“What’s Love got to do with it?”

Nada, Zip, Zero, Goose egg, nothing. Historians say the scoring system came about from the French terms. “l’oeuf” or egg, or the shape of a zero as love. Deuce is from “a deux”

meaning two or together, the score is the same for both players. Whatever, just memorize the sequence 15, 30, 40, game, six games to win a set, by 2 games or more. If the game score is tied at 6-6 a tiebreaker is played to decide the winner of the set. In a tiebreaker the player must win 7 points by a margin of two.

To be fair, the tiebreak has a special sequence of serving. The next player due to serve starts the tiebreaker and serves one point from the right side. Then the next player serves two points starting from the left side. Then the first player serves two points, and so on until one reaches 7 points and is ahead by two. Players change ends every 6 points played.

Score this way for friendly matches, tournaments, and ladder challenges. If you want to play social events the scoring may be called No-ad. At deuce the receiving team has choice of court and the next point wins the game. This keeps the schedule under control.

Some junior / pee wee tournaments are round robins where each player plays each other player one set of 8 games, each game is totaled and the winner is the highest total.

When you hit with your practice partner it is fun to use other scoring games. One is to have a person serve until the receiver wins 7 points. Then trade serves. Another is to score like Ping-Pong, changing serves every 5 points; winner reaches 21 and wins by 2.

To practice hitting consistently you can play first to 11. One drop-hits a ball down the center to the other player. Player 2 returns a courtesy shot down the middle and the original hitter again returns down the middle. After these first 3 courtesy shots go down the middle and are returned, the next shot may be hit anywhere. The player can hit a winner or set up the play to find an opportunity to hit a winner. If player control is very good you can start with 5 or 7 courtesy shots, then go for the point.

If there is not much time then just play a 12-point tiebreaker or two. Some players like to add pressure to the points by playing a full set with each game starting out at 30-30 and 3-3 in games. The games can go quickly and each point becomes a key point. Concentration is mandatory.

oHHH

Tip of the month: Competition is a major part of the game. Keeping score is how we find out how we are doing in our process of improving our tennis game. Players should learn to not be afraid of losing. Some of the best lessons come from defeat. Play a scoring game each time you go out.

For further information call Stan Carter, USPTA certified professional, at the Flint Canyon Tennis Club: 818-790-3355 or 213-321-8699. You are invited to please email questions and comments to Coach@StanTheTennisman.com.