Rules guides

How scoring works in tennis, padel and pickleball

Deuce, tiebreaks, golden points, side-outs: the rules behind the score, explained plainly — with worked examples you can follow on court.

• Tennis rules

  Tennis scoring explained: points, games, sets and matches

  Points, games, sets and matches in plain English – from love and deuce to tiebreaks, calling the score and changing ends.

  9 min read →

• Tennis rules

  Tennis tiebreak rules: how a tiebreak works, point by point

  When a tiebreak starts, who serves each point, when to change ends and how the 10-point match tiebreak works.

  8 min read →

• Padel rules

  Padel scoring rules: points, golden point, sets and tiebreaks

  Padel uses tennis scoring with one big twist — the golden point at 40–40 — plus tiebreaks, match tiebreaks and the serve rules that shape every game.

  8 min read →

• Pickleball rules

  Pickleball scoring rules, explained simply

  Games to 11, win by two, side-out and rally scoring, and how to call “0–0–2” without anyone looking confused.

  7 min read →