The International Tennis Federation is the worldwide governing body of tennis, as recognized by the International Olympic Committee. While the ITF sets the basic rules for playing tennis, national federations, professional tours, scholastic organizations and even local, recreational tennis associations vary the rules to address scheduling, skill levels, and other issues.
Games
In traditional tennis scoring, the first player to win four points by a two-point margin wins a game. Because you must win by two points, games can last for many minutes while points are played. Many competitions use a variation of the official scoring rule, called no-ad tennis. In no-ad tennis, the first player to win four points wins the game, regardless of the margin of victory. If the score is tied after six points, the receiving player or team chooses on which side of the court, deuce or ad, they wish to receive the final point. In TeamTennis mixed doubles matches, the seventh and final point is played gender to gender.
Sets
In traditional tennis matches, you play sets, winning a set by winning six games by a two-game margin. If you and your opponent split the first 12 games, you play tie-break at six games all. In some competitions, the tie-break is played with the score 5-5. Some matches consist of single pro sets, which are played to eight or 10 games. In a traditional pro set, you play a tie-break at 8-8 or 10-10. Some competitions play the tie-break at 7-7 or 9-9, so that no player earns more than eight or 10 games; this helps evenly score team matches, where the results are based on total games won.
Matches
Traditional tennis matches are played in best-of-three or best-of-five set matches. In order to decrease match times, some competitions play pro sets, or play a match tie-break for the final set if players split the first two or first four sets. A match tie-break is often a variation of a regular tie-break played to a higher winning score, such as 10 points instead of seven.
Tie-Breaks
The tie-break for official ITF matches is a seven-point tie-break, with the winner the first player to reach seven points with a two-point margin of victory. To streamline matches and eliminate tie-breaks that can last for many minutes, use the nine-point tie-break, with the first player to reach five points the winner. At 4-4, the receiving player or team chooses on which side of the court, deuce or ad, they wish to receive the final point. In TeamTennis mixed doubles matches, the ninth and final point is played gender to gender.
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