How tennis scoring works

Points: 15, 30, 40, game

Within a game, the score climbs 15, then 30, then 40, then game. A score of zero is called love. So "30-love" means the server has two points and the returner has none. It is just a quirky way of counting to four.

Deuce and advantage

If both players reach 40, that is called deuce, and you have to win by two points. The next point won is "advantage"; win the point after it and you take the game. Lose it and it goes back to deuce. That is why a single game can swing back and forth for a while.

Games make a set

Win six games, by a margin of at least two, and you win the set. So 6-4 wins a set, but 6-5 does not; you play on to 7-5, or to a tiebreak.

The tiebreak

If a set reaches six games all, a tiebreak decides it: first to seven points, win by two. It is a mini sprint at the end of a close set, and often the most tense part of a match.

Sets win the match

Men win the match by taking three sets; women by taking two. If a match reaches a final-set six games all, all four Grand Slams now play a longer 10-point tiebreak to settle it, so the match always ends cleanly.

That is the whole system. You can follow any match knowing just this: points build a game, six games win a set, and it is the sets that win the match.

Ready for the tournament? Read the US Open guide.