Nowadays tennis is played in sets. This means that each player can win a set when they score a certain amount of points. If you want to win a tennis match, the goal is to win 2 sets in women’s tennis and 3 sets in men’s tennis. Let’s discuss this scoring system in more detail as it has some interesting parts.
The scoring system in tennis: How many sets are there?
The players score a point when the ball bounces inside of the terrain of the other player and this player is not able to send the ball back over the net. A player gets a score of 15 for this. If this happens again, they get another 15 added to their score, leading to a total score of 30. The third time this happens, a player gets 10 added to their score, resulting in a score of 40 in total. If the player is able to do this a fourth time, he or she wins a point (except if there is a tiebreaker in which case the player needs to have 2 more than the other player to win the point). One rally can last a long time as the ball can go back and forth several times before a player scores. Especially at the beginning of the match, every rally can be contested. When players get tired, the rallies might last less long.
Once a player has 6 points, he or she wins the set. If there is a draw, the players have to keep playing until one of them has 7 points.
Women need to win 2 sets to win the match. This results in a maximum of 3 sets per match. Men have to win 3 sets to win the match. This results in a maximum of 5 sets. We have to keep in mind that matches can be very tight so this can be very exciting to watch.
One player serves (or starts the rally) each time and this player has an advantage as you can score on the serve.
| Women | Score to win a point | Points to win a set | Sets to win a match |
| 15-30-40-won | 6 points (7 if there is a tiebreak) | One player needs to win at least 2 sets |
| Men | Score to win a point | Points to win a set | Sets to win a match |
| 15-30-40-won | 6 points (7 if there is a tiebreak) | One player needs to win at least 3 sets |
Matches often last between 90 and 120 minutes but there is no time limit (except in some tournaments to make sure that it ends on time). Some matches can be done in 30 minutes while longer matches can last more than 2 hours. This depends on how close the teams are and if a tie-break is needed after two players have the same amount of points.
While this system might sound strange at first, you will get the hang of it once you see it in action. Sometimes players are very close and they need a lot of tiebreaks. In other instances, one player is a lot better and the other one is not able to score a lot of points.
Tennis is an individual sport so players are not able to rely on team members. While there is some pause between the sets, they have to do everything themselves.
A referee awards the points. This person has to determine if the ball was inside or outside the court. If one of the players doesn’t agree with what the referee decided, they can ask for a check by a computer system. This system can determine if the ball was inside or outside the court. This can be important for closely contested rallies. Tennis is also a mental game and if you score a lot of points in short succession, it can give a big boost.
If a professional player wins a match, they can increase in the international ranking. This ranking is important for players as it can give them access to tournaments and sponsorships. Being able to rank high for a long time, can indicate that a player has a successful career. Rafael Nadal and Venus Williams are just two examples of players that were able to rank high for a very long period of time. This gives them a lot of prestige in this community. It can take several years before a player becomes successful so it is a long road to do this.
Players have to practice a lot to prepare for a match. To do this, they typically work with several coaches. There are a lot of things to be improved upon and their coaches can help them with this. Players spend a lot of time finding the right coaches for their playing style. Some players prefer to be more defensive whereas others prefer to put a lot of pressure on the other player.
To conclude, we can state that tennis games last a maximum of three (for women) or five sets (for men). The goal is to win two sets (women) or three sets (men) per match to win it. This can result in long matches as players can send the ball back and forth several times. Some tournaments are played during the summer so it can be very intense for the players to finish a game. They have to play multiple matches per week so they have to be prepared for this. Tennis is also played on different undergrounds so players have to practice on grass and gravel if they want to win a lot of tournaments. Tennis is a beautiful sport but it can be quite confusing at first. In this article, we have outlined some of the basics of the scoring system. Once you see it in action, you will understand how a match is won.
