Let’s say that player 1 wins the toss and chooses to serve first; player 1 will serve the entire first game until a player wins. Player 2 then picks which side of the court they want to play first. Player 1 starts by serving on the right side of the court, and if the serve lands within the opponent’s service box, play continues.

Let’s say that player 1 wins the first point. The score will now be “15-love”, and it is the server’s responsibility to announce the score at the start of each point (unless it’s a tournament where players are pampered).

Player 1 will now shift over to the left side of the court (advantage court) to serve, alternating sides for each new point.

Player 2 wins this point so the score would be “15-all”.

Player 1 wins the next point so it would be “30-15” .

Player 1 wins the next point after and the score would be “40-15”, which can also be known as a double game point since the leading player is ahead by 2 points and just needs 1 more to win the game. A score of “40-30” would be a game point while a score of “40-love” would be a triple game point. If the scores were reversed, the term used would be a break point, double break point, and triple break point.

If player 1 wins the next point, then player 1 wins the game.

If player 2 wins 2 consecutive points while the score is “40-15”, the score would become “40-40”, or “deuce”, which would prompt additional play. Remember, a player wins a game by reaching 4 points with at least a 2 point lead.

Let’s say situation B were to occur and the score is now “deuce”. Player 1 wins a point, so now the score is “advantage in” for the server. Player 2 wins the next point, so the score returns to deuce. Afterwards, player 2 wins another point, so the score is “advantage out” for the server now. Player 2 wins a third point after this and wins the game.

Now, it’s not over yet. We know, it might seem complicated at first but all of this is necessary to know if you want to know how to keep score in tennis. So now it is player 2’s turn to serve for the entirety of the second game. At the start of each game, the server announces the game score, starting with their own score. In this case, the score would be “1-0”. Let’s say player 2 wins this game as well. It is now player 1’s turn to serve again.

For every odd-numbered games, players switch court sides to serve. So, player 1 will switch over to where player 2 had just played, and vice versa. Player 1 announces the score, “0-2”, and the third game begins.

Whichever player wins 6 games with at least a 2 game advantage wins the set. So, the possible scores for winning a set are “6-0”, “6-1”, “6-2”, “6-3”, or “6-4”. If the score reaches “6-5”, the leading player must win 1 more game to take the set. If the score reaches “6-6”, play will continue with either an advantage set or a tie-break game. Remember those tennis scoring system terms yet? If not, we’ll refresh your memory:

• For an advantage set, a player doesn’t win until s/he has a 2 game lead. Example advantage set scores would be “9-7”, “8-6”, “8-10”, etc.
• For a tie-break game, the first player to reach 7 points (best of 12) with at least a 2 point advantage wins the set. There are also different rules for serving in a tie-break game.

After a set is finished, another set begins, with the previous player that received now serving. This continues until a player wins the majority of sets–typically 2 out of 3 sets or 3 out of 5 sets.

After all of this is done, whoever wins the majority of sets wins that match, and this typically allows the player/team to advance in the tournament. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how to score tennis matches like a professional.