Coco Gauff is all for updating "hard to explain" scoring system to incremental method

World No. 4 Coco Gauff appreciates how tennis differentiates itself from other sports. Specifically, how “literally it's not over until it's over” with players needing to reach—and then close out—match point.

That said, the two-time major winner is open to evolving other elements of her trade. When asked about the scoring system following her semifinal win over Sorana Cirstea in Rome, Gauff was all for simplifying it.

“The way the games are 15-Love, 30-Love. That doesn't make any sense to me. It's so hard to explain that to people,” she told press. “It's 15, 30, but it goes to 40. Why?

“I don't know, 1-0, 1-All situation. At least make it incrementally. It should be 45, not 40.”

Whether one agrees with the 22-year-old, Gauff may have a point. Records about the scoring system indicate that 45 was initially in place during the 1400s, but the reason for shifting to 40 doesn't have verifiable roots.

Said Elizabeth Wilson, author of Love Game: A History of Tennis, from Victorian Pastime to Global Phenomenon, “I don’t think anybody really knows how it started or why it developed how it did. There are various theories, all sorts of romantic theories have been built up about it. That’s partly what makes tennis into a kind of romantic game, because it had all this history that isn’t really history.”

Speaking of history, Gauff is bidding to become first American woman besides four-time champion Serena Williams to lift the Internazionali BNL d'Italia trophy since 2000, when Monica Seles triumphed. The Delray Beach, Fla. resident will need to turn the tables on two-time title holder Elina Svitolina, as the Ukrainian won both of their prior 2026 meetings at the Australian Open and Dubai.