by Patrick Markey

Created on: October 03, 2010

The International Tennis Federation or ITF is the governing body that oversees tennis and in the United States the United States Tennis Association or USTA as it is known follows the guidelines set by the ITF.  These are the rules and point scoring that we follow in tennis.  There are basically 4 points in tennis that pertain to tennis scoring.

Overview of Rules

The points are as follows:  Love, 15, 30, 40, Deuce, Ad In and Ad out and Game point.  Scoring is generally done 2 out of 3 sets and the first player to reach 6 games and has a 2 game lead will win the set.  Each player takes turns serving and always calls his/her own score first.  Some players will use the word 'love' to mean 'o' or say breakpoint instead of ad-out.  Each game also needs to be won by a 2 point margin.

0-0

The beginning of any game is considered the love-love score and occurs prior to anyone scoring any points.

0-15 or 15-0

The first point of any game is considered '15', if the server wins the point it would be called as 15-love, if the receiving player scores the first point it would read as love-15.

0-30, 30-0, 15-15

The second point of any game would make the score one of the three mentioned above.  If the server won the second point after winning the first the score would be called as 30-love.  If the receiver won the second point after winning the first the score would be called love-30.  If the points were split and each player won a point than the score would be called 15-15 or 15 all.

0-40, 40-0, 15-30, 30-15

The third point would either be called 0-40 if the receiver has one each point, or 40-0 if the server has won each point.  If the points are split with the server at 30-15 he/she would be a point ahead.   At 0-40 or 40-0 the next point will win the game.  If the server wins the game it is considered holding serve and is expected.  At 0-40 the receiver has what is called two break points and if he wins the next point than he wins the game and is said to have 'broken' the server.

Game Point, 30-40,40-30 or 30-30

The fourth point will either make the score turn into a game win for either opponent from 40-0 and 0-40, make the score even with 30-30 or 40-30 or 30-40 which is also called game point.  Again each player needs to win by two points.

Game Point, Deuce or 40-30 or 30-40

Again the point can go to a game point with 40-30, a break point with 30-40.  The game can go one for many points due to the each player switching off winning one point at a time.  Finally when the game is won the next player serves and it starts all over again. 

Summary

Basically each game consists of 4 different type of points and each set has at least 6 games and can go longer until one player wins by two games.  The players will play 2 out of 3 sets and that is called a match.

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