Tennis scoring can look baffling to newcomers, with its odd jumps from 15 to 30 to 40 rather than a simple 1, 2, 3. Once you understand the layers — points, games, sets and matches — it actually becomes fairly intuitive, and the quirky numbers are just tradition rather than anything mathematically meaningful.
Points and games
Within a single game, points are scored as 0 ("love"), 15, 30 and 40. Win a point after reaching 40 and you win the game, unless your opponent also has 40, known as "deuce." From deuce, a player must win two points in a row to take the game: winning the first gives "advantage," and winning the next takes the game outright, while losing it returns the score to deuce.
Sets and matches
Games are grouped into sets. A player needs to win at least six games to take a set, but also needs to be two games clear of their opponent — so a 6-4 scoreline wins a set, but 6-5 does not, and play continues. If the set reaches 6-6, most events use a tiebreak: a shorter, separate mini-game, often played first to seven points, to decide the set without playing on indefinitely.
A full match is usually decided over a set number of sets — best of three for most women's and men's tour events, and historically best of five in the men's game at the Grand Slam tournaments, though formats vary by competition.
- Love = zero points.
- Deuce = both players on 40, requiring a two-point winning margin.
- A set typically needs six games with a two-game lead.
- A tiebreak resolves a set that reaches 6-6.
There are a few other terms worth knowing, such as a "break" of serve, which happens when the player receiving serve wins the game — often seen as a psychological turning point since serving is generally considered an advantage. Once you've got points, games and sets straight, following a match becomes second nature, and those odd numbers stop feeling strange at all.
