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Game score
[edit]
Description [edit]
A game consists of a sequence of points played with the same player serving, and is won by the first player (or
players) to have won at least four points by two points or more over their opponent. In scoring an individual standard
game of tennis, the server's score is always called first and the opponent's score second. Score calling is unique to
the sport of tennis in that each point has a corresponding call that is synonymous with that point value.
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"love"
"15"
"30"
"40"
"game"
In tennis, scoring in tie situations in which both players have won the same number of points also varies. When
players are tied by one or two points, the score is described as "15-all" and "30-all", or "15-up" and "30-up",
respectively. However, if each player has won three points, the score is described as "deuce" rather than "40all".
From this point on, whenever the score is tied, it is described as "deuce" regardless of how many points have been
played.
In standard play, scoring beyond a "deuce" score, in which both players have scored three points each, requires that
one player must get two points ahead in order to win the game. This type of tennis scoring is known as "advantage
scoring" (or "ads"). In this type of scoring, 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 may be stated by him or her before the next point as
"advantage in." When the server's opponent has the advantage, the server may state the score as "advantage out."
These phrases are sometimes shortened to "ad in" and "ad out." Alternatively, the server may simply use players'
names; in professional tournaments the umpire announces the score in this format (e.g., "advantage Federer" or
"advantage Murray").
The table below shows the scoring for tie breaks:
Tie break point score examples Corresponding call
34
43
44, 55, 66, etc.
47
"set"
The current point score is announced orally before each point by the judge, or by the server if there is no judge.
When stating the score, the server's score is stated first. If the server (or the judge) announces the score as "30
love", for example, it means that the server has won two points and the receiver none.
In the USTA rule book (but not the ITF rules) there is the comment: 'Zero, one, two, and three, may be
substituted for Love, 15, 30, and 40. This is particularly appropriate for matches with an inexperienced player
or in which one player does not understand English.'[2]
History [edit]
The origins of the 15, 30, and 40 scores are believed to be medieval French. The earliest reference is in a ballad by
Charles D'Orleans in 1435 which refers to quarante cinque (which gave rise to our 40) and in 1522 there is a
sentence in Latin "we are winning thirty, we are winning forty-five". The first recorded theories about the origin of
fifteen were published in 1555 and 1579. However the origins of this convention remain obscure.[3]
It is possible that clock faces were used on court, with a quarter move of the hand to indicate a score of 15, 30, and
45. When the hand moved to 60, the game was over. However, in order to ensure that the game could not be won by
a one-point difference in players' scores, the idea of "deuce" was introduced. To make the score stay within the "60"
ticks on the clock face, the 45 was changed to 40. Therefore, if both players have 40, the first player to score
receives ten and that moves the clock to 50. If the player scores a second time before the opponent is able to score,
they are awarded another ten and the clock moves to 60. The 60 signifies the end of the game. However, if a player
fails to score twice in a row, then the clock would move back to 40 to establish another "deuce".[4][5][6]
Another theory is that the scoring nomenclature came from the French game jeu de paume (a precursor to tennis
which initially used the hand instead of a racket). Jeu de paume was very popular before the French revolution, with
more than 1,000 courts in Paris alone. The traditional court was 90 ft in total with 45 ft on each side. When the server
scored, he moved forward 15 ft. If he scored again, he would move another 15 ft. If he scored a third time, he could
only move 10 ft closer.[7]
The origin of the use of "love" for zero is also disputed. It is possible that it derives from the French expression for
"the egg" (l'uf) because an egg looks like the number zero.[8][9] This is similar to the origin of the term "duck" in
cricket, supposedly from "duck's egg", referring to a batsman who has been called out without completing a run. One
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possibility comes from the Dutch expression iets voor lof doen, which means to do something for praise, implying no
monetary stakes.[10] Another theory on the origins of the use of "love" comes from the acceptance that, at the start of
any match, when scores are at zero, players still have "love for each other".[11]
Set score
[edit]
Description [edit]
In tennis, a set consists of a sequence of games played with alternating service and return roles. There are two types
of set formats that require different types of scoring.[16]
An advantage set is played until a player or team wins 6 games and that player or team has a 2-game lead over their
opponent(s). The set continues, without tiebreaker, until a player or team wins the set by 2 games. Advantage sets
are no longer played under the rules of the United States Tennis Association,[17] however they are still used in the
final sets in men's and women's draws in both singles and doubles of Wimbledon, Fed Cup, and Davis Cup. Mixed
doubles at the Grand Slams are a best-of-three format with the final set being played as a "Super-Tie Break"
(sometimes referred to as a "best of two" format) except at Wimbledon, which still plays a best-of-three match with the
final set played as an advantage set and the first two played as tie-break sets.
A tie-break set is played with the same rules as the Advantage Set, except when the score is tied at 66, a tie-break
game (or tiebreaker) is played. Typically, the tie-break game continues until one player wins seven points by a margin
of two or more points. However, many tie-break games are played with different tiebreak point requirements, such as
8 or 10 points.
Advantage sets have a tendency to go significantly longer than tie-break sets. The 2010 Wimbledon first-round match
between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut, which is the longest professional tennis match in history, notably ended with
Isner winning the 5th set, 7068. The match lasted in total 11 hours and 5 minutes with the 5th set alone lasting 8
hours, 11 minutes.
Nevertheless, even tie-break sets can last a long time. For instance, once players reach 66 set score and also reach
66 tiebreaker score, play must continue until one player has a 2 point advantage, which can take a considerable
time. Sets decided by tiebreakers, however, are typically significantly shorter than extended advantage sets.
The score of games within a set is counted in the ordinary manner, except when a player or team has a score of no
games it is read as "love". The score is written using digits separated by a dash. This score is announced by the
judge or server at the start of each game.
Example set scores Corresponding verbal set score
00
"love love"
75
"set"
36
"set"
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. Players of the receiving team receive the serve on
alternating points, with each player of the receiving team declaring which side of the court (deuce or ad side) they will
receive serve on for the duration of the set.
The set is won by the first player (or team) to have won at least six games and at least two games more than his or
her opponent. Traditionally, sets would be played until both these criteria had been met, with no maximum number of
games. To shorten matches, James Van Alen created a tie-breaker system, which was widely introduced in the early
1970s. If the score reaches 65, one further game is played. If the leading player wins this game, he wins the set 75.
If the trailing player wins the game, the score is tied at 66 and a special tiebreaker game is played. The winner of the
tiebreak wins the set by a score of 76. 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 US Open where a tiebreak is played even in the deciding
set (fifth set for the men, third set for the women) at 66. A tiebreak is not played in the deciding set in the other three
majorsthe Australian Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon. (When the tiebreak was first introduced at
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until one player reaches six games with a margin of two games, one plays until one player wins eight games with a
margin of two games. A tie-break is then played at eight games all. While the format is not used in modern
professional matches or recognized by the ITF rules, it was supposedly used in early professional tours. It is
commonly utilized in various amateur leagues and high school tennis as a shorter alternative to a best of three match,
but longer than a traditional tie-break set. In addition, eight game pro sets were used during doubles for all Division I
college dual matches, until the 2014-2015 season.[21]
Another alternative set format are so called "short sets" where the first to four games to win by two games. In this
format a tie-break is played at four games all. The ITF experimented with this format in low level Davis Cup matches,
but the experiment was not continued. Nevertheless this alternative remains as an acceptable alternative in the ITF
rules of Tennis.[22]
Another alternative set format is seen in World Team Tennis where the winner of a set is the first to win five games
and a nine point tie-break is played at 44.
Match score
[edit]
Description [edit]
Most singles 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 and doubles matches may consist of
up to five sets (the winner being the first to take the majority of total allocated sets) while women's singles matches
are usually best of three sets. Doubles matches (including mixed doubles) are usually best of three sets, with a Super
Tiebreak to ten points played if the score reaches a set all.
While the alternation of service between games continues throughout the match without regard to sets, the ends are
changed after each odd game within a set (including the last game). If, for example, the second set of a match ends
with the score at 63, 16, the ends are changed as the last game played was the 7th (odd) game of the set and in
spite of it being the 16th (even) game of the match. Notably, in situations where a set ends with an odd game, back to
back games see change of endsi.e., ends are changed before and after the first game of the following set. A
tiebreaker game is treated as a single game for the purposes of this alternation. Since tiebreakers always result in a
score of 76, there is always a court change after the tiebreaker.
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 31 (i.e.
three sets to one). In the latter form, this same match might be further described as "75, 67 (47), 64, 76 (86)".
(As noted above, an alternate form of writing the tiebreak score lists only the loser's scoree.g., "67 (4)" for the
second set in the example.) This match was won three sets to one, with the match loser winning the second set on a
tiebreaker. The numbers in parentheses, normally included in printed scorelines but omitted when spoken, indicate
the duration of the tiebreaker following a given set. Here, the match winner lost the second-set tiebreaker 74 and
won the fourth-set tiebreaker 86.
[edit]
If there is no judge 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 would say, "Love, 40." This
convention is used consistently. After a set is complete, the server, before serving for the first game of the next set,
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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, after the completion of the match, either player, when asked the score, announces his scores first.
As an example, consider a match between Victoria Azarenka and Ana Ivanovic. Azarenka wins the first set 64,
Ivanovic wins the next set 76(74), and Azarenka wins the final set 60.
At the end of each set, the umpire would announce the winner of each set:
Game, first set, Azarenka.
Game, second set, Ivanovic.
At the completion of the match, the result would be announced as:
Game, set, match, (Victoria) Azarenka, two sets to one, six-four, six-seven, six-love.
The result would be written as:
Victoria Azarenka defeated
The score is always written and announced in respect to the winner of the match. The score of the tiebreak is not
included in announcing the final result; it is simply said "sevensix" regardless of the outcome of the tiebreak.
Scorecards
[edit]
For formal scorekeeping, the official scoring the match (e.g. the
chair umpire) fills out a scorecard, either on paper or
electronically. The scorecard allows the official to record details
for each point, as well as rule violations and other match
information. Standard markings for each point are:[25]
/ point won
A point won via ace
D point won via double-fault
C point won via code violation
T point won via time violation
An additional dot is marked in a score box to indicate a missed
first serve fault.
Notes
[edit]
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References
[edit]
Faulkner, Trish & Lemelman, Vivian, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Tennis. New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1999.
Categories: Tennis Tennis terminology Scoring (sport)
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