Get A Clear Idea Of How Do Scores Work In Tennis


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Clear all your doubts about how do scores work in tennis. Get your theory of the game clear if you want to progress to the top. Learn the rules on our site.

At first reasons the tennis scores may seems a bit difficult especially if you are new to the sport, but once you learn more about it, you’ll feel like a seasoned fan. Also, learning how to tally the points and to keep track of all the scores during a fast-paced match, can seem very challenging at times. Continue reading and you’ll learn everything you need to know so that you can keep up with the game.

The first thing you should know is that a tennis match is comprised of either the best of three sets, or the best of five sets, however, it all depends on your league. The minimum number of games in a set is six, which means that 1 player won all six games.

Also, each set is played to six games, but you must win by two (if tied at six, you play a tiebreaker). As you can see tennis has one of the strangest scoring systems in the sporting world, but it is without a doubt one of the most fun sports to play.

How Do Scores Really Work in Tennis?

How Do Scores Work in Tennis

Now let’s speak about the scoring system, it can be confusing at first but you’ll get the hang of it. The game score literally starts at “love” which stands for zero and go straight up to 40, but that’s actually just four points.

If you win the first point, you must announce the score at your next serve. To determine who serves first, you have to flip a coin or (more likely spin a racket). The score for every game is 15, then 30, then 40 and if you win a point after 40 you have won 1 game.

Two Point Advantage

Tennis scores can be tricky at times since you have to win by 2 points. What this means is that if the scores is 40 – 40 and you win the next point, the game isn’t finished instead you’ll have the advantage over your opponent (AD – 40). If you have to literally win the next point in order to win the overall game.

That’s is why a lot of tennis games seems to go on for a long time. Until one player achieves a two point advantage, the game will actually go on forever. But, that’s also what makes tennis a fun sport. As mentioned earlier, once you have won six games, you’ve won a set. But, you are still far from finished.

How Many Games in a Tennis Match?

In order to win a tennis match you have to win six games to win a set by at least two points. For example if a set gets to 5-5, a player must win 7-5 to win the set. Let’s say that both players score is 6-6, then this will be classified as a tiebreak. This is known as the penalty shoot-out of tennis, in a tiebreak game, the next person who was due to serve will start the tiebreak game, and serve one point to the deuce side of the court.

In the tiebreak you play first to 7 points and points are numbered like 1,2,3,4,5 etc. So you can expect the same thing to happen here, if the score is 6-6 someone need to win with 2 points, like 8-6. So whoever wins the tiebreak, will eventually win the set.

How Many Sets?

You should know that the number of sets played in a tennis match tends to differ a lot. However, you can expect majority of the matches to be played best of three sets. So what will happen is that the set score will end 2-0, or 2-1. You will also find that many professional tournaments play 2 sets and if the set score is 1-1, it will then goes to a final tiebreaker, first to 10 points.

Where Does This Strange Scoring System Come From?

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We don’t find any source of information on who invented the scoring system and why the scoring system are using the non logical 15,30,40 system. However, you may find that there are some few good theories that tends to make sense and I believe its true.

One of the theories that is well known to be true is the origins of the 15, 30, and 40 scores are coming from the medieval French. I strongly believe that there was a clock face used on court. If you look closely you’ll notice that on each score the pointer moved round a quarter, from 0 – 15, 30, 45 and on 60 the game is over.

So in order to make sure that the game could not be won by a one point difference, the idea of deuces comes into play. So to make it possible for the score stay within the 60 tick on the clock face, what they had to do was change the 45 to 40. Therefore, if both players were to achieve a score of 40, the first player to score recieves ten, which will eventually move the clock to 50.

If one of the players scored a second time before the other is able to score, the player that scored would be awarded with another ten and the clock moves to 60. The 60 signifies the end of the game.

However, if the players failed to actually score twice in a row, what will happen is that the clock would move back to 40 meaning another “deuces”.

Let’s also be clear that in men’s professional tennis, players generally must win approximately three out of five sets in order to win a match. While on the other end, in women’s professional tennis, players generally must win two out of three sets to win a match.

With that being said, it all depends on the league you are playing in, you will either need to win three out of five sets, or two or out of three sets.

However, like with games and sets, you must win by two. That means the match can go as much as five out of seven sets, or even seven out of nine sets if you and your opponent keep tying.

So as you can see tracking tennis scores can be quite difficult especially if you are a newbie to the game.

Here’s how you score points in tennis

Points form the foundation of the tennis scoring system. They are the building blocks of a tennis match. When tennis players accumulate points, they eventually score a game. Once they accumulate games, they then score a set. Depending on the tournament they are participating in, they need to win two or three sets to win the whole match. 

Similar to the numeral system in which the counting is done from Units – Tens – Hundreds – Thousands, in tennis, the scoring system works in Points – Games – Sets – Match.

So how does a player score points in tennis? The basic principle of scoring in tennis is that a player needs to hit the ball over the net, into a delimited area called the court. The opponent will try to do the same, and if both players are successful, they will engage in a rally (the ball goes from one side of the court to the other). Based on this principle, here are 5 ways a player can score points in tennis:

  • The opponent misses at the net during a rally (also known as error)
  • The opponent misses two serves in a row either outside the box (called a double fault) or at the net
  • The opponent hits the shot over the net, but outside your court (also known as error)
  • You hit a shot that goes past your opponent (it’s called a winner)
  • You hit a shot that bounces twice on the opponent’s court before they hit it (double bounce)

Conclusion

Tennis is a fun sport to watch by itself, however, understanding the scoring system will keep you fully focused on the match and make your experience more enjoyable. Once you understand the basics of how the point system works, you will very easily be able to follow tennis matches.

We truly hope you learn everything on how do scores work in tennis and if you have any questions leave a comment down below.

Gaurav Mongia

Welcome! We are a passionate group of writers and researchers who enjoy writing about tennis racquets, tennis balls, and other tennis equipments. We hope you find this guide helpful.

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