So today I figured out how to keep score properly during my tennis matches, which is great because last week I totally embarrassed myself. Was playing doubles with friends and forgot who served when, plus I messed up the point count big time. Decided to grab a tennis scorecard from my club’s pro shop – just a basic laminated one with boxes and numbers.
Getting Started
First thing I did was find a flat surface near the court. Propped it against my water bottle so I wouldn’t forget to update it. Used a dry-erase marker since pencil smudges too easily. Made sure to write our names in the top boxes: “Tim & Mike” vs “Sarah & Jess”.
Filling In Points
Started simple with single slash marks like this:
- Marked 15 as one slash ( / )
- 30 got two slashes ( // )
- When Sarah aced her serve? Drew three slashes for 40 ( /// )
- Blank square meant love
Changed servers every time someone lost a game. Messed this up twice because my partner switched sides without telling me – circled those boxes later to fix the rotation.
Tracking Games & Sets
Here’s where I almost screwed up again:
- Wrote actual numbers when someone won a game (1,2,3…)
- Put tiny arrows ↑ next to the server’s name
- Highlighted tiebreaks with yellow marker when we hit 6-6
The most helpful trick? Sticking to one box per point no matter what. Even when we had 6 deuces in that crazy second set, just kept stacking lines in the box.
Final Match Outcome
Made sure to frame the winning set with my red marker after the last point. Our final card showed Tim/Mike won 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. Took a photo before erasing – looked almost professional except for Sarah’s coffee stain on corner.
Biggest takeaway? Beginners should start updating after every single point like I did today. Slows the game a bit but you’ll avoid those “wait, what’s the score?” arguments that ruined our last three matches.