Justine Atkinson

“Game, set, match: Why do we say this?” my father would ask me. “Because each time you play, it is a game. You must win the most games to win the set. And then you must win the most sets to win the match,” I’d recite. “In a game, the first point is…” “Fifteen. Then 30. Then 40. Then you win. But you have to win by two.” “When the score is 40–all, what do we call that?” “Deuce. And if you’re at deuce and win a point, that brings you to either advantage-in or advantage-out, depending on whether you’re serving or not.” “So how do you win?” “If you are serving at ad-in, you have to win the next point to win the game. You have to win six games to win the set, but, again, you have to win by two. You can’t just win a set 6–5.” “And a match?” “Women play three sets, men often play five.” “And love? What does it mean?” “It means nothing.” “Well, it means zero.” “Right, you have no points. Love means nothing.”
― Taylor Jenkins Reid, Carrie Soto Is Back