Welcome to US Open 101: a USOpen.org guide to how tennis works.

Scoring Points and Winning Sets

Let’s start at the very beginning — a very good place to start. A tennis player arrives on court each day with the objective to win a match against their opponent — remember, seven wins in a row earns you a US Open singles trophy — but to do so, they must first win sets, games and points in a particular order.
For the tennis newcomer, we know there’s a lot to learn. As you learn more about forehands, backhands and volleys, you’ll start to pick up on other routines that tennis players follow, watch them switch sides of the court to serve and return and cross the net after odd-numbered games, and hear a lot of terms that might be new to you.
If you want to know why love means “zero” and points are dubbed 15, 30 and 40 before a player wins a game… well, we can’t answer that — but what we can do is give you this basic guide to tennis scoring, powered by the USTA Officiating department. Keep it handy as you watch matches from Flushing Meadows. It’ll get you up to speed before the umpire says their first “game, set and match,” of the fortnight.

The Format of the Match

Now that you know how a match is scored, let’s learn more about what kind of matches you’ll see on the US Open courts.
Women's singles, and men's and women's doubles matches at the US Open are played in a best-of-three-sets format, while men's singles is played to a best-of-five-sets format.
Players must win six games to win a set — unless the score reaches 5-5, in which case they can also win a set, 7-5. If the set is tied at 6-all, a tiebreak — get it? — is played to decide the winner.
The tiebreak was used for the first time at a Grand Slam tournament at the 1970 US Open. The original “sudden death” was a nine-point tiebreak, with the first player to reach five points declared the winner. In 1976, the Open switched to the tiebreak that is still utilized today, in which the first player to reach seven points by a margin of at least two, wins.
All four Grand Slams now utilize a consistent final-set tiebreak format. When a match reaches 6-6 in the deciding set at these events, a 10-point tiebreak is played. The first player or team to win 10 points, with an advantage of two or more points, will be the winner. Already in use at the Australian Open since 2019, this format began at the other three majors starting at the 2022 French Open.
In mixed doubles, matches are also played best-of-three, but with a match tiebreak in lieu of a full third set. In this event, the first team to win 10 points, also by a margin of at least two, wins the set and therefore, the match.

Time After Time: Rules Regarding Pace of Play

Matches don’t start right as the players walk on court — so don’t worry, you have time to head to the kitchen and grab that snack in between matches.
Colloquially known as the '1-4-1', players are expected to adhere to specific time constraints prior to the official start of the match. Players have 60 seconds, or one minute, after arriving on court to meet the chair umpire at the net for the coin toss, and following the standard four-minute warmup, will have another 60 seconds to get on court to begin the match.
Players are allowed 25 seconds between points before beginning the next, which is monitored by an on-court visual clock. Chair umpires have the discretion of when to begin the countdown clock based on a variety of factors during the flow of a match, including length of the preceding point played. Should a player or doubles team take longer than 25 seconds to begin the point, he or she will be penalized with a time violation.
A serving player will receive a time violation warning for the first offense, and a fault for all subsequent infractions thereafter — prompting them to begin the point with a traditional second-serve. A receiving player will receive a time violation warning for the first offense, and lose a point for all subsequent infractions thereafter.

The Ins and Outs of Calling the Shots: Who are the Match Officials?

It’s easy to remember that the object of tennis is to keep the ball inside the lines — and don’t forget, only doubles teams have that extra alley on each side to aim for — but who actually calls the shots?
At the 2024 US Open, matches on all courts will be officiated by a chair umpire with the Hawk-Eye electronic review system calling lines in real-time. Foot faults will be called by a certified Review Official monitoring six court-level cameras from the Hawk-Eye Review Hub.

Video Review (VR)

After its 2023 pilot, Video Review (VR) will again be at the US Open as an officiating aid to assist chair umpires in determining the outcome of specific judgment calls. In its first year, VR was available on Arthur Ashe Stadium, Louis Armstrong Stadium, Grandstand, Stadium 17 and Court 5. This year, it will also be available on Courts 7, 11 and 12. In addition to the VR available on the select courts to review chair umpire decisions, the US Open Referee will have the ability, on all courts, to review situations where he is called on-court to determine if a player (or doubles team) will be defaulted for a Code of Conduct Violation.

Overturned vs. Confirmed vs. Stands

Reviewable calls include "not-up," or, the ball bounced more than once prior to contact; foul shots; "touches," if a player touches the net while the ball is in play, or a ball in play touches a player, or the player or anything that he/she is wearing; if a ball passes through the net instead of passing over the net; hindrances; scoring errors; and malfunctions with the Live Electronic Line-Calling system.

There are three conclusions from a chair umpire can draw from VR:

• Overturned: Clear and irrefutable video evidence that the original call was incorrect.
• Confirmed: Clear and irrefutable video evidence that the original call was correct. 
• Stands: There is not clear video evidence to either overturn or confirm the original call

If the call is confirmed or stands, the player (team) loses a challenge. Players (teams) receive three challenges per set, and one more in a tiebreak.

New Balls, Please? The When and Why.

Tennis balls used in a match are changed after the first seven games, and after each subsequent nine games. Why? The warm-up is counted as two games for this purpose.

Following a Code

Players may be penalized with a code violation for breaking the code of conduct, with sanctions that accumulate over the course of a match.
After receiving a warning as a result of the first code violation, a player or doubles team will be penalized a point for the second violation, and a game for the third violation.
For each subsequent violation, players may either continue to be penalized a game, or be defaulted from the match at the discretion of the tournament referee.

US Open Wheelchair Championships

The first US Open Wheelchair Championships presented by Deloitte was held in 2005, and the event has expanded significantly over the years. This year marks the 20th anniversary of wheelchair tennis at the US Open.

US Open Junior Championships

The US Open Junior Championships take place during the second week of the tournament, featuring a 64-player singles draws and 32-team doubles championships for both boys and girls.