Tennis scoring explained (with examples)

Tennis scoring sounds like a foreign language: love, 15, 30, 40, deuce. It is actually three nested layers, points build games, games build sets, and sets win the match, and once you see the structure it is simple. Here is each layer with worked examples, plus the answer to the question everyone asks: how many sets are in a tennis match?

Within a game, your point count runs 0, 15, 30, 40, and then the game. Zero is called 'love'. The server's score is always said first, so '30-15' means the server has 30 and the receiver has 15, and '40-love' means the server is one point from the game with the receiver still on zero. The odd numbers are a quirk of history; one popular theory traces them to a clock face (15, 30, 45, with 45 later shortened to 40), though historians have not confirmed it and the true origin is unknown.

You win a game by reaching 4 points with a lead of at least 2. So 4 points to 1 (a '40-15' game finished off) wins it. Example: the server wins the first three points for 40-love, then takes the next for the game. Lose a couple along the way and you might be at 40-30, still just one point from the game as long as you stay two clear when you get to four.

If both players reach 40, that is not 40-40, it is deuce, because you must win by two. From deuce, the next point won is called advantage (or 'ad'). Win the following point too and you take the game; lose it and the score returns to deuce. A long game can swing through deuce several times. Example: deuce, advantage server, deuce again, advantage server, game, the server needed two points in a row to close it out. Some formats use no-ad scoring instead: at deuce a single deciding point settles the game, and the receiver chooses which side to receive.

A set is first to 6 games, won by at least two games, so 6-4 and 6-3 are complete sets. At 5-5 you play on to 7-5. If the set reaches 6-6, it is decided by a tiebreak (covered next), which produces a 7-6 set. Example: you lead 5-2, drop a game to 5-3, then hold to win 6-3.

A tiebreak settles a set stuck at 6-6. Here the points are counted plainly, 1, 2, 3, and so on, not 15/30/40. First to 7 points wins the tiebreak and the set 7-6, but you still must win by two, so a tight one can run 8-6, 10-8, or longer. The player due to serve serves the first point, then players alternate serving two points each, and you switch ends every six points. After a set settled by a tiebreak, serve passes to the other player to start the next set. A separate 10-point match tiebreak (often called a super tiebreak) is sometimes used to replace an entire deciding set.

Most matches are best of 3 sets: the first player to win 2 sets wins the match. The main exception is men's singles at the four Grand Slams, which is best of 5 sets, so the winner must take 3. That is why a women's Grand Slam final can be over in two quick sets while a men's final can stretch to five. Deciding-set rules have varied over the years; since 2022 the four Grand Slams settle a final set reaching 6-6 with a 10-point tiebreak, for singles and doubles alike.

So a full scoreline like '6-4, 3-6, 7-6' reads as: player one won the first set 6-4, lost the second 3-6, and won the third in a tiebreak 7-6, taking the match two sets to one. Points made the games, games made the sets, sets won the match.

Know the score? Now find someone to play. Find tennis courts near you and a partner at your level. New to the rest of the game too? See tennis rules for beginners.