Whenever I watch Tennis I always used to have a question – Why Zero Scores in Tennis Called as Love?
Earlier, Tennis is more popular in France, and the scores of Zero on the Scoreboard look like an Egg
Shaped, and in French an egg and was called as ‘l’oeuf, sources says that when the Tennis game is introduced to English, they mispronounced the word ‘l’oeuf and called it as ‘LOVE‘.
Why the Scores in Tennis will count as 15, 30, and 40? (why not 45)
No proper reason found when googled but, few sources says as:
1. One possible explanation is that the scoring system is based on the presence of a clock face at the end of the tennis court. A quarter move of the appropriate hand was made after each rest, with the score being called as 15, 30, or 45 as the case might be. As the hand was moved to 60, making the complete circuit, this was the game.
2. The scoring system was copied from the game sphairistike, which was played by British officers in India during the 19th century. That game’s scoring system was based on the different gun calibres of the British naval ships. When firing a salute, the ships first fired their 15-pound guns on the main deck, followed by the 30-pound guns of the middle deck, and finally by the 40-pound lower gun deck.
And the word “Deuce” is also came from French which means “deux“, an advantage of 2 points having to be gained.