Tennis is a great sport that can be enjoyed by players of all ages. While going out and hitting the ball around is fun, many people believe that keeping score and having some fun-natured competition enhances the experience. But scoring in tennis is complicated. It's not simply a play until someone scores 15 points kind of game. Rather, scoring in tennis involves sets, games, deuces, and other interesting jargon that is very unique to the game. While it can seem complicated, it's quite simple once carefully explained.

To begin, a player must serve. The first player to serve can be determined in a number of ways. That player will serve the rest of that game with each following game alternating servers. Each game requires one player to win four points and win by two points. However, the score is not kept in traditional one through four numbers. The first point is 15, the second point is 30, the third point is 40 and the final point doesn't have a name rather than to simply say it was the game point. When the server announces the score, he is to announce his score followed by his opponents score. For example, if the server has 30 and his opponent has 15, he calls out 30-15. What if someone doesn't have any points? In that case, you call out love. 30-love or love-15 would be examples of when one player doesn't have any points.

Because you need to win each game by two points, if the score is 40-40, the tennis term for that score is deuce. Then, let's say the server wins the next point. Before the next serve, he would call out ad-in, meaning that the advantage lies in the server's court. If the server lost the deuce point, the advantage would be with his opponent, so he would call out ad-out. If the person with the advantage wins the next point, the game is over and they've won. If they lose the point, it goes back to deuce and the game continues.

The first player to win six games (by at least two games) wins the set. For example, if Player A has won five games and Player B has won three games, the next game Player A wins he will have won the set. In the event that Player A and Player B have both won six games but haven't led by two games at any point once they reached those six games, a tie-breaker is needed.

The tie-breaker is played with typical scoring (one through seven). The first player to get to seven points (and again, win by two), wins the set. The player who would normally serve the next game after the 6-6 score would be the first server in the tie-break. After the first point, the serve changes over to the opponent for two serves. Serves alternate after every two serves thereafter until the game is over.

Depending on what type of match is played, the winner of the match is generally the winner of a best-of-three or a best-of-five match. Matches can take a long time, but the game is fun and worth it. It's great exercise and keeps you young!

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