Tennis scoring explained: love, deuce and advantage in plain English
Ask any new tennis player what confused them most in their first few weeks and you'll often hear the same answer: not the forehand, not the serve, but the scoring. Love? Deuce? Why does it jump from 15 to 30 to 40? If you've ever stood on court nodding along while your partner called out the score, this post is for you.
The good news: tennis scoring follows a handful of rules. Once you've got them, you'll never have to fake it again.
Points, games, sets and matches
The LTA describes tennis scoring as working in four stages: points, games, sets and matches. Think of them as building blocks.
- Points add up to win a game.
- Games add up to win a set.
- Sets add up to win the match.
Scoring a game: love, 15, 30, 40
Every game starts at zero, which in tennis is called love. Then the points go like this:
- No points: love
- One point: 15
- Two points: 30
- Three points: 40
- Four points: game
So if you win the first point of a game, the score is 15-love. Win the next one too and it's 30-love. If your opponent then wins a point, it's 30-15.
One habit to learn early: under the official rules, the server's score is always called first. If you are serving and you're behind, you'd say "15-30", not "30-15". When "love" appears in your score, you'll hear things like "love-15" or "40-love".
Deuce and advantage
Here's where beginners usually get lost, but it's simpler than it sounds. To win a game you need four points and a two-point lead. So what happens when both players reach 40?
- 40-40 is called deuce.
- Whoever wins the next point has advantage. If the server wins it, people say "advantage server" (or "ad in"); if the receiver wins it, "advantage receiver" (or "ad out").
- If the player with advantage wins the next point too, they win the game.
- If the other player wins it instead, the score goes back to deuce.
A game can go back and forth between deuce and advantage several times. It's one of the most exciting parts of tennis.
Winning a set and the tie-break
A set is won by the first player to win six games, with a lead of at least two. So 6-4 wins a set, but 6-5 doesn't yet. If it gets to 6-5, the set continues.
In most matches you'll play, if the score reaches 6-6, you play a tie-break to settle the set. The tie-break has its own simple scoring:
- Points are counted normally: zero, 1, 2, 3 and so on. No 15s or 40s.
- The first to seven points with a two-point lead wins the tie-break and the set, which is written as 7-6.
- The player whose turn it is to serve takes the first point. After that, each player serves two points in a row.
- Players change ends every six points.
Some events use an "advantage set" with no tie-break, where you simply keep playing until someone is two games clear. Your club or league will tell you which they use.
Winning the match
Most matches are best of three sets: the first to win two sets wins. Some professional events use best of five. In club and league tennis you'll often see a match tie-break instead of a full third set: if it's one set each, you play a single tie-break to ten points (again with a two-point lead) to decide the winner.
Serving: who, where and how many
A few serving basics will make the scoring feel much more natural:
- One player serves for a whole game, then the serve passes to the other player for the next game.
- You start every game serving from the right-hand side of the court, then switch sides after each point.
- The ball has to land in the service box diagonally opposite you.
- You get two tries. If your first serve is a fault, you take a second serve. Miss both and that's a double fault, and you lose the point.
- If a serve clips the net and still lands in the right box, it's a let: that serve doesn't count and you take it again.
Shorter formats you might meet
Many clubs and leagues use quicker formats so matches fit into an evening. One you're likely to come across in the UK is FAST4. Under the LTA's FAST4 rules:
- A set is first to four games, with a tie-break at three games all.
- There's no advantage. At deuce, one deciding point wins the game, and the receiver picks which side to receive from.
- A match is two short sets, with a ten-point match tie-break if it's one set each.
The basic love-15-30-40 counting stays the same, so everything above still applies.
A quick checklist for your next game
- Love = zero. Points go 15, 30, 40, game.
- Call the server's score first.
- 40-40 is deuce. Win two points in a row from deuce to take the game.
- Six games with a two-game lead wins a set; 6-6 usually means a tie-break.
- Tie-breaks count 1, 2, 3; first to seven, two clear.
- Start each service game from the right.
If you forget the score mid-rally, you're in good company. Just ask. Everyone on court has done it.
Want the full picture?
Scoring is one page of the bigger story. Our beginner tennis guide, Your First Ace, walks you through the rules, the basic strokes and how to get started at your local club or park courts, in the same plain English you've just read.
Fancy trying more than one sport? With our Mix & Match offer you can pick any 2 guides for £30, and during Black Friday (27-30 November) it's any 2 for £15 with everything 50% off. Or get all six sports in The Complete Racket Master Collection.
See you on court,
The Racket Master team
Sources
- ITF Rules of Tennis 2026 (scoring in a game, set and match; serving; tie-break; alternative procedures)
- LTA: Tennis rules & scoring
- LTA: FAST4 scoring format rules