Today we move into section 5 of the ITF Rules of Tennis which is titled “Score In a Game.” The first subsection starts out innocuously enough, defining the scoring system to be used in a “Standard Game.”
A standard game is scored as follows with the server’s score being called first:
No point – “Love”
USTA Friend at Court, 2020
Tennis historians have found absolutely no authoritative source on why zero is referred to as “Love” in tennis and the term is one of the many great mysteries of the game.
There does seem to be some consensus that the use of the term originated in England, which may be what prompted the idea that a Sottish word for nothing, “luff,” could be the source of the term. The problem with that theory is that the word “luff” doesn’t seem to be a part of the Scottish language at any point in history. Ordinarily I am not one to let a few facts get in the way of an otherwise perfectly good story, but in this case luff is an unsatisfactory explanation.
Another popular theory is that the term “Love” originates with the French “l’ouef ” which literally means egg. This is based on the fact that the notation for “no score” in early writings about the game greatly resembled the shape of the egg. Given that the use of the term originated in England rather than France is somewhat problematic to this theory, however.
As a personal aside, when I was growing up, zeros in tennis were commonly referred to a doughnuts. The umpire I gave birth to who is always happy to share knowledge of “modern” tennis with me, notes that the common vernacular is now “bagel.” I guess kids today are just a little bit more health conscious than we were back in the day.
While no one knows the source of the word love in tennis, I do have a theory that I greatly prefer to all the others. That idea is sourced in the knowledge that some obscure word root interpretations in both Latin and Greek relating the term love is a variant of “gratis” which means free, or nothing. There is some supporting evidence in very early English that love was indeed used to mean nothing. There is evidence of early usage of “Love” which meant to play without stakes or other compensation. In other words, for nothing other than the love of the game.
It’s kind of beautiful when you think about it.
- United States Tennis Association (2020) Friend at Court. White Plains, NY
- Whitman, Malcolm D. “Tennis Origins and Mysteries”, Dover Publications, 2018.
