A tennis game begins with a serve. One of the players, called the server, stands at one end of the court. The server throws the ball into the air and tries to hit it over the net. The opponent tries to return the serve—hit the ball back over the net. The players hit the ball back and forth 
until one of them fails to make a good return. Then the other player scores a point. The players try to hit the ball to a part of the court where the opponent will have a hard time returning it.
The serve is the most important stroke in tennis. The served ball must land in a boxed area on the opponent’s side of the court. If the ball misses that box, it is called a fault. The server then gets another chance to serve. If the server makes another fault, the opponent gets a point. On the other hand, the server earns a point by serving the ball so well that the opponent cannot hit it. This is called an ace.
A player needs four points to win a game. Points are counted in four stages: 15 for the first point, 30 for the second, 40 for the third, and game. A score of zero is called love. The server’s score is given first. For example, if the score is 30–love, the server has two points and the opponent none. If both players reach 40, the score is called deuce. The player who scores the first point after deuce must also get the next point to win the game. In other words, a player must win by two points.
A series of games makes up a set, and a series of sets makes up a match. The first player to win six games traditionally wins a set. But again, a player must win by two. This means that a player cannot win a set by a score of 6–5. The set continues until one player wins by two games—for example, 7–5 or 8–6. To win a match, a player usually has to win either two out of three or three out of five sets.
