Chapter 16 – Mini Duel
Tennis has the most unique scoring system among all ball sports. But once you understand it, it’s actually not that complicated—there are only three concepts you need to grasp:
a match, a set, and a game.
First, the match.
As the name suggests, this refers to the final winning condition. In most tennis competitions, matches are played in a best-of-three format, but in men’s Grand Slam events, the long-standing tradition of best-of-five is still maintained. The concept of a “match” is essentially the same as in sports like badminton or table tennis.
Next, the set.
A player wins a set by being the first to win six games, for example 6–3 or 6–4. If the score reaches 5–5, then one side must win two games in a row to take the set, resulting in 7–5. However, if neither side manages to do that and the score reaches 6–6, the rules become a bit special.
Normally, after 6–6, a tiebreak is played. The first player to reach seven points wins the tiebreak. But if the tiebreak score also reaches 6–6, then a player must lead by two points to win, such as 9–7 or 8–6.
The tiebreak system has variations—doubles matches and Grand Slam events may follow different extensions—but the basic principle is the same.
Finally, the game—this is the truly unique part.
A game consists of four points, but the scoring does not use the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4. Instead, it goes 15, 30, 40, game.
Simply put, if the server wins the first point, the score becomes 15–0. If the server wins the second point, it becomes 30–0. If the receiver then wins a point, the score is recorded as 30–15, and so on.
If both players win three points and the score reaches 40–40, this is called “deuce.” From that point on, a player must win two consecutive points to take the game. Winning one point after deuce is called “advantage,” and winning two in a row results in “game.”
This is why in intense matches, a single game can take more than ten minutes, with both players repeatedly moving back and forth between advantage and deuce, neither able to win two points in a row.
In the 1980s, volleyball and badminton had similar rules: winning a rally only earned the right to serve. You had to win another rally while serving to actually score a point. If you won the serve but lost the next rally, you lost the serve again.
There’s no doubt that tennis scoring—especially within each game—is extremely unique. So why does it work this way?
Tennis originated in France in the 13th century, and its scoring system dates back to the 15th century. It was modeled after the sextant used in astronomy. A sextant divides a circle into six parts, with each part containing sixty degrees, and each degree divided into sixty minutes. Early tennis scoring was based on this “sixty-unit” scale.
Each game consists of four points, and each point was originally worth “fifteen degrees.” Every time a player won a point, the score would advance by fifteen degrees on a clock-like scale, which eventually evolved into 15, 30, 45, and game.
Today, the score has changed from 45 to 40, and there are two common explanations for this.
One says that “40” is simply a shortened form of “45.”
The other explanation is that officials found it more convenient to call out “forty,” since 15 and 30 are both two syllables, while 45 has three, so they shortened it to the two-syllable “forty.”
In tennis, the score 0 is called “love.” For example, when the score is 15–0, it is read as “fifteen–love.” If a player wins a game without the opponent scoring a single point, it is called a “love game.”
This also has a historical origin. When tennis spread from France to England in the 16th century, many French terms influenced the sport. In French, 0 was called “l’oeuf,” literally meaning “egg,” and its pronunciation sounded very similar to the English word “love,” so the English simply adopted it.
Setting aside the unusual scoring terms, tennis really isn’t that complicated: win four points to take a game, win six games to take a set, and win two sets out of three to win a match. If the score reaches a tie—either points or games—then a player must win two points / two games in a row to win.
Simplified, that’s basically all there is to it.
There is one more concept in tennis: the service game and the return game.
As the name suggests, a service game is a game in which a player serves.
For the server, the goal is to hold serve, meaning to win the game on their own serve. For the receiver, the goal is to break serve, meaning to win the opponent’s service game.
In tennis, players alternate serving. For example, in the match between Gao Wen and Giron, Giron serves first. If Giron is the first to win four points that game, he successfully holds serve; if Gao Wen wins four points first, he breaks Giron’s serve. After the game ends, it becomes Gao Wen’s service game.
This rotation continues until one player reaches six games first, winning the set.
You could think of tennis as a constant battle between holding serve and breaking serve.
However, Coach Martin just mentioned the mini duel format. In regular matches, the first player to win six games takes the set, but in a mini duel, the number is simply cut in half: the first to win three games wins. There’s no best-of-three structure either—after all, it’s just a practice match.
In other words, in a mini duel, each player has at most three service games, and a single break of serve may immediately cost them the entire practice match. The margin for error is much smaller, requiring players to maintain a stronger focus.
With the court cleared, Gao Wen and Giron now stand on opposite sides.
Giron chooses to receive serve first.
In theory, the player who serves first should have a slight advantage, especially in men’s tennis. Male players often possess powerful serves, making their service games more secure and reducing the chances of being broken. This allows them to maintain a scoring advantage throughout the match.
In a mini duel, that advantage is amplified even further.
However, neither Giron nor Gao Wen are the type of players who have a dominant serves, so the advantage of serving first is far less pronounced. At the same time, Giron has great confidence in his return game, so he doesn’t care that Gao Wen gets to serve first.
Even from such a small detail, you can clearly see Giron’s confidence.
Gao Wen doesn’t mind this either. He’s the challenger here, and he knows he has to fight with everything he has to take on Giron. So what if Giron holds a slight psychological edge?
Standing behind the baseline, Gao Wen bounces the ball lightly, then lifts his head to observe Giron’s positioning—
It’s a classic hard-court stance, positioned slightly inside the baseline to take the ball early on the rise, returning it quickly to cut down the server’s recovery time.
Giron also subconsciously shifts a bit toward his backhand side, protecting his weaker wing, since his forehand is clearly stronger.
Reading an opponent’s positioning is definitely not a waste of time—it’s an essential part of analysing the match.
The battle of strategy begins even before the serve is struck, and this is exactly the area where Gao Wen excels.
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