Tennis Score

SCORING EACH GAME

A game consists of a sequence of ''points'' played with the same player serving, and is won by the first player to have won at least four points and at least two points more than their opponent. The half of the court used for service alternates between sides, beginning with the right-hand half, known as the ''deuce court,'' and continuing with the left-hand side, known as the ''ad court.''

As simple as this scoring appears, the running score of each game is described in a manner peculiar to tennis: scores of zero to three points are described as "love" (or "zero"), "fifteen", "thirty", and "forty", respectively. The origin of this scoring comes from the (quarterly) stations of the clock, where "forty" was, presumably, easier to say than "forty-five." When stating the score, the server's score is stated first. If the server announces the score as "thirty-love," for example, it means that the server has won two points and the receiver none.

If each player has won three points, the score is described as "deuce" rather than "forty-all". From this point on, whenever the score is tied, it is described as "deuce" regardless of how many points have been played. The player 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 is stated by him before the next point as "advantage in." When the server's opponent has the advantage, the server states the score as "advantage out." These phrases are sometimes shortened to "ad in" and "ad out."

Note that a score of "thirty-all" is functionally equivalent to "deuce", and "forty-thirty" is equivalent to "advantage". These equivalences are not used in a professional match where the umpire states the score. A score of "thirty-all" means that the players have won exactly two points each, while a score of "deuce" means that the players have won at least three points each.

The current point score is announced verbally before each point by the umpire, or by the server if there is no umpire.

SCORING A SET

A set consists of a sequence of games played with service alternating between games, ending when the count of games won meets certain criteria. The players also swap ends of the court after each odd-numbered game. The score of games within a set is counted in the ordinary manner, except that a score of zero games is read as "love". The score is written using digits separated by a dash. The score is announced by the umpire or server at the start of each game.

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. In addition, players of the receiving team receive the serve on alternating points.

Traditionally, the set is won by the first player to have won at least six games and at least two games more than his or her opponent. More commonly, when the score is tied at 6-6 (each player having won six games), a special tiebreaker game is played. The winner of the tiebreak wins the set by a score of 7-6. 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 the United States Open where a tiebreak is played even in the deciding set (fifth set for the men, third set for the women) at 6-6. A tiebreak is not played in the deciding set in the other three majors - the Australian Open , the French Open , and Wimbledon .

Scoring a tiebreak game

At a score of 6-6, a set is often determined by one more game called a "seven point tiebreak." Points are counted using ordinary numbering. The set is decided by the player who wins 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. Since only one more game is played to determine the winner of the set, the score of the set is always 7-6 (or 6-7). Sometimes the tiebreak points are also included, for example 7-6 (7-4). Another way of listing the score of the tiebreak is to just list the loser's points. For example, if the score is listed as 7-6 (8), the tiebreak score was 10-8 (since 8 is the loser's points, and you must win by two points).

The player who would normally be serving after 6-6 is the one to serve first in the tiebreak, and the tiebreak is considered a service game for this player. The server begins his service from the deuce court and 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. Further, the first of each two-point service starts from the server's ad court and ends in the deuce court. After every six points, the players switch ends of the court.

History of the tiebreak

The tiebreak was invented by Jimmy van Alen in 1965 and was introduced at the United States Open in 1970 after a successful trial period at Newport, Rhode Island. Originally, the winner of the tiebreak was the first player to reach five points, and there was no requirement that someone win by two points.

In 1971 the tiebreak was introduced at Wimbledon when the score in any set except the final set reached 8-8 in games.

In 1979 the tiebreak was changed to be in effect when any set except the final set reached 6-6 in games.

SCORING THE MATCH

Most matches consist of an odd number of sets, the match winner being the player who wins more than half of the sets. The match ends as soon as this winning condition is met. Men's singles matches may consist of five sets (the winner being the first to win three sets), while most matches are three sets (the winner being the first to win two sets).

The alternation of service and end of court between games continues throughout the match without regard to sets. If, for example, the first set of a match ends with a score of 6-4, there is no change of court (since it was an even number of games). The players will change courts after the first game of the next set. A tie-breaker game is treated as a single game for the purposes of this alternation. Since tie-breakers always result in a score of 7-6, there is always a court change after the tie-breaker.

The score of a complete match may be given simply by sets won, or with the scores of each set given separately. In either case, the match winner's score is stated first. In the former, shorter form, a match might be listed as 3-1 (i.e. three sets to one). In the latter form, this same match might be further described as "7-5 6-7 (4) 6-4 7-6 (6)". This match was won three sets to one, with the match loser winning the second set on a tie-breaker. The numbers in parentheses, normally included in printed scorelines but omitted when spoken, indicate the duration of the tiebreaker following a given set, and specify the number of points that the ''loser of the tiebreaker'' won. Here, the match winner lost the second-set tiebreaker 7-4, and won the fourth-set tiebreaker 8-6.

A player, if asked the score of his match, will always give his scores first. If a player says the score of his match was 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, he won the first set but lost the next two to lose the match. See the next section for further details on how the score is announced.

ANNOUNCING THE SCORE

If there is no umpire 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 he serves. He does this by announcing his score first. If, for example, the server loses the first three points of his service game, he will serve from the ad court. (Please note that the server always serves to the deuce court when the total of both player's points is an even number, and to the ad court when it's an odd number.) The server would say, "Love, forty." This convention is used consistently. After a set is complete, the server, before serving for the first game of the next set, announces the set scores 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, as stated above, when the match is over, the player, whether he won or lost, announces his scores first. As above, if a player says the score of his match was 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, he won the first set but lost the next two to lose the match.

REFERENCES

Faulkner, Trish & Lemelman, Vivian, ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to Tennis''. New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1999.

SEE ALSO

Game Point

Information About

Tennis Score