In tennis, love is a word that represents a score of zero, and has been used as such since the late 1800s. It’s not perfectly clear how this usage of love came to be, but the most accepted theory is that those with zero points were still playing for the “love of the game” despite their losing score.
Love as a word for a score of zero has been used in the sport of tennis since the late 1800s. Frankly, how love became a word for zero is baffling, but so is the overall scoring system for tennis. The points progress from love to 15, 30, and 40, which are relatively equivalent to 0,1, 2, and 3 in points per game. For example, if the player serving wins the first point of a game, then the score is “15 – love” or “fifteen (to) love” in their favor. Etymologists aren’t exactly sure how love came to mean “zero,” but, as we said, there are theories. (As for the point system, we’re still scratching our heads about the random 40; 15 to 30 begins a pattern that 40 doesn’t follow.)
Another, and far more accepted, theory is that this sense of love comes from the expression “to play for love.” The idea is that a person who fails to make any points doesn’t care because they are playing for love of the game, rather than playing to win (which, really, every player is trying to do but when you can’t get it together at least show good sportsmanship and play for love) or playing for monetary stakes. In other words, playing on the court, challenging yourself, is the reason for still playing despite having the score of love. And to players of tennis, the sport can be truly a “labor of love,” an expression which implies an undertaking performed out of love for the work itself without consideration of benefit or reward. A similar idea is found in the origin of the word amateur, which can refer to a person who does something strictly for love; the word comes from the Latin word amare, meaning “to love.”
Credit : Merriam Webster
Picture Credit : Google
