Bisque

Bisque is one stroke (point), which may be claimed by the receiver at any part of the set. Part of the handicapping odds and used during the early era of the sport.

Tennis, Golf and Croquet all took on the idea of a “bisque”, the derivation of which is unknown but was probably invented by Croquet which used a number of other quasi-French words. A bisque in croquet allows you an additional shot and a half bisque allows you an additional shot off which you cannot score.

The bisque in Tennis allowed you to claim a point or points at any stage of a match without warning. This was replaced also in the 1890s as it must have been difficult to operate especially if a number of bisques were claimed when there was a large disparity in standard. (It has been revived as part of the International Tennis Number (ITN) to enable players of a roughly equal standard compete with only a slight handicap).

Tennis moved initially to a 4-game system, using .1 to .3 but this was quickly replaced by the 6-game system, using .1 to .5 that we still use now. While the bisque was only used to give points to the weaker player, as still generally pertains in golf, the 6-game system allowed for the stronger player to be penalized by way of a minus handicap.