Question Why do they say "love" instead of "zero" in tennis? Answer Tennis used to be a sport for ladies and gentlemen. But in recent years we've seen championship caliber players cursing the linesman and throwing both their rackets and temper tantrums on the court. "Love" was hardly the point: tennis had become war. Not that tennis terminology such as "love" ever had anything to do with being polite. In fact, substituting love for zero was a way of saying that the player with no points had laid an egg, and that's not being very nice. The French, who popularized tennis, thought the zero on the scoreboard resembled an egg. French for egg is "l'oeuf," which is what they called zero. When tennis crossed the pond, Americans also called zero "l'eouf." They just slightly scrambled the pronunciation. And that's the story of love.     (Source: EVER WONDER WHY? By Douglas B. Smith)