Newbie to this thread here and but not to tennis. I sort of understand the sport but not all of it.
How can I increase my knowledge of the sport? What I really don't understand is the scoring system.
Watch more matches on YouTube and definitely watch the US Open this year. As for the scoring system it goes like this (others may explain it better than I can):
1. You have to win each game by at least two points. You have to win each set by at least two games (assuming there are no tiebreakers which I will discuss below). On the men's side, each match is a best of five, which means the first person to win three sets wins the match. On the women's side, each match is a best of three, which means the first person to win two sets wins the match. Most men's matches are a best of five set events, but some are best of three. 4 points wining by at least 2 points will win you 1 game.
2. The most important thing to understanding the scoring system is that you have to understand the unconventional way points are counted. Let's say the player serving in the opening set of the opening game wins the first point in a game, that person would be up 15-0 (which is basically 1-0 in other sports outside of table tennis and old school volleyball). If that same player wins the next point in the game then that person would be up 30-0 (2-0 in other sports). If that same player wins the next point then that person would be up 40-0 (3-0 in other sports). If that same person wins the next point in the game then that person would win the first game of set and would be up 1-0 in the set.
3. Using the same example in #2, if each player won points in the game to where the score was tied 40-40. The players would be tied at deuce in that game. Based on the principle of winning each game by at least two points, whichever player won that next point we would say that that player had the advantage meaning that if you have the advantage and win the next point, you win that game.
4. If you hear the term "love", all that means is 0.
5. Let's say that the players are in the first set of a match and tied at 5 games each. The principal of having to win each set by at least two games applies/overrides the first to six games concept. The player to win the next game would be up 6-5 or 5-6 depending on who served first and who is ahead. Assuming the player in the lead doesn't win the next game, we would be tied at 6 games each. The players would play a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker the first player to 7 points but winning by at least two points wins the tiebreaker and wins the set 7-6 or 6-7 depending on who served first in the set. A tiebreaker is the only time that the win by two games in a set rule doesn't apply.
There are more nuisances to the scoring system but this should help.
One more thing, the player serving will have their score in the game on the left. 15-0 means that the server is ahead. 0-15 means that the server is behind.
