How Tennis Scoring
Works.
A complete guide to tennis scoring - love, 15, 30, 40, deuce, advantage, games, sets, and tie-breaks. Everything you need to keep score correctly.
Points
Tennis points run love (0), 15, 30, 40, game. Points are called out as the server's score first: 15-love, 30-15, 40-30, and so on.
A player needs 4 points to win a game, but must win by at least 2. If both players reach 40, the game moves to deuce.
Deuce and Advantage
At 40-40 (deuce), a player must win two points in a row to win the game. Win the first and you have "advantage" - win the next and you take the game. Lose it and the score returns to deuce.
There is no cap - deuce and advantage can repeat as many times as needed until one player wins by 2 clear points. Scorepion's tennis mode uses full advantage scoring, matching the official rule.
Games and Sets
The first player or team to win 6 games takes the set - but only if they are at least 2 games ahead. So 6-4 is a won set, but 6-5 is not.
At 6-6, a 7-point tie-break decides the set. The tie-break uses regular point numbers (1, 2, 3...) instead of 15, 30, 40. First to 7 points wins, with a 2-point lead required. If the tie-break reaches 6-6, play continues until one side leads by 2.
Standard matches are best of 3 sets - first to win 2 sets wins the match. Some professional men's tournaments use best of 5 sets. Scorepion supports both formats, plus faster recreational formats like first-to-4-games sets or no-tie-break sets played straight to 6.
Serve Rotation
Players serve a full game each in turn. One player serves the entire first game, the other serves the entire second game, and so on for the rest of the set.
In doubles, each team decides internally which partner serves first, then the two teams alternate service games between them the same way singles players do.
Never lose track of the score again.
Scorepion handles every rule in this guide automatically. Deuce, advantage, tie-breaks, serve rotation - all tracked in real time from your Apple Watch or Wear OS watch.
