How does tennis scoring work?

A tennis game is won by the first player to win four points with a lead of at least two. The server's score is always called first. The Rules of Tennis from the International Tennis Federation (ITF) give the sequence: no point is "love", then "15", "30", "40", and the fourth point is "game". If each side has won three points, the score is "deuce" instead of 40–40.

From deuce, the next point gives "advantage" to whoever wins it. If they win the next point as well, they win the game. If they lose it, the score goes back to deuce. So after deuce a player needs two points in a row. A game can go to deuce many times, which is why some games last far longer than others.

Here is one game with several deuces. Dana serves to Eli.

Some practical points. Players usually call the score before each serve, server's score first, so both agree on it. When a ball touches a line, it counts as in, because the ITF treats a ball that touches a line as touching the court bounded by that line. In doubles, the rules are the same, but the two partners on a side take turns to receive, and each player serves a whole game in a fixed order for the set.

Padel uses the same point names, and the padel scoring guide shows how its rules at deuce differ.

No-ad scoring means there is no advantage: at deuce, one deciding point wins the game. The ITF lists it as an approved alternative scoring method in Appendix VI of the Rules of Tennis. It is sometimes called sudden death.

The ITF's rules for the deciding point are:

• Deuce is still called at 40–40. After that, a single point decides the game.
• The receiver chooses the side. The receiving player or team decides whether the serve goes to the right half or the left half of the court.
• In doubles, no swapping. The receiving partners can't change positions to take the deciding point.
• In mixed doubles, the receiver is the player of the same gender as the server.

No-ad is common where time is tight. UTR Sports notes that it is used in college tennis and many recreational leagues, and that it shortens matches considerably, while it describes traditional advantage games with many deuces as sometimes lasting 15 minutes or more.

Advantage and no-ad are both legitimate. The only rule that really matters is that everybody agrees before the first serve. If you play league tennis, the league decides. If you play friends, a quick "ad or no-ad?" settles it, and no-ad is a good choice when you have an hour on the court and want to finish a full match.

Flobit lets you pick advantage or no-ad when you set up a tennis match, as the final section explains.

A set is won by the first player or team to win six games, provided they lead by two games. At 5–5 you play on, and the set can finish 7–5. At 6–6, the ITF's usual "tie-break set" method has you play a tiebreak game, and the winner takes the set 7–6. The alternative is the "advantage set", where you keep playing until one side leads by two games. Organizers must announce which method applies, and whether the final set is a tiebreak set or an advantage set.

In a tiebreak, points are counted 0, 1, 2, 3 and so on. The first to reach 7 wins the game and the set, provided they lead by two, so a tiebreak can finish 9–7 or 14–12. The serve follows a different pattern from normal games:

The server alternates halves of the court after each point, starting from the right. Players change ends after every six points. In doubles, the serving rotation within each team continues in the same order as during the set. The player or team who served first in the tiebreak receives first in the next set.

The tiebreak itself is quite young. According to Wikipedia's history of tennis scoring, James Van Alen unveiled it in 1965 as an experiment at a professional tournament he sponsored at Newport Casino, Rhode Island.

The sections below cover who serves and the match formats you will meet.

A toss before the warm-up decides. The winner of the toss may choose to serve or receive first, in which case the opponent chooses the end, or choose the end, in which case the opponent chooses to serve or receive, or ask the opponent to choose. After that, the receiver becomes the server for the next game, and so on, alternating.

In singles that is simple. In doubles, the team serving the first game decides which partner serves. The other team decides which of their players serves the second game. The partner of the first server serves the third game, the partner of the second server serves the fourth game, and the rotation continues to the end of the set.

Players change ends at the end of the first game, the third game and every following odd-numbered game of each set. They also change ends at the end of a set unless the set had an even number of games, in which case they change after the first game of the next set. In a tiebreak, they change after every six points.

The server also serves from the right half in the first point of every game and then alternates halves, and gets two attempts at each point. If the first serve is a fault, the second serve comes from the same half.

Most matches are best of three sets, which means you need to win two. Best of five is used at some men's events, notably the men's singles at the four Grand Slams. The ITF's rulebook allows both. It also lists alternatives for faster matches, and clubs and leagues add their own.

The match tiebreak is also called a "super tiebreak" or "10-point tiebreak". It is not a third set: when the match is one set all, you play a single tiebreak to 10 points with a two-point lead. According to Wikipedia, the ATP Tour adopted the format for doubles in 2006 and the WTA Tour followed in 2007. The ITF's own note says that the order of service carries on, and balls are not changed before it. In doubles, each team may reset its order of serving and receiving for the match tiebreak, as at the start of a set.

How long will it take? UTR Sports gives these ranges: a best-of-three match with a straight-sets result takes about 60 to 90 minutes, and one that goes to a deciding set takes 90 minutes to over two hours, with an average around 90 minutes. A best-of-five match averages two and a half to three and a half hours. An eight-game pro set is usually 45 to 60 minutes. For a casual hit, add warm-up time and the changeovers, and agree the format before you play so you know whether you are booked for an hour or two.

Nobody knows for certain. The sequence is medieval and French, and its origin is a puzzle. Wikipedia's tennis scoring article notes that the earliest reference is a ballad by Charles d'Orléans in 1435 that mentions quarante cinq, "forty-five", from which the modern 40 is believed to come. A Latin sentence from 1522 says, in effect, "we are winning 30, we are winning 45". The first written theories about the 15 date from 1555 and 1579, and the origin is still unclear.

Three explanations come up most often:

• A clock face. A quarter-turn of the minute hand for each point, giving 15, 30 and 45. It is popular, but the same article points out that clocks of that period usually showed only hours, so it is doubtful.
• Court distances in jeu de paume. An early form of tennis in which the server moved forward after scoring. The article calls this implausible, since courts had no standard length.
• Counting in sixties. Base-60 counting was common in medieval accounts and money, and players wagered on matches, so four steps of 15 may have come from there.

"Love" for zero is probably from the English phrase "playing for love", meaning for nothing and without stakes. A second theory links it to the French l'oeuf ("the egg"), because zero looks like an egg.

The honest answer is that nobody knows. You don't need the history to score a match, but it is a good story for the changeover.

Flobit scores tennis point by point, so the game, the set and the match are tracked for you and nobody has to argue about whether it was 30–15. When you set up a match you choose:

• Singles or doubles.
• The length: best of 3 or 5 sets, or a pro set to 8 games (singles only).
• The rule at deuce: advantage or no-ad.
• The tiebreak: played at 6–6, or at 8–8 in a pro set.
• The deciding set: a full final set or a super tiebreak to 10 points.

One person taps each point, and undo reverses a slip. Spoken score calls announce the score aloud in English, Azerbaijani, Russian, Turkish or Spanish, which saves the ritual of calling it out. Apple Watch scoring works offline, so you can keep score on the wrist on a court with a weak signal. On iPhone you also get a Live Activity for the lock screen and courtside mode for a big, readable scoreboard, and a public live page lets friends follow along.

When the match ends, the result confirms on its own after 24 hours, and a casual result can be disputed within that window. Ratings update when a result is confirmed, and the tennis levels guide explains the 1.0 to 7.0 ladder. If you still need someone to play, see how to find a tennis partner. See live scoring and the Apple Watch app for the details, or the tennis page for everything Flobit does for tennis.

How does tennis scoring work?

Why is tennis scored 15, 30, 40?

What is deuce, and what is advantage in tennis?

What is no-ad scoring in tennis?

How does a tiebreak work in tennis?

What is a 10-point match tiebreak in tennis?

How long does a tennis match last?

Does Flobit score tennis point by point?