Tennis is governed by the International Tennis Federation — the ITF, which in recent years has also presented itself under the name World Tennis. Many of the rules below haven't changed since the 1970s, or even the 19th century; others, like the deciding-set tiebreak at Grand Slams, were only standardised in 2022. Here's the exact mechanics: how a point, a game, a set and a match are counted, and what separates a good serve from a fault.
Why zero is called "love"
Points in a game aren't counted 1, 2, 3 — they're "love" (zero), "15", "30" and "40". The official origin of this system isn't settled. The earliest known reference is a 1435 ballad by Charles d'Orléans, which mentions the French "quarante cinq" — forty-five, believed to be the root of today's 40. A popular theory links the numbers to a clock face, with each point marking a quarter-hour, but the timing doesn't work: references to tennis scoring go back to the 15th century, well before clocks had accurate minute hands, which only appeared around 1690. As for "love" — one theory traces it to the English phrase "playing for love", meaning without a wager; another to the French l'œuf, "the egg", whose shape resembles a zero.
A game is never won on a tie
Winning a game takes at least four points and a lead of at least two over the opponent. If both players reach 40, the score isn't called "40-all" — it's "deuce". From there, whoever wins the next point has "advantage"; lose the next point and it's deuce again, win it and the game is over. There's also a faster variant, "no-ad", where the first player to reach four points wins outright, without the two-point margin requirement. It was created by James Van Alen to shorten match length, and is used today mostly in doubles and in exhibition matches.
A coin toss decides who serves first, not skill
Before the warm-up, a coin toss decides who serves first and which end each side starts on. From there, serve alternates game by game between the two players or teams — the same player never serves two games in a row, regardless of who won the previous one. The server must stand behind the baseline, between the centre mark and the sideline, but the receiver can stand anywhere on their side of the court — which is why some players return serve almost on top of the net while others stand well back. The score is always read serving-side first, and in officiated matches the umpire calls it aloud after every point.
A set is played to six games, and 6-6 goes to a tiebreak
A set is won at six games, with a margin of at least two (6-4, 7-5). If the score reaches 6-6, most sets are decided by a tiebreak — a separate game played to 7 points, again by a margin of two. Whoever was due to serve at 6-6 serves first in the tiebreak, but only one point, from the deuce court; after that, serve passes to the opponent, and from there each player serves two points in a row, alternating sides. Players change ends every six points played. In the deciding set of Grand Slam tournaments, the rule was only standardised in March 2022: the tiebreak at 6-6 is now played to 10 points rather than 7, except in mixed doubles, which has replaced a full third set with a 10-point tiebreak since 2001 anyway.
The match: usually two sets out of three
A match is won by the first side to take two sets, out of three. The best-of-five format — longer and more physically demanding — is used almost exclusively in men's singles at the four Grand Slam tournaments. In mixed doubles, the third set is often replaced entirely by a 10-point tiebreak that decides the match outright.
Court, net, ball and racket dimensions are fixed by the rules
The court is 23.77 metres long; the width is 8.2 metres for singles and 11 metres for doubles, the difference coming from two side alleys that are only in play in doubles. The net is stretched to 1.07 metres at the posts and drops to 0.91 metres in the centre. The ball is hollow vulcanised rubber with a felt coating — originally white, before manufacturers moved to fluorescent yellow for better visibility. It must have a diameter of 65.41 to 68.58 millimetres and weigh between 56 and 59.4 grams, and at official tournaments it must come from the ITF's approved ball list. The racket, in turn, can't exceed 74 centimetres in length or 32 centimetres in width across the strung area, must have a fixed shape, weight and weight distribution — no built-in power source — and isn't allowed to communicate, instruct or advise the player during a match.
The serve: fault, let and double fault
On every point, the server gets two attempts. The ball has to clear the net without touching it and land in the diagonally opposite service box. If it clips the net but still lands in the right box, that's a let — the serve is void and replayed, however many times it happens, and it never counts as a fault. A fault is a serve that lands long, wide, or doesn't clear the net; there's also a "foot fault", where the server's foot touches the baseline or its imaginary extension before the racket strikes the ball. If the second attempt is also a fault, that's a double fault, and the point goes automatically to the receiver.
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