Points, Games, and Sets

## The building blocks Tennis is scored across three layers: points, games, and sets. ## Points within a game Each game starts at love (0). Points progress: 15, 30, 40. Both players at 40 = Deuce. At deuce, a player must win two consecutive points. The first gives Advantage; if they win the next they win the game; if they lose it returns to deuce. ## Games within a set A set is won by the first player to reach 6 games, leading by at least 2. At 6-6, most sets are decided by a tiebreak. ## Sets within a match Men's Grand Slam matches are best of 5 sets. All other men's and all women's tour matches are best of 3 sets. ## Why this matters analytically The non-linear nature of tennis scoring creates fascinating probability dynamics. Winning 55% of points typically translates to winning far more than 55% of matches — small edges in point-winning probability compound enormously through the games-sets-match structure.