How to Judge a Tennis Game

At first appearance, tennis seems like a complicated game. This is thanks to the odd terminology and seemingly illogical scoring system. However, once you get a handle on it, tennis is a relatively simple game to referee, and the small area means that a judge -- known as an umpire -- observes most of the field of play at any one time. In a full game, an umpire is accompanied by line judges who make calls for whether a ball bounced in play or out of play. These line judges overlook a very small area of the court and are better placed than the umpire to make these fine decisions. However, in smaller games, logistical constraints may require you to act as the umpire and all four line judges rolled into one.

Instructions

    • 1

      Position yourself in a chair approximately seven feet off the ground. The chair should be in a position so that you are perpendicular to the net. Watch the player with the ball as she serves. She must be standing behind the service line until the ball has left her racket. The ball must bounce within the first rectangle diagonally opposite her on the other side of the net. If either of these things do not happen, or the ball goes elsewhere, the serve must be retaken. If this happens again award 15 to the other player.

    • 2

      Watch the second player's return. It can bounce anywhere beyond the net as long as it is within the rectangle formed by the inside line of pair of parallel lines and the service line. If it is outside this zone, call, "Out" and award 15 to the server. If it bounces twice, award 15 to the player who played the shot. At the end of the point, regardless of who won, ask the server to change position on the service line -- either from left to right or from right to left.

    • 3

      Score the match, awarding points every time a shot is not returned or bounces out of play. The scores progress from 15 to 30 to 40. If a player reaches 40, it is game point and her next winner wins the game. If a player reaches 40 and is then joined on 40 by her opponent, the tied score is known as "deuce". To settle this deadlock, one player must force "advantage" by scoring a winner, and then she must win the next point to win the game; otherwise the score returns to deuce.

    • 4

      Keep track of the amount of games won. A set is won when one player wins six games and leads by two clear games; 6-4 and 7-5 are common scores to win a set by. If the score reaches six games all, the set goes to a tie break. In a tie break, points are scored as one, two, three, etc., rather than 15, 30 and 40. One player serves twice, and then the other player serves twice and the two players continue until one reaches seven. If this player is leading by two clear points she wins the set; if not, they continue to serve in this way until someone leads by two and wins the set. For females, the first player to win two sets wins the match; for men, the target is three sets.