Keeping Score

  • Step One:

    Note which player is serving the game. The server's score is always announced first. Actually, it is the server who should call out the score before every point, just before he or she serves.

  • Step Two:

    Watch for whom the first point is made. A player loses the point by missing the ball, hitting it into the net or hitting it out of bounds. A server loses the point immediately if he or she double-faults - fails to hit the ball in the service square after two attempts.

  • Step Three:

    Announce the score if you're serving. (Didn't we say that in step one?) The first score is 15. A score of zero is "love." If the server makes the point, the score is "15-love." If the other player makes the point, the score is "love-15."

  • Step Four:

    Note that a player must be ahead by two points to win the game. If the game score progresses to 40-40, or "40-all," a player must gain the advantage ("40-ad" or "ad-40"), and then score the next point to win the game. If the player with the advantage does not score the next point, the score goes back to 40-all.

All that said, it can be a little confusing when you first try to figure out how to keep score in tennis. It's not like other sports that keep score for the mathematically simple where you start at "one". No, tennis starts out at 15. "Why, El Guapo?" I know. I know. Trust me, that's not going to change, so deal with it. Actually, you start out with "love", which equals zero. The first point goes from love to fifteen. The second point won takes you from 15 to 30. The third takes you from 30 to 40. Once you reach 40, two things can happen. If you are playing USTA (United States Tennis Association), ATP (American Tennis Professionals), or ITF (International Tennis Federation), then you are probably playing with what is called "Ad" scoring. "Ad" is short for "advantage". If that is the case, then if both players reach 40, the score will be called as "deuce". "Deuce" means "two" or "both" - meaning both have the same score. The next person to gain a point is said to have the advantage or "ad". If the server reaches this point, it is called "Ad in", if the reciever reaches this point it is called "Ad out".

If you are playing with no ad scoring, then you are probably playing high school or college tennis. In this case, once both participants reach 40, whomever gains the next point wins the game. Is all that confusing? It looks something like this:

"Love" = 0

"15" = First point

"30" = Second point

"40" = third point

"Ad" = advantage

Then it's game, baby!!!

Ok, back in the day (we're talking the 70's) the small minded used to think tennis was a sissy sport because of the word "love" in the score. It actually came from the french mocking their opponents for not scoring a point. You know how in any other sport where when someone doesn't score, we mock them by saying they got a "donut", "big zero", or "goose egg"? Yeah, lots of fights break out cause of this. Well, tennis has never been any different. It was actually a Belgian man who coined the phrase - "leuve" which sounds like "goose egg". They thought it was funny to belittle the opponents and it caught on. What did you learn today?

Ok, in tennis we don't just play one game. We play sets of games! This is not a game for mere mortals!!! The scoring here is a little easier. A set usually consists of six games and usually must be won by two games. So, if both players reach 6 all, then they would play on until one person wins two games more than the other (i.e. : 7-5, 8-6, 23-21, etc...).

Now, if you are playing with "Ad" scoring (and you probably are), you will probably play a tie-breaker at this point.

  • If you're playing singles the player who didn't just serve the last game serves the first point of the tiebreaker. In doubles it is just the next person to serve.
  • The player that serves first only serves once, on the right hand or deuce side
  • Then the opponent serves twice, starting on the other side (backhand or ad court) and he/she serves two points. The scores are counted as 1,2,3... not 15,30....
  • At 6 points total, or any multiple of 6 points total, players switch sides
  • The first player to reach 7 points wins the tiebreaker however they must win by 2 points to win the tiebreaker.

Ok, have we confused you enough? The easiest way to learn how to keep score in tennis would be to print this out and watch it on television. They usually post the score on the bottom or top and you can look at it and look at it until the lightbulb turns on. Kind of like learning to factorize polynomials in algebra...one day (after eons of frustration) you look up at the blackboard and just "get it"!

 

 

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