The rules for determining winners and losers in tennis are simple. A contest is divided into games, sets and matches. A player must win six games to capture a set, and either two or three sets to win a match, depending on the rules of that tournament. But a player must win a set by at least two games, so if a set reaches a 6-6 score, the competitors must play a tie-breaker. To win a tie-breaker, a player must score at least seven points and win by a margin of at least two points.
Games
You must score four points in tennis to win a game. However, the points are counted this way: love, or zero; 15, or the first point; 30, or the second point and 40, the third and game-winning point. If you and your opponent each score a point, the game would be tied at 15-15. Also, you must win by two points, so if the score reaches 40-40, it's called "deuce" and each player alternates serve after every two points. The winner of a deuce game must win the final two points in a row.
Points
If a player fails to hit the ball over the net and into the court on the opponent's side of the net, the opponent wins the point. This can result from hitting the ball into the net, failing to return the ball at all or hitting the ball so it lands outside the lines marking the court. The sidelines have two parallel lines. The inside line is considered the out-of-bounds line for singles tennis and the outside line is used for doubles tennis.
Points on the Serve
The server must hit the ball cleanly. without it touching the net, into the opponent's service court--the two squares closest to the net. For the first point of the game, the server serves from the right side of the baseline, just outside the baseline. She must hit the ball into the opponent's right service court. The server then moves to the left side of the baseline and hits into the opponent's left service court. If the first serve is unsuccessful, it's called a fault, and the server gets a second chance. If the second serve also fails to land within the service court, it's a double fault, and the server's opponent wins the point. If the server's opponent cannot return a serve, it's called an ace, and the server gets the point.
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