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Types of Tennis Game

The Three-Stroke Game.

This is the sensible game to use when learning tennis, the player realizing that it is better to perfect the drives and the serve before going on with the more advanced strokes. This is a backcourt game.

The Five-Stroke Game.

By adding the volley and the lob to his stroke vocabulary, the player is able to play at the net and defend himself against the net playing opponent. Intermediate players, who have used the backcourt game a few years, should advance into the five-stroke game during the second phase of development, emphasizing the development of a good volley and lob.

The All-Court Game.

The smash, chop, or slice, and half-volley are added to finish the education of the tennis player. Now he is at home anywhere on the court and can change the pace of the game by use of different kinds of ball spins.

Strategy Points

The player's aim is to make his opponent err, either in stroking or court position. He must keep the ball in the court, and yet make it difficult for his opponent to return the ball within bounds. The mental strife which goes on between two players is as great as the physical combat. Anticipation of what the other player is planning to do, couple with effort to make him do what he doesn't want to do, make tennis the greatest game in the world.

Virtua Tennis Game.

Virtua Tennis (Power Smash in Japan) is a 1999 tennis arcade game created by Sega-AM3. The player competes through tennis tournaments and various arcade modes. For the home console market the game was expanded upon with the introduction of the campaign mode. It was later ported to Sega Dreamcast in 2000 and for Microsoft Windows in 2002. A Game Boy Advance version was also released in 2002.

A sequel, Virtua Tennis 2, appeared on Sega NAOMI, Dreamcast and PlayStation 2. In 2005 another sequel, Virtua Tennis: World Tour was released for the PlayStation Portable. 2006 saw the release of Virtua Tennis 3 in the arcades (using the Sega Lindbergh hardware). Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Play station Portable and PC versions were released in 2007.

Game modes.

This is a single match in which the options are customizable. The match can be played as singles or doubles with up to 4 human players (2 for singles). The duration can be varied between one game and one set. Other options include the court that the match is played on and the skill of the opponent(s). This is the main mode of the game. Users have to win matches and complete training exercises in order to progress and unlock new ones.

The user enters with a rank of 300th, which improves as matches are won. These matches are unlocked by completing easier matches or training exercises. The focus of the training exercises is to be fun, rather than realistic. Each exercise has three levels, with the difficulty increasing progressively. By completing the hardest difficulty with a certain amount of time left or points scored, an outfit is unlocked, which players can wear in all modes.

The control mirrors the old Nintendo Tennis game for the NES - you use one button for standard swings and another for lobs. Of course, you have significantly more control over the ball, as you can push in a direction while hitting the ball to aim it at different parts of the court. This lets you force the opposing player to run back and forth quite a bit. While it's pretty easy to judge the ball's trajectory and get to it when you're playing on the close side of the court, you'll have to get used to judging the ball's location using only its shadow when you're playing on the far side of the court, which makes for a slightly tougher match.

But after a few matches, you'll get used to playing on both sides of the court. In one-player games, you can use an alternate camera angle that gives you a behind-the-back view of the action, but this makes it even harder to properly judge the ball. Because Virtua Tennis is a port of an arcade game, its main mode is nice and short. You pick one of several real-life tennis players, choose singles or doubles play, and move through several stages of increasing difficulty.

There's also an exhibition mode that lets you choose a court, put two or four players on it, and play for kicks. You can also customize the rules, setting the number of wins required to end a match, disabling the advantage rule, and so on. Exhibition mode also serves as the game's best mode for multiplayer games, which are a real blast. The meat of the single-player game is in its quest like world-circuit mode. In the world circuit, you start out staring at a world map, as you do in Street Fighter Alpha 3's world-tour mode.

Different spots on the map correspond to different challenges. Some are simple singles matches, some are doubles, and some are mini games in which you train. The training levels, which include activities such as aiming at bowling pins, lobbing tennis balls into cans, knocking boxes off the court, and aiming at a bull's-eye target painted on the court, are all pretty cool. Along the way, you'll be earning money, which can be spent in the tennis shop. In the shop, you can unlock extra tennis players for the game's other modes, purchase new outfits, and contract partners so that you can play in world-circuit doubles matches.

Console versions.

Besides having Tournament Mode and Exhibition Mode from the arcade version, the home versions include a World Tour Mode and Court Games mode. These game modes replace the Challenge Mode that was present in the arcade version. The Xbox 360 version has exclusive Xbox Live online tournaments and modes, whilst the PlayStation 3 version incorporates the option to control the game using the SIXAXIS motion-sensitive controller. Both the 360 and PS3 versions offer native 1080p support.A playable game demo of the Xbox 360 version was released on Xbox Live Marketplace on March 16, 2007.

Tennis 2K2 Game.

Hitmaker has made it a habit of living up to its name, with high-profile games such as Crazy Taxi and Virtua Tennis; its surprise hit tennis game for the Sega Dreamcast. The game did so well for Sega that the company decided to include its sequel, Tennis 2K2, in its Sega Sports line. But while the other games in the Sega Sports line religiously pursue perfection in sports simulation, Hitmaker's tennis game is more about lighthearted, arcade-style game play.

Although Tennis 2K2 has improved upon its predecessor in a variety of areas, judging from our near-complete build of the game, it is essentially a more polished version of Virtua Tennis and retains its fast-paced play mechanics. Tennis 2K2, although a bit faster than last year's game, controls virtually the same. A two-button configuration is used to control standard swings and lobs. Pushing back on the analog stick performs a drop shot, while pushing forward while striking the ball results in scorching ground strokes.

The player's proximity to the ball and the angle at which the racket makes contact with the ball can also yield a variety of shots. This year's game also features improved animations. For example, players reach and dive for the ball, shift their weight more realistically when changing direction, and hit the ball between the legs with their back turned toward their opponent. The quicker game play and the smoother, more realistic animation combine to create a more robust visual presentation.

Further in the graphics department, the player models are truer to their real-life counterparts in Tennis 2K2. Gone are the zombielike player faces. The 3D facial models in this year's game are much more emotive, as their eyes and mouths move to articulate a variety of expressions. 2K2 features a lineup of eight female players, joining the returning eight male pros. Each one is easily identifiable. For example, Lindsay Davenport stands tall and has her signature serve windup, while Serena and Venus Williams sport their stylish tennis gear.

Several high-profile pros, such as Anna Kournikova and Martina Hingis on the women's side and Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras on the men's side, aren't in the game. However, the player creator, which lets players customize a variety of physical characteristics, is always available to create replicas of the missing pros. The courts themselves have also received a substantial makeover in this year's game. Because the courts are fictional, Hitmaker was able to put its collective imagination to work in creating some outrageously elaborate venues.

For example, the Tokyo-based tennis tournament is placed on top of a skyscraper, with helicopters circling overhead and searchlights illuminating the night sky. The general look of the game, considering the more realistic player models and ornate tournament venues, is much more impressive compared with last year's. You can play Tennis 2K2 in three different modes--exhibition, tournament, and world-circuit. World-circuit is the most robust and involved of the three basic modes of play, like in Virtua Tennis.

It is also the game play mode that has changed most dramatically in the sequel. Also like in Virtua Tennis, a large world map, which features singles and doubles tournaments, tennis pro shops, and training locations, serves as the primary interface for the world-circuit mode. However, unlike in last year's game, you must create both a male and female tennis pro--this mode no longer lets you select one of the existing pros--to begin your run for the world number one ranking.

Tennis Masters Series 2003 Game.

Tennis Masters Series 2003 is a step in the right direction for Microids' fledgling arcade sports series. The follow-up to Tennis Masters Series 2002 addresses many of its predecessor's problems, smoothing out player movement, tweaking the AI, and enhancing the graphics. Unfortunately, the previous game had so many issues that these renovations can only do so much. Tennis Masters Series 2003 is a pretty lightweight tennis simulation, though it's clearly on the right track and is much more enjoyable than last year's game.

These improvements seem like the result of fan feedback. One of the most common complaints that players made about the first game was that its controls weren't responsive. Your player lumbered about the court, more like an offensive lineman than a lithe tennis pro, and had an unfortunate tendency to pause after shots, almost as though he were admiring his last stroke. Unfortunately, this pause would often cause you to miss your next shot, even if the ball landed just a few feet away.

Considering the fact that computer-controlled opponents would mercilessly fire killer shots at you, the original game could often be frustrating. Thankfully, the control problems have been addressed in the sequel. Even the slowest players now move with more agility, so you won't have to damage your keyboard or gamepad in a desperate attempt to get from one sideline to the other. And the annoying pause has also been removed. But Tennis Masters Series 2003 apparently went too far in the other direction.

In the previous game, you had to push too hard on the gamepad and struggle to get to the ball. In the new game, you're so quick on your feet that it's easy to overshoot your target. Movement on the court seems more like ice-skating than running. This is an improvement on the way things used to be, in that you can more readily compensate for being too quick than for being too slow, but you still have to fight with the controls. You never feel like you have complete control over your player. The game play has progressed in other areas as well.

The serve interface has been changed from a basic bar to a round meter that looks and acts a lot like the swing mechanism used in many golf games. It's a welcome change that makes serving the ball a lot more challenging. Putting the ball in play isn't automatic, as it used to be, in that you can't put full power behind your serves and expect them to always land inbounds. Double faults are much more common in the new game, even after you've gotten accustomed to the new meter. Even computer players double-fault now.

And in Tennis Masters Series 2003, matches aren't as predictable as they were in the first game. Computer players are no longer ball-returning automatons--they make unforced errors and can be simply outplayed. While they can be fooled more readily now and will hit shots out of bounds on a regular basis, they are also more prone to making surprising shots and turning your tactics against you. You'll see a larger variety of winning shots because of this, although points still end very quickly. Even the longest rallies last no more than four or five volleys, which may be realistic on the men's pro tour these days, but doesn't provide much opportunity for a drawn-out, exciting duel.

The new game's graphics are better as well. Players have more-distinct movements and dramatically improved animations. The skipped frames and occasional slowdown of the earlier game have also been eliminated. This, plus more-detailed stadiums, the addition of TV-broadcast-style cutscenes between points, and the inclusion of an opening cinematic that features a nifty riff on Pong, upgrades the overall presentation to the point where Tennis Masters Series 2003 can compete with the best in the business when it comes to look and feel.

However, the game's sound doesn't compare to its appearance, since there is no commentary and the racket and crowd effects are subdued. The only other significant addition that the new game makes is a powerful new player and stadium editor. Like its predecessor, Tennis Masters Series 2003 features only generic male tennis pros. Even though the game bears the ATP logo and the Tennis Masters Series license, all the players have made-up names. Then again, professional tennis isn't as much in the public eye these days, so you might not even notice.

Still, it's disappointing that Microids didn't get at least a few stars into the game, or any female players at all. Otherwise, the new game has the same flimsy career mode as the original. You progress from one tournament to another, slowly building skills to the point where you can compete with the top seeds. It's somewhat compelling, although the road to the top takes a long time to travel and you repeat the same circuit of nine stadiums over and over again. The game doesn't have any online support, although you can get into singles and doubles exhibition matches on a single machine or on a local network.

Considering how many improvements it makes to the series, Tennis Masters Series 2003 is a fairly solid tennis game. If you're looking for a complete tennis simulation, you won't find it here, though anyone searching for a quick game of tennis should find a lot to like, including the game's budget price tag, provided they don't expect too much.

US Open 2002 Tennis Game.

In a sparsely populated genre where even the best games have been relatively weak, Strategy First's US Open 2002 is arguably the finest PC-based tennis simulation to date. It is strategic, positional, somewhat realistic, and at times extremely challenging. It is not, however, as exciting or as sophisticated as a quality console tennis game. Although US Open clearly strives to duplicate the ambience, the appearance, and even the menu structure of Sega's Tennis 2K2 and Virtua Tennis for the Dreamcast and Sega Sports Tennis for the PlayStation 2, it is simply not as thrilling.

But on the PC, it's currently the only way to go. Despite the game's title, US Open concerns itself only partly with America's most prominent tennis tournament. In reality, it lets you play at several world-class events, including the British Classic (presumably Wimbledon), the French Classic (presumably Roland Garos), and the Australian Cup (Australian Open). Each surface purportedly behaves as it does in real life, and certainly you'll find the grass courts of Britain play somewhat faster than the red clay of France.

French developer Wanadoo has infused the game with an eclectic mix of 10 real-life touring pros, including stalwarts such as Gustavo Kuerten, Tim Henman, and Todd Martin, and hot newcomers like Tommy Robredo and Elena Dementiava. Sadly, many of the star players you'd hope to find in a game such as this, such as Pete Sampras, Lleyton Hewitt, Serena and Venus Williams, Jennifer Capriati, and even Anna Kournikova, are missing. However, you can unlock a variety of weird and wacky imaginary foes by emerging triumphant in certain disciplines.

In arcade mode, you'll compete in a succession of singles or doubles matches on the court of your choice, each against an increasingly difficult opponent. Exhibition mode lets you play a one-off match with the opponent and court parameters of your choice, while challenge mode gives you an opportunity to set up your own personalized tourney. You may also wish to explore US Open's other gameplay options, including training (against a wall or with the aid of a ball machine), doubles and mixed-doubles competition, and four-player multiplayer tennis over a LAN.

The game's most comprehensive mode, career, isn't a true career in that it doesn't allow you to advance your player from humble beginnings all the way through to the pros. Instead, it offers a series of 10 professional seasons wherein you face increasingly talented opposition and a progressively faster pace. If you perform up to snuff, your ability will improve and you will be propelled through to the next season. Alternately, if you prove you're not quite ready for the next level, you must replay your last season.

Given that the tennis becomes incredibly difficult at its more advanced levels, most players will need many hours, days, and perhaps months to reach the successful end of a full 10-season career. Unfortunately, US Open simply doesn't seem optimized for the PC. Control options, for example, must be set from a separate utility before launching the game. Menu screens do not support mouse control, and the printed manual is woefully short on detailed information and instruction. The automatic save routine is switched off by default, thus forcing you to search for the manual save function, which will in turn activate auto-saving.

And on one test machine, the game ground to a halt on several occasions, forcing a complete reboot. To be fair, it ran successfully on a second machine and hasn't been found to be chronically problematic by Strategy First's technical support. It's possible that you may never see any computer lockups and associated operational hassles...but it's possible that you might, too. Even still, US Open's game play is hampered by a variety of irritating problems. At its rookie level, it's so frightfully easy that it's possible to consistently destroy your opponents at a blistering five-minutes-per-set average.

In fact, at rookie level, the computer opponents are scarcely capable of notching a single point. Yet US Open becomes positively beastly in advanced modes, where your playing partners are suddenly instilled with uncanny shot placement, inhuman endurance, and an amazing last-second lunge that lets them return seemingly unreturnable shots. Go cross-court on these guys and gals all day; they just don't seem to get tired. And all the way through, shots continually paint the lines as if there were an invisible force-field guarding the perimeters.

Lobs virtually always land within the court, and the net is only rarely touched. Visually, US Open has its moments. Players bounce about between points, wiping sweat from their brow or inspecting their racquets. Facial close-ups reveal reasonable likenesses of their real-life counterparts. Ball boys and line judges surround the court, real-time shadows flit beneath both the ball and the athletes, and all the playing surfaces look their part. However, the proceedings unfold in a stilted manner. Your robotlike, artificially intelligent foes never raise or vary their approach, nor will anyone ever dive to the ground to scoop up a difficult shot.

Instead, they'll conduct themselves just as aggressively at the outset as they will during a potential match point. Furthermore, the game sports only two similar-looking camera perspectives, and no replay. Yet, though it doesn't seem to reproduce the true feel of real human beings playing tennis, US Open is by no means unenjoyable. Like its console peers, it smartly focuses more on preparation and shot selection than exacting racquet-to-ball contact. Particularly at its advanced levels where you're forced to concentrate every second of the way or pay the price, it does a fine job of rewarding patience and timeliness and penalizing forced aggressiveness and ill-timed forays to the net.

In fact, if you can live with its idiosyncrasies, you'll find that Wanadoo has built an ultra-strategic affair that plays out like a somewhat more adrenaline-driven game of chess. Mastering the game's many shots and shot variations is not easy but is ultimately well worth the time invested. For the most part, US Open is pleasing to the ear. Ball thunks and thwaps are accurately portrayed, as are the calls of the chair umpire and the footsteps and grunts of the overextended players. The gallery sounds good too, vociferously cheering long or particularly spectacular rallies, groaning at the less-than-spectacular, and oohing and aahing when applicable.

But for some reason, their clamor grows no more frenzied at the end of a match than it is at the beginning. Set and match points are often greeted with a cursory smattering of applause. Those accustomed to the multifaceted animations, thrilling player movements, and polished presentation and camerawork of Sega's excellent console tennis games may well be disappointed by US Open 2002. Yet beneath its quirks lies a tactical battle that should please anyone who enjoys a slower-paced cranial workout as much as a gamepad-walloping duel. If you must play tennis on your PC, this is the way you should play.

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