Many people say that the hardest part of tennis is the rules. Honestly, I would agree with them. Hitting the ball itself is just hand-eye coordination and practice, something that is needed for many sports, but the rules are much more complicated. They consist of many if-then statements and contain multiple exceptions. Even though I have played for over 10 years, I still find myself looking things up when I am unsure. So, where do I even start?
I’ll start with the first thing I learned, scoring. If any of you have played Wii tennis, as I did, this part will be easy to follow along with.
The server’s score always comes first, and the server is to always say the score before he/she serves. At the beginning of a game, the score is 0-0, or, as tennis players say, love-love, or love all. There is a common joke that love means nothing to a tennis player because, in tennis, love literally means zero.
After a point is won, that player’s score changes to 15. So, if the server wins the point, he/she would say the score as 15-love. If the returner wins the point, the server would say the score as love-15.
The next point earned advances the player’s point to 30, then 40, and then the next point won wins the game.
EXCEPT… when the score reaches 40-40, also known as deuce, a player must win two points in a row to win the game. If the server wins the first point, he/she would say the score as ad-in (advantage in) and if the server wins the next point, he/she wins the game. If the returner wins the point, the server would say ad-out (advantage out), and if he/she wins the next point, he/she wins the game. If a player wins the first point but loses the second, the score goes back to deuce and the process is repeated. Deuce can occur an infinite amount of times, and can sometimes make a match go on for a very long time.
So, now that a game is won, what does that mean? Unlike many other sports, a game in tennis is a relatively small portion of the entire match. A player must win 6 games (win by two until 6-6) to win a set. Then, a player must win 2 out of 3 sets to win the entire match. So, theoretically, a tennis match could be over 30 games.
Now, I understand how this may be confusing if you’ve never played tennis before. Hopefully, this will help you follow along a little bit.
The best way to learn this process is just to practice. My coach used to make me go through all the scoring at the beginning of each lesson. Although sometimes frustrating, it helped me learn quickly.
There are still some things I let out, like what happens at 6-6, and how exactly you win each point. That will all be covered in my next blog. Until then, happy hitting!
