Why does tennis have funny scoring

The Scoring System A tennis game starts with both players locked in at The next point after 40 wins the game. The Clock Face This is probably one of the most convincing arguments out there. What About Love? Our Thoughts We hope this article has provided you with some interesting food for thought on the tennis scoring systems! How many different metric systems are out there that fit the bill?

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No more frustration in your game, due to your equipment failing you! This sceptred isle. Root of all evil. Ethical conundrums. This sporting life. Stage and screen. Birds and the bees. Rhys, London UK The usual explanation is that it is based on the quarter-hours of a clock-face, with 45 amended to Seems a bit far-fetched though: 15 is still in there, unchanged to 10 or However, the clock was slightly broken and the hands were a bit loose.

So when Eve went to set the score to 45, the hand slipped and fell back down to 40! And that has been the way they score tennis ever since. The theories of the clock are as I understand it correct in that the score was kept on a clock using the 15, 30 and 45 minute marks To understand this it is good to realise that this all was established in France and when the scores were called out they would have called quinze 15 , trente 30 and quarante-cinq When the rules became standardised in the late 19th century in both the US and Britain..

He used the calibre of cannon used on board ships to define the scoring system - the standard cannon were 15 pounders, 30 pounders and 40 pounders. He retained 'love' based upon 'oueff - 'egg' in French i. The scoring nomenclature came from the French game jeu de paume a precursor to tennis which initially used the hand instead of a racket. Jeu de paume was very popular before the French revolution, with more than 1, courts in Paris alone. The traditional court was 90 ft pied du roi in total with 45 ft on each side.

When the server scored, he or she moved forward 15 ft. If the server scored again, he or she would move another 15 ft. If the server scored a third time, he or she could only move 10 ft closer. Jeu de Paume: History. ISBN Since a third score would put the server right at the net, 10 feet was the last bump forward.

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Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Points are given in tennis Ask Question. An often heard theory is that the term also comes from France. The proper way to describe a score of zero to zero is to say love-all. The truth is unknown. Since the game was reinvented years ago people have wondered about this without conclusion. But, does it even matter where the scoring comes from? They could easily be replaced by 1,2 and 3. Tennis is developing for every year that goes by, but there are certain things in the sport that never will change.

That is the scoring system and if you think about the remarkable history of the sport, It totally makes sense that they have kept the same scoring system up to this date.

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