the opponent is able to score,

they are awarded another ten and the clock moves to 60. The 60 signifies the end of the game.However, if a player fails to score twice in a row, then the clock would move back to 40 to

establish another "deuce".[4]

Another theory is that the scoring nomenclature came from the French gamejeu de paume(a

precursor to tennis which used the hand instead of a racquet). Jeu de paume was very popular

before the French revolution, with more than 1,000 courts in Paris alone. The traditional courtwas 90 ft in total with 45 ft on each side. When the server scored, he moved forward 15 ft. If he

scored again, he would move another 15 ft. If he scored a third time, he could only move 10 ft

closer.[citation needed]

The origin of the use of "love" for zero is also disputed. It is possible that it derives from the

French expression for "the egg" (l'uf) because an egg looks like the number zero.[5][6]

This is

similar to the origin of the term "duck" inCricketsupposedly from "Duck's egg" referring to a

Batsman who has been called out without completing a run. "Love" is also said to derive froml'heure "the hour" in French[citation needed]

. A third possibility comes from the Dutch expression iets

voor lof doen, which means to do something for praise, implying no monetary stakes.[7]

However, the most accepted theory on the origins of the use of "Love" comes from the

acceptance that, at the start of any match, when scores are at zero, players still have "Love for

each other". This feeling, obviously, goes away as the match progresses.[8]
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Scoring a set

In tennis, a set consists of a sequence of games played with alternating service and return roles.

There are two types of set formats that require different types of scoring.[9]

An advantage setis played until a player or team wins six games and that player or team has atwo game lead over their opponent(s). The set continues, without tiebreaker, until a player orteam wins the set by two games. Advantage sets are no longer played under the rules of the

United States Tennis Association,[10]

however they are still used in the final sets in men's and

women's draws in both singles and doubles of theAustralian Open,French Open,Wimbledon,Fed Cup, andDavis Cup. Mixed doubles at the Grand Slams are a best-of-three format with the

final set being played as a "Super-Tie Break" (sometimes referred to as a "best of two" format)

except at Wimbledon, which still plays a best-of-three match with the final set played as an

advantage set and the first two played as tie-break sets.

A tie-break setis played with the same rules as the Advantage Set, except when the score is tied

at 66, a tie-break game (or tiebreaker) is played. Typically, the tie-break game continues untilone player wins seven points by a margin of two or more points. However, many tie-break games

are played with different tiebreak point requirements, such as 8 or 10 points.

Advantage sets have a tendency to go significantly longer than tie-break sets. The2010

Wimbledon first-round matchbetweenJohn IsnerandNicolas Mahut, which is the longest

professional tennis match in history, notably ended with Isner winning the 5th set, 7068. Thematch lasted in total 11 hours and 5 minutes with the 5th set alone lasting 8 hours, 11 minutes.

Nevertheless, even tie-break sets can last a long time. For instance, once players reach 66 setscore and also reach 66 tiebreaker score, play must continue until one player has a 2 point

advantage, which can takea very long time. Sets decided by tiebreakers, however, are typicallysignificantly shorter than extended advantage sets.

The score of games within a set is counted in the ordinary manner, except when a player or team

has a score of no games it is read as "love". The score is written using digits separated by a dash.This score is announced by the judge or server at the start of each game.

Example set scoresCorresponding verbal set score

00 "love love"

7

5 "set"

36 "set"

In doubles, service alternates between the teams. One player serves for an entire service game,

with that player's partner serving for the entirety of the team's next service game. Players of thereceiving team receive the serve on alternating points, with each player of the receiving team
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declaring which side of the court (deuce or ad side) they will receive serve on for the duration of

the set.

The set is won by the first player (or team) to have won at least six games and at least two games

more than his or her opponent. Traditionally, sets would be played until both these criteria had

been met, with no maximum number of games. To shorten matches,James Van Alencreated atie-breaker system, which was widely introduced in the early 1970s. If the score reaches 65, one

further game is played. If the leading player wins this game, he wins the set 75. If the trailing

player wins the game, the score is tied at 66 and a special tiebreaker game is played. The winnerof the tiebreak wins the set by a score of 76. The tiebreak is sometimes not employed for the

final set of a match, so that the deciding set must be played until one player or team has won two

more games than the opponent. This is true in three of the four major tennis championships, all

except theUS Openwhere a tiebreak is played even in the deciding set (fifth set for the men,third set for the women) at 66. A tiebreak is not played in the deciding set in the other three

majorstheAustralian Open, theFrench Open, andWimbledon. (When the tiebreak was first

introduced at Wimbledon in 1971, it was invoked at 88 rather than 66.)

Scoring a tiebreak game

At a score of 66, a set is often determined by one more game called a "twelve point tiebreaker."Only one more game is played to determine the winner of the set; the score of the set is always

76 (or 67). Points are counted using ordinary numbering. The set is decided by the player whowins at least seven points in the tiebreak but also has two points more than his opponent. For

example, if the score is 6 points to 5 points and the player with 6 points wins the next point, he

wins the tiebreak and the set. If the player with 5 points wins the point, the tiebreak continues

and cannot be won on the next point, since no player will be two points better than his opponent.In scoring, sometimes the tiebreak points are also included, for example 76 (75). Another way

of listing the score of the tiebreak is to list only the loser's points. For example, if the score islisted as 76 (8), the tiebreak score was 108 (since 8 is the loser's points, and the winner mustwin by two points).

The player who would normally be serving after 66 is the one to serve first in the tiebreak, andthe tiebreak is considered a service game for this player. The server begins his service from the

deuce courtand serves one point. After the first point, the serve changes to the first server's

opponent. Each player then serves two consecutive points for the remainder of the tiebreak. Thefirst of each two-point sequence starts from the server'sadvantage courtand the second starts

from thedeuce court. In this way, the sum of the scores is even when the server serves from the

deuce court. After every six points, the players switch ends of the court; a noticeable fact is that

the side-changes during the tiebreak will occur in the middle of a server's two-point sequence. Atthe end of the tiebreak, the players switch ends of the court again, since the set score is always

odd (13 games).

An alternative tie-break system called the Coman tie-break is sometimes used by the United

States Tennis Association. Scoring is the same, but end changes take place after the first point

and then after every four points. This approach allows the servers of doubles teams to continueserving from the same end of the court as during the body of the set.
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History of the tiebreak

The tiebreak was invented byJames Van Alenin 1965 after an earlier, unsuccessful attempt tospeed up the game by the use of his so-called Van Alen Streamlined Scoring System (VASSS).

For two years before the Open Era, in 1955 and 1956, theUnited States Pro Championshipin

Cleveland, Ohiowas played by VASSS rules. The scoring was the same as that intable tennis,with sets played to 21 points and players alternating 5 services, with no second service. The rules

were created partially to limit the effectiveness of the powerful service of the reigning

professional champion,Pancho Gonzales. Even with the new rules, however, Gonzales beatPancho Segurain the finals of both tournaments. Even though the 1955 match went to 5 sets,

with Gonzales barely holding on to win the last one 2119, apparently it took only 47 minutes to

play.[11]

The fans attending the matches preferred the traditional rules, however, and in 1957 the

tournament reverted to the old method of scoring.

Impetus to use the tiebreak gained force after a monumental 1969 struggle at Wimbledon

betweenPancho GonzalesandCharlie Pasarell. This was a 5-set match that lasted five hours and

12 minutes and took 2 days to complete. In the fifth set the 41-year-old Gonzales won all sevenmatch points that Pasarell had against him, twice coming back from 040 deficits. The final

score was 2224, 16, 1614, 63, 119.

In 1971 the tiebreak was introduced at Wimbledon when the score in any set except the final set

reached 88 in games.

In 1979 Wimbledon changed their rules so that a tie break would be played once any set, except

the final set, reached 66 in games.

In 1989 Davis Cup adopted the tie-break in all sets except for the final set.

In 2001 the Australian Open replaced the final set of mixed doubles with a match tie-break (first

to 10 points and win by 2 points wins the match).[12]

Despite some criticism of the change by

fans and former pros,[13]

the US Open and the French Open have since gone on to join theAustralian Open in using the same format for mixed doubles. Wimbledon continues to play a

traditional best of three match with the final set being an advantage set.

Tie-break sets are now nearly universal in all levels of play, even in final sets; however, the tie-

break is not a compulsory element in any set, and the actual formatting of sets and tie-breaksdepends on the tournament director in tournaments, and in private matches on the players'

agreement before the match begins. Tie-breaks are not used in the final set in the Australian

Openfor singles,French Openfor singles,Wimbledon, theOlympics, Davis Cup, or Fed Cup.TheUS Openis the onlyGrand Slamto use a tiebreak in the final set for singles. The AustralianOpen and French Open do, however, use the final set tiebreak for men's and women's doubles.

Alternative Set Scoring formats

While traditional sets continue until a player wins at least 6 games by a margin of at least 2

games there are some alternative set scoring formats in use. A common alternative set format is
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the 8 game pro set. Instead of playing until one player reaches 6 games with a margin of two

games, one plays until one player wins 8 games with a margin of two games. A tie-break is then

played at 8 games all. While the format isn't used in modern professional matches, it wassupposedly used in early professional tours. While this format isn't recognized by the ITF rules,

it is commonly utilized in various amateur leagues and high school tennis as a shorter alternative

to a best of three match, but longer than a traditional tie-break set. In addition, 8 game pro setsare used during doubles for all Division I college dual matches.[14]

Another alternative set format are so called "short sets" where the first to 4 games to win by twogames. In this format a tie-break is played at 4 games all. The ITF experimented with this format

in low level Davis Cup matches, but the experiment was not continued. Nevertheless this

alternative remains as an acceptable alternative in the ITF rules of Tennis.[15]

Another alternative set format is seen inWorld Team Tenniswhere the winner of a set is the first

to win five games and a 9 point tie-break is played at 44.

Scoring the match

Most singles matches consist of an odd number of sets, the match winner being the player whowins more than half of the sets. The match ends as soon as this winning condition is met. Men's

singles and doubles matches may consist of up to five sets (the winner being the first to take the

majority of total allocated sets) while women's singles matches are usually best of three sets.

Doubles matches (including mixed doubles) are usually best of three sets, with a Super Tiebreakto ten points played if the score reaches a set all.

While the alternation of service between games continues throughout the match without regardto sets, the ends are changed after each odd game within a set (including the last game). If, for

example, the second set of a match ends with the score at 63, 16, the ends are changed as thelast game played was the 7th (odd) game of the set and in spite of it being the 16th (even) gameof the match. Notably, in situations where a set ends with an odd game, back to back games see

change of endsi.e., ends are changed before and after the first game of the following set. A

tiebreaker game is treated as a single game for the purposes of this alternation. Since tiebreakers

always result in a score of 76, there is always a court change after the tiebreaker.

The score of a complete match may be given simply by sets won, or with the scores of each setgiven separately. In either case, the match winner's score is stated first. In the former, shorter

form, a match might be listed as 31 (i.e. three sets to one). In the latter form, this same match

might be further described as "75, 67 (47), 64, 76 (86)". (As noted above, an alternate

form of writing the tiebreak score lists only the loser's scoree.g., "67 (4)" for the second set inthe example.) This match was won three sets to one, with the match loser winning the second set

on a tiebreaker. The numbers in parentheses, normally included in printed scorelines but omitted

when spoken, indicate the duration of the tiebreaker following a given set. Here, the matchwinner lost the second-set tiebreaker 74 and won the fourth-set tiebreaker 86.
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Total points won

Because tennis is scored set by set and game by game, a player may lose a match despitewinning the majority of points and/or games played.

Consider a player who wins six games in each of two sets, all by a score of game-30. The winnerhas scored 4x12 = 48 points and the loser 2x12 = 24. Suppose also that the loser wins four games

in each set, all by a score of game-love. The loser has scored 4x8 = 32 points and the winner zero

in those games. The final score is a win by 64, 64; total points 4856.

An example of this in actual practice was the record-breakingIsner-Mahut matchin theWimbledon first round, 22/23/24 June 2010.John Isnerof the USA beatNicolas Mahutof

France 64, 36, 67(7), 76(3), 7068Mahut winning a total of 502 points to Isner's 478.[16]

Total games won

Likewise, a player may lose a match despite winning the majority of games played (or win amatch despite losing the majority of games).Roger Federerwon the 2009 Wimbledon final overAndy Roddick(57, 76(6), 76(5), 36, 1614) despite Roddick's winning more games (39,

versus Federer's 38).

Announcing the score

If there is no judge to announce the score of a match, there is a specific protocol for stating the

score. During a game, the server has the responsibility to announce the game score before heserves. He does this by announcing his score first. If, for example, the server loses the first three

points of his service game, he would say, "Love, 40." This convention is used consistently. After

a set is complete, the server, before serving for the first game of the next set, announces the setscores so far completed in the match, stating his scores first. If he has won the first two sets and

is beginning the third, he would say, "Two, love, new set." If he had lost the first two sets, he

would say, "Love, two, new set." Finally, after the completion of the match, either player, whenasked the score, announces his scores first.

As an example, consider a match betweenAndy MurrayandFernando Verdasco. Andy Murraywins the first two sets 64 and 75, but loses the next two sets by 26 and 36, and then wins the

final set by 2018. Such a result would be written as:

Andy Murray def. Fernando Verdasco 64, 75, 26, 36, 2018

And said:

Andy Murray (of Great Britain) defeated Fernando Verdasco (of Spain) six-four, seven-five, two-

six, three-six, twenty-eighteen.
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Variations and slang

During informal play of tennis, especially at tennis clubs in the USA (also in other Englishspeaking countries), announcing the score is frequently shortened with the use of erroneous

abbreviations and esoteric inferences. Sources indicate that a score fifteen is replaced with "five",

or in some cases "fif". Similarly, the scores of thirty and forty may sometimes be spoken as"three" or "four" respectively. A score of fifteen all, may sometimes be announced as "fives." To

further confuse score announcements, a score of thirty all (3030) may often be called "deuce"

and the following point referred to as "ad-in" or "ad-out" depending on which player (or team)won the point. The logic for this is that a thirty all score is effectively the same as deuce (4040).

[17
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Documents

Tennis Scoring System Explained