Why does tennis scoring go 15 30

If the opposing player scores the next point, the game once again heads to deuce. A player must win at least six games to win a set. A player must also win by two games in order to win the set. So if a game is played to a score in the set, then the leading player must win a seventh game in order to win the set.

Rules are a little different for a tiebreak set. If a set should make it to , a tiebreak game is played to determine a winner of the set, resulting in a set score. Rather than use traditional tennis scoring, this is scored one, two, three and so forth.

The first player to win seven points, by two, wins the tiebreak game, and the set. There are different point totals for different tournaments, however. A match is completed usually best of three or best of five when a player reaches six sets and wins by at least two sets. In this example, Player A won the match by a score of , and Player B won the second set 7 to 5, reaching the sixth game first but having to win by two games.

Unlike a normal 1 point or 2 runs like any other normal sports, tennis' first three points are 15, 30 and If you're looking for a definitive answer on why tennis uses the scoring system it does, unfortunately, there's no clear origin of tennis scoring system as we see it today.

However, there are a few different theories:. The minute mark was dialed back to 40 to account for advantage, with the game ending at Ask Question.

Asked 9 years, 9 months ago. Active 3 years, 11 months ago. Viewed k times. Improve this question. Azik Abdullah 8, 31 31 gold badges 81 81 silver badges bronze badges.

Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Anyway, here goes Improve this answer. The best explanation I could find of this is from Wikipedia : The origins of the 15, 30, and 40 scores are believed to be medieval French. It makes very well sense that this is the case. Community Bot 1. Dynamic Dynamic 7 7 silver badges 20 20 bronze badges. If they can arbitrarily decide to advance 10 instead of 15, then why don't they say when the game is tied at , the next point would advance to 55, and the winning point would advance to That seems equally plausible.

In any case that seems to be a quite random idea. Dynamic Wikipedia has another line after these which state "the concept of tennis scores originating from the clock face, could not have come from medieval times", please do look at that. As for the history of tennis scoring, there are two background stories: That it has its origin in medieval numerology. The number 60 was considered to be a "good" or "complete" number back then, in about the same way you'd consider to be a nice round figure today.

The medieval version of tennis, therefore, was based on the four points when 15, 30, 45 which we abbreviate to 40 and 60, or game.

The system may be based on the presence of a clock face at the end of the tennis court. A quarter move of the appropriate hand was made after each rest, with the score being called as 15, 30, or As the hand was moved to 60, this was the game. This didn't explain a score of 40, however. Parag Parag 1 1 gold badge 4 4 silver badges 7 7 bronze badges.

Lex Hipkins Lex Hipkins 1 1 silver badge 2 2 bronze badges. The modern rules of lawn tennis were defined by a British Army, Major Wingfield. I know this because I am his great, great grandson.

Welcome to Sports SE. Your answer is interesting; do you have any references for your information? Try en. Once the clock got to its halfway point 6 , another set could start, with the first person to finish a full circle around the clock hitting 12 would win the match.

As I think about it, the second theory makes more sense. With a lack of better technologies to keep score, a clock would have done a pretty good job. If you think about it, in order to win most matches a player needs to win 12 games. And in order to win a game, he needs to win 4 points. In tennis, love is used as a term for a score of zero. The origin of the term love is uncertain, but it is one of the oldest traditions in tennis. We understand that tennis rules can be quite complex, especially if you are just starting out.

I got a chance to play junior and professional tournaments across the world, and in I began playing as the 1 player for Pepperdine University, a great division 1 school. Oh, and I had lunch with Brad Gilbert once. There are many different types of tennis coaches. Some specialize in teaching beginners and young children, while others work almost exclusively with adult club players.