In tennis, a score is counted by games and sets. When one player has reached six games more than his opponent, he wins a set. A match is made up of three or five sets. For example: winning the first two sets 6-3, 7-5 would give that player the match victory.

        If the game is tied at 40-40 in each set, this is called ‘Deuce’. At ‘Deuce’, whoever scores a point next wins a game. It is very important to win the next point because if you go on to lose it, your opponent will have a chance to win the game with 40-30 advantage as opposed to having been broken. Similarly in doubles matches, if the serving team is tied at 40-40 in each set, this is called ‘Deuce’ and the server will try to take the game by scoring a point. Should he be unable to do so, his opponents would have their chance with advantage similar to that in singles games.

        A player’s score for a singes match or doubles match can never go below zero (love). If one player wins six games and his opponent wins four, the player who has won six games will be “set” as well as “game” winner. This means he will be ahead by two sets and one game; thus, his final score for this match would be 6-3, 2-6, 1-0*.

*The zero score is represented as ‘O’ in official scoreboards and scorecards.

        For a more detailed explanation, we will go through some possible situations:

          If the player A wins the first two sets 6-3, 7-5 and then his opponent B manages to win third set 7-6 (7-5), the final score of this match would be:

                   Player A’s score – 2 sets won = 4 points; 1 game won = 1 point; total 5 points

                   Opponent B’s score – 1 set won = 2 points; 1 game won = 1 point; total 3 points

You can see how important it is to stick as close as possible to your opponent at all times during the match.

          If player A won first two sets 6-3, 7-5 and then the third set ended with an advantage for Player B (7-6), the final score would be:

                   Player A’s score – 2 sets won = 4 points; 1 game won = 1 point; total 5 points

                   Opponent B’s score – 2 sets won = 4 points; 0 games won = 0 points; total 4 points

          If both players manage to win two sets each, meaning that the match will end in a tiebreak, there are several possibilities of outcomes. The following are some examples of possible scores at the end of a tiebreak:

          i) Both players win 7 points each, so the final score would be:

               Player A’s score – 2 sets won = 4 points; 2 games won = 2 points; total 8 points

                    Opponent B’s score – 2 sets won = 4 points; 1 game won = 1 point; total 5 points

               The winner is player with most games and then the number of points. In this case, player A wins because he has more games (8) than opponent B (5).