Tennis Scoring Explained: 15, 30, 40, Deuce, Sets & Tiebreaks
A plain-English guide to how tennis scoring works: why points go 15-30-40, what deuce and advantage mean, how games make sets, and how tiebreaks decide them.
The three layers: points, games, sets
Tennis scores on three levels at once. You win points to win a game, games to win a set, and sets to win the match. Most matches are best of three sets; Grand Slam men’s matches are best of five.
The confusing part is the points layer, because tennis counts a game as 0 (called "love"), 15, 30, 40, game — a sequence with roots in medieval French real tennis. You do not need the history to score a match; you just need the ladder: four points wins a game, but you must win by two.
Deuce and advantage
If both players reach 40 (three points each), the game is at deuce. From deuce, a player must win two points in a row: the first gives them advantage, and the next wins the game. Lose the point at advantage and the game returns to deuce — which is how single games occasionally run ten minutes.
Some club and doubles formats use a "golden point" (also standard in padel) instead: at deuce, the next point simply wins the game. It keeps social matches moving.
Games, sets and the tiebreak
The first player to six games wins the set — again, by a margin of two, so 6-4 wins but 6-5 does not. At 6-5 the set continues; win the next game for 7-5, or reach 6-6 and play a tiebreak.
In a tiebreak, points count normally (1, 2, 3…) and the first player to seven, two clear, takes the set 7-6. Players serve alternately in a 1-2-2 pattern and change ends every six points. Since 2022 the four Grand Slams all use a 10-point tiebreak in the deciding set.
Scoring a match yourself
On paper, the scorer tracks the point score within the game, games within the set, and completed sets — three columns, updated every rally, with deuce/advantage and tiebreak switches to remember. It is very easy to lose track courtside.
A scoring app removes the bookkeeping: with a tennis scoreboard app you tap the player who won the point and the 15-30-40 ladder, deuce cycle, games, sets and tiebreaks all advance automatically — with the live score on a courtside screen for everyone else.
Put a live scoreboard on any screen
Score Cast is a free-to-start scoreboard for 22 sports — control from your phone, display on any TV, projector or stream.
Start Scoring — FreeFrequently asked questions
Why is it 15, 30, 40 and not 15, 30, 45?
The leading theory is that scores tracked quarters of a clock face (15, 30, 45, 60) and 45 was shortened to 40 in French — but the honest answer is nobody knows for certain. The sequence is simply convention now.
What does "love" mean in tennis?
Zero. It most likely comes from the French "l’œuf" (the egg — shaped like a zero), the same joke as a "duck" in cricket.
Who serves after a tiebreak?
The player who received first in the tiebreak serves first in the next set — the tiebreak counts as one game for serving order.