Why is tennis scoring so complicated?
As a coach, explaining the scoring system to new players is a major annoyance. There are no good analogies and no ways to simplify the system. Four points to a game, six games to a set, and two sets to a match. The best way to get the idea is to actually play with it repetitively until you get it. But why does it have to be so complicated? Many have tried to uncomplicate the scoring system but nothing has stuck. Why? I think that’s because the scoring system makes a lot of sense.
The Unofficial History of the Scoring System
Some say that the first score keepers used clock-faces to indicate the score. The hour hand represented games and the minute hand represented points within those games. To win a match, a player would have to take the hour hand all the way around the clock, winning 12 total games and naturally dividing play into two sets of six games. Similarly, scorekeepers were said to use the minute hand to indicate the game-score (moving the hand 1/4th of the way for each point gets you 15, 30, 45, and then the game). At some point, 45 was dropped to 40 so that players could move the hour hand halfway between 40 and 60 to indicate an advantage. This seems like a plausible theory, but who knows if it’s completely true.
Why this System Works
However the scoring system came into existence, there are clear advantages to it. Unlike similar net and ball games like volleyball, pickleball, and badminton, tennis players are generally favored to hold serve. In those sports, servers have a comparatively smaller chance of an ace and an easier target to make the serve so they are allowed to keep serving until they lose because receivers have a slight advantage. If tennis used a similar system without changing the other rules, players with better serves would win every match and the sport would lose its complex dimensionality.
To keep the sport interesting and tactical, players must have the same number of opportunities to serve. The game and set system achieves this parity and is long enough that players can devise and revise strategies over an extended amount of play. Keeping things win-by-two means that the outcomes of matches are usually decided by a comprehensive win rather than a fluke buzzer-beating type of effort. Moreover, the changeover rule mandates that players deal with the same conditions such as wind, sun, or other court related issues for the same amount of time.
Why use different numbers for game-scoring and set-scoring?
Although counterintuitive, keeping two scores with different numbers for games and sets actually makes the scoring system easier and less confusing. A tennis match consists of a many, many points. In fact, the average set is about 60 points long. If sets were played first to 60, keeping score would be difficult task without an official scorekeeper. If there is a dispute, keeping the game score separate from the set score means players only have to remember the outcome of a couple of points.
