What tennis term names the point immediately after 30 in a game? The point immediately after 30 is called 40.
A standard tennis game is scored love, 15, 30, and 40. The player who wins the next point after reaching 40 normally wins the game, provided they are ahead by two points. If both players reach 40, the score is called deuce, and a player must then win two consecutive points: advantage and game.
The sequence is unusual because it does not continue as 45. Historians have proposed several explanations for the numbers, including links to clock-face scoring, though no single origin story is universally accepted. The term “love,” meaning zero, has its own disputed history and is not a literal part of the numerical progression.
Another common confusion is treating 40 as a point total in the same way as 15 or 30. In modern scoring, 40 is the final named stage before game point. At 40–40, the next point gives the winner advantage, but does not by itself finish the game unless that player already leads by two.