The Invention Of Tennis

At the beginning of time, there were only team sports. Association Football, Rugby, Cricket, what have you.

However there was this one guy who was very introverted and shy by nature, and even though he loved sports he couldn't muster enough courage to play within a large group. So he invented the game of Tennis. It was the first sport of its kind that could be played with a minimum of two people. He was very proud of his invention, but he still needed at least one friend to play with. After years of trying, he finally made a friend and started explaining the rules of his newly invented game.

The Inventor of Tennis (IOT, from here on) had the following conversation with his friend after he was done explaining its rules:

IOT: ...

Friend: ...

IOT: So, you follow the rules so far on how to play Tennis?

Friend: Yeah it's a pretty simple game! You hit the ball to the other side of the net inside the lines, and you win points. It might be the simplest thing ever!

IOT: Yeah (now a bit unsure of himself knowing what's coming next)

Friend: Sooo... how do you keep score?

IOT: (sheepishly)... yeah about that...

Friend: Come on, the game is so simple, I'm pretty sure the scoring can't be that bad.

IOT: (growing more confident) Ok, when you win one point you get 15

Friend: 15? 15 what? Points?

IOT: Nope. Just... 15

Friend: Okayyy... what comes next?

IOT: If you win the next point, you get 30

Friend: Alright then, I think I understand. But it seems awfully unnecessary to have athletes memorize the multiplication table of 15. But its your game, your rules! So what comes next? 45, correct!?

IOT: Umm... actually 40

Friend: Whyyy...

IOT: No reason.

Friend: Thats... well... whatever. (now slightly exasperated) Then whats next after 40?

IOT: Oh nothing, you win the game.

Friend: Wait what? Thats it!? It takes 4 shots to win the whole game?

IOT: Oh no no no... 'game' is just what I call it after you get past 40

Friend: That's confusing dude. But wait, what happens when both you and your opponent are tied at 40-40?

IOT: *shrugs* thats just Deuce.

Friend: I'm sorry what? What does that even mean, and how do I get out of this 'Deuce'

IOT: After Deuce, if you win the next point you'll get an advantage.

Friend: Advantage? That sounds interesting! Like the opponent has to play with one hand tied behind his back or something?

IOT: Nope! All it means is that you win the game if you win the next point, otherwise its back to Deuce.

Friend: Great. But I'm sure there's more... go on...

IOT: When you win 6 games with a difference of 2 or more, you win a set.

Friend: (visibly annoyed, and almost yelling) How do I win 'Tennis'?

IOT: You win the Tennis 'match' when you've won enough sets after you've won enough games to win the set! But I have not decided how many sets yet. It could be a best of 3 or best of 5.

Friend: Surely we're done? Can we actually play now?

IOT: Yeah.

Friend: Hold on a second. You said you need to win 6 games to win a set with a difference of 2 or more... what happens if we are tied at 6-6? How do we break the tie?

IOT: Glad you asked! Tie-Breaker is the simplest thing ever. You serve once, then the other guy serves twice, and then you serve twice and so on, then you change sides after every 6 points, and then when you get to 7 points with a difference of 2 or more, you win! See? Simple.

Friend: This is why you don't have any friends.