Why is zero called love in tennis?
No one knows for sure. One theory says love comes from the French l'oeuf, meaning egg, as a zero looks like an egg. Another links it to playing for love.
Tennis scoring dates back to medieval France, where an early form of the game, jeu de paume, was played with the hand. The egg theory says English players heard the French word l'oeuf for a zero score and turned it into love. In cricket, a zero score is similarly called a duck, short for duck's egg.
Language experts have doubts about the egg theory, because French players did not usually call zero l'oeuf. An alternative explanation comes from the English phrase to play for love, meaning to play for nothing, with no money at stake. A player with zero has nothing yet, so the score is love.
The rest of tennis scoring
Points in a game go love, 15, 30, 40 and game. One theory links the numbers to the quarters of a clock face, with 45 later shortened to 40. A tied score of 40-40 is called deuce, from the French à deux, meaning both players need two more points to win.
Did You Know?
Tennis has used the same unusual scoring for over a century, but the tiebreak is a modern addition. It was introduced in the 1970s by American Jimmy Van Alen to stop sets from lasting for hours.