This cheat sheet covers the basic rules and scoring system used in tennis for singles and doubles play. Students need it because tennis scoring uses special terms that can feel confusing at first. It helps players know where to stand, when to serve, how to call the score, and what counts as winning a point, game, set, and match.
The most important ideas are court boundaries, legal serves, rally rules, and the order of scoring. Points go love, 15, 30, 40, then game, unless both players reach 40, which is called deuce. A player usually wins a game by winning at least 4 points and leading by 2 points.
Sets and tiebreaks use number scores, so players must understand both traditional tennis scoring and simple numerical scoring.
Key Facts
- Tennis point scores go 0 = love, 1 point = 15, 2 points = 30, 3 points = 40, and 4 points = game if the player leads by 2.
- If the score reaches 40-40, the score is called deuce and a player must win 2 points in a row to win the game.
- After deuce, the player who wins the next point has advantage, written as Ad In for the server or Ad Out for the receiver.
- A legal serve must land in the diagonally opposite service box and the server gets 2 attempts to make a legal serve.
- A double fault happens when the server misses both serve attempts, and the receiver wins the point.
- In singles, the ball must land inside the singles sidelines, while in doubles the ball may land inside the wider doubles sidelines during rallies.
- A set is commonly won by the first player or team to win 6 games while leading by at least 2 games, such as 6-4 or 7-5.
- A standard tiebreak is often played at 6-6, and the first player or team to reach 7 points while leading by 2 wins the tiebreak.
Vocabulary
- Love
- Love means a score of zero in tennis.
- Deuce
- Deuce is the score when both players or teams have 40 and one side must win by 2 points.
- Advantage
- Advantage means one player or team has won the point after deuce and needs one more point to win the game.
- Double Fault
- A double fault happens when the server misses both serve attempts, giving the point to the receiver.
- Tiebreak
- A tiebreak is a special point-based game used to decide a set when the game score is tied, often at 6-6.
- Service Box
- The service box is the area diagonally across the net where a serve must land to be legal.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Calling 40-40 as tied score is wrong because in tennis it is called deuce and the game must be won by 2 points.
- Serving into the wrong service box is wrong because a legal serve must land in the diagonally opposite service box.
- Counting a game as won at 40 without checking the lead is wrong because a player must win the game point and lead by 2 if the score reaches deuce.
- Using doubles sidelines in singles is wrong because singles rallies use the narrower singles court boundaries.
- Forgetting that each server gets 2 serve attempts is wrong because the first missed serve is only a fault, while the second missed serve is a double fault.
Practice Questions
- 1 A player wins the first 3 points of a game and the opponent wins 1 point. What is the score?
- 2 The game score is deuce and the server wins the next point. What is the score now?
- 3 A set is tied 6-6 and the tiebreak score is 6-5. How many more points does the leading player need to win if the next point is won?
- 4 Why must a player know whether the match is singles or doubles before deciding if a ball is in or out?