Win points to win a game, games to win a set, and sets to win the match.

The governing rule and effective version

This page applies the ITF Rules of Tennis 2026, effective 1 January 2026, especially Rules 5–7 and Appendix VI. Those rules are the international baseline for singles and doubles. Rule 6 deliberately leaves the set method to the event, provided it is announced in advance.

The ITF's 2026 amendment notice did not change Rules 5–7 or Appendix VI. It did clarify part of Rule 27 on correcting players at the wrong ends during a tie-break. Tour, Grand Slam, team, national, college, junior and recreational regulations can select approved alternatives or add event-specific procedures, so the published conditions of play still control a particular match.

How to decode any tennis score

1. Name the competition and edition. Do not infer the format from another tour or tournament.
2. Check the match format. Is it best of three, best of five, or a format in which a match tie-break replaces the final set?
3. Check the set format. Is this a tie-break set, an advantage set, or an announced short set?
4. Check the game format. Is the game using advantage scoring or the no-ad deciding-point method?
5. Read the correct layer. Match score counts sets, set score counts games, and game score counts points.
6. Apply the margin. Standard games after deuce, ordinary tie-breaks, sets and match tie-breaks do not all use the same target or procedure.

Love, 15, 30 and 40 describe points within one game

ITF Rule 5(a) gives the standard sequence: no point is “Love”, the first point is “15”, the second is “30”, the third is “40”, and the fourth is “Game”. The server's score is called first. A server who has won two points while the receiver has won one therefore leads 30–15; reverse the point winners and the call is 15–30.

If each side has fewer than three points, an equal score uses “All”, such as 15–All or 30–All. When each has won three points, the correct call is “Deuce”, not 40–All. The numbers are labels for a sequence, not arithmetic values: winning a point at 30 does not literally add ten.

From deuce, two consecutive points win the game

At three points each, Rule 5(a) calls the score deuce. The next point gives that player or team advantage. If the same side wins the following point, it wins the game; if the opponent wins it, the score returns to deuce.

This is why “win by two” is a useful description but not a separate score. Advantage shows that one side is one point ahead after deuce. A game can cycle through deuce and advantage any number of times until one side wins two consecutive points immediately after deuce.

No-ad replaces the advantage sequence with one deciding point

Appendix VI permits no-ad scoring, but it is an announced alternative rather than the default text of Rule 5(a). At deuce, one deciding point is played and its winner wins the game. The receiver chooses whether to receive from the right or left half of the court.

In doubles, the receiving partners cannot change positions to receive that point. In mixed doubles under the ITF method, the receiver is the player of the same gender as the server. An event may use no-ad without using short sets, a match tie-break or the no-let rule; those are separate choices.

Six games is enough only with the required margin or tie-break

Rule 6 recognises two main set methods. In an advantage set, the first side to six games wins only if it leads by two; otherwise the set continues until that margin exists. Scores such as 6–4 and 7–5 complete the set, while 6–6 does not.

In a tie-break set, the same six-games-and-two rule applies until the score reaches 6–6. A tie-break game is then played to decide the set. The winner takes the set 7–6. The event must announce in advance which method applies and, when tie-break sets are used, whether the final set will instead be an advantage set.

An ordinary tie-break is first to seven, with a two-point margin

Rule 5(b) switches to “Zero”, 1, 2, 3 and so on. The first player or team to at least seven points wins only with a two-point lead. At 6–6 the next point does not finish it; 8–6 does, while 7–7 continues.

The player due to serve starts with one point, then the opponent serves two; service alternates in blocks of two for the rest of the tie-break. Under the baseline Rule 10 procedure, players change ends after every six points. The side that served first in the tie-break receives in the first game of the next set.

Best of three and best of five count sets, not games

Under Rule 7, a best-of-three match is won by the first player or team to win two sets; a best-of-five match is won by the first to win three. “Best of” is a maximum, not a promise that every set will be played: a best-of-three match ends in two sets if one side wins both.

A lopsided set does not carry extra weight. Winning a set 6–0 counts as one set, just as winning 7–6 does. The next set begins at 0–0 in games.

A match tie-break is not the same as a final-set tie-break

• Ten-point match tie-break: under Appendix VI, this replaces the entire deciding set when the match is one set all, or two sets all in a best-of-five match. The first side to at least ten points with a two-point lead wins the tie-break and match.
• Ten-point final-set tie-break: this is played at 6–6 in the deciding set. It decides that set and therefore the match, again at ten points with a two-point margin.
• Ordinary set tie-break: the Rule 5(b) baseline is at least seven points with a two-point margin.

The scoreboard position reveals the difference. A match tie-break begins immediately after the two sides split the preceding sets; a final-set tie-break begins only after six games all in that set.

Short sets change the game target, not just the match length

Appendix VI also permits short sets. The first side to four games wins with a two-game margin, with a tie-break at 4–4; the sanctioning body may instead select a tie-break at 3–3. For short sets only, a five-point short-set tie-break may be used: it has a deciding point at 4–4 rather than a win-by-two finish, and the sanctioning body determines the service pattern.

Because these are approved alternatives, a scoreboard showing four-game sets is not evidence that ordinary Rule 6 has been ignored. It is evidence that the event format must be checked.

Current professional formats illustrate why the event matters

• Grand Slam Tennis, 2026: Article I.L makes men's Main Draw singles best of five sets. Other Grand Slam matches are best of three unless the tournament determines otherwise. The deciding set uses the ITF ten-point final-set tie-break method at 6–6.
• ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour, 2026: the general Rule 1.02(B) makes singles matches best of three tie-break sets. Doubles uses two tie-break sets, no-ad games, and a ten-point match tie-break at one set all. A separately regulated ATP event can specify a different format.

These examples do not govern WTA, ITF World Tennis Tour, Davis Cup, Billie Jean King Cup, college, school, junior, wheelchair, club or local-league matches. Their current regulations and the tournament's published conditions of play must be checked separately.

Five games all does not trigger the tie-break

Situation: in a tie-break set, Blue and Red reach 5–5. Blue wins the next game, then Red wins the following game.

ITF 2026 ruling: the score is 6–6 and a Rule 5(b) tie-break begins. If Blue had won both games, Blue would instead have won the set 7–5. The decisive fact is the announced tie-break-set format; in an advantage set, play would continue from 6–6 without that tie-break.

Seven points may still be insufficient

Situation: an ordinary set tie-break reaches 6–6. Blue wins the next point for 7–6.

ITF 2026 ruling: play continues because Rule 5(b) requires a two-point margin. Blue wins at 8–6 if Blue takes the next point; if Red makes it 7–7, the tie-break continues until either side leads by two.

One set all may lead to a tie-break or another set

Situation: an ATP Tour doubles match reaches one set all.

ATP 2026 ruling: Rule 1.02(B) requires a ten-point match tie-break instead of a third set. In an ATP singles match, one set all leads to a third tie-break set. The decisive fact is the event and draw type, not merely the 1–1 set score.

Points already played normally stand when an error is found

ITF Rule 27 begins with a general principle: previously played points stand, and the procedural error is corrected under the rule. The timing of discovery can determine whether the intended format is restored or play continues under the format accidentally started.

• If a tie-break is started at 6–6 when an advantage set was agreed, correct it immediately if only one point has been played. Once the second point is in play, continue as a tie-break set.
• If a standard game is started at 6–6 when a tie-break set was agreed, correct it immediately if only one point has been played. Once the second point is in play, continue as an advantage set until 8–8, or a higher even score, then play the tie-break.
• If a full final set is started when a match tie-break was agreed, Rule 27(h) uses further point-and-game thresholds. Do not improvise: the official should apply that clause to the exact moment the error was discovered.

A disputed score is reconstructed from what both sides accept

In an officiated match, the chair umpire announces and records the score after each point. In an ITF-sanctioned match without a chair umpire, the server should call the score loudly before each first serve.

Appendix E of the 2026 ITF Duties and Procedures tells an official who did not witness a score dispute to identify the points or games on which the players agree. Those agreed points or games stand; only the disputed ones are replayed. For example, if one player says 40–30 and the other says 30–40, but both agree that each won two undisputed points, play resumes at 30–All. This dispute procedure is different from Rule 27's correction of a known service, end or format error.

Terms that sound alike but decide different things

• Break point: the receiver can win the current game on the next point; it is a situation label, not a separate type of point.
• Set point or match point: winning the next point would complete the set or match under the current format. Losing it does not deduct a set or match.
• Tie-break set: a set that uses a tie-break at its announced trigger, normally 6–6 under Rule 6(b).
• Match tie-break: an approved replacement for the deciding set, not an extra set added after it.
• No-ad: a deciding-point game method. It does not by itself determine the set length or service-let rule.

Governing-body sources and effective versions

• International Tennis Federation — Rules of Tennis 2026, Rules 5–7, 10, 14 and 27; Appendix VI
• International Tennis Federation — 2026 Amendments to the Rules of Tennis and Rules of Beach Tennis, Rule 27 clarification
• International Tennis Federation — Duties and Procedures for Officials 2026, Sections I.B.9 and II.G.4; Appendix E, Score Disputes
• Grand Slam Tennis — 2026 Official Grand Slam Rule Book, Tournament Regulations Article I.K–L
• ATP — 2026 Official Rulebook, updated 27 April 2026, Rule 1.02(B), Matches—Number of Sets

Checked on 28 August 2026 against the ITF 2026 rulebook effective 1 January 2026 and its amendment notice, the ITF 2026 officiating procedures, the 2026 Grand Slam rulebook and the ATP rulebook updated 27 April 2026. ITF Rules 5–7 and Appendix VI supply the baseline; the named Grand Slam and ATP provisions are competition examples only. Other sanctioning bodies and individual events may select different approved formats or publish additional regulations.