Play Tennis Online - Free Game

Ready to play tennis online? This is a challenging online tennis game. It trains brain skills like concentration and reaction time.

This game is part of the free online brain games collection.

To begin, click the Small, Medium, or Large button under the picture of the game. This opens the game in a new window.

If you like this game, you might also enjoy other concentration games on this site such as Atari Breakout.

Play Tennis Online - Instructions

Tennis Open. From the game developer:

The tennis world is here! Train, play and win. Defeat your opponents and win matches. Fight your way through the tournaments and become the best tennis player in the world.

Key Features: 4 world-known tournaments - 6 types of tennis rackets - intuitive controls - training mode.

Train your game in training mode. Enter the match and try to win it. Improve your player for rewards earned in matches. All the rules of tennis also apply in this game.

NOTE: The instructions below were written for the old Adobe Flash version of the game.

After the game loads, click the Start Game button to begin. Or, click the How to Play button for brief instructions. I've provided more detailed instructions below.

This Twisted Tennis game has lots of features and options. It's definitely more advanced than other flash tennis games I've played.

For example, you can play tennis against the computer, or you can play against a friend. You can compete in exhibitions (a single match) or in tournament-style matches. You can even play tennis online in different locations - the city, the zoo, or on a cruise ship.

No matter which mode of play you choose, you have the option to select your tennis player from several default profiles. You can change the player's name if you want.

You can even re-map the keyboard keys to customize your player controls. Impressive!

HOW TO PLAY.  There are enough features in Twisted Tennis to make it seem a bit complicated at first. You've got movement keys to learn, as well as the keys and combinations to hit ground strokes, lobs, smash shots, drop shots, and so on. With a little practice, though, you'll master it.

PLAYER MOVEMENT. Your player is the one at the bottom of the tennis court. Use the Arrow keys on your keyboard to move your tennis player around the court. The keys for movement include:

• Up Arrow. Move to the net.

• Down Arrow. Move to the baseline.

• Right Arrow. Move to the right side of the court.

• Left Arrow. Move to the left side of the court.

As in real tennis, in Twisted Tennis you need to run into position in preparation to return your opponent's shots. For example, suppose you hit a forehand ground stroke from the right-side of your baseline down your right-side baseline. As in a real tennis match, when you play tennis online you should immediately return to the center of the baseline, or run to the net. This is good tennis strategy.

Why is it smart to return to the center? If you stay on the right-side baseline after hitting your forehand, your opponent could take advantage of the hole you've left on the left side of the court and hit a passing shot to win the point. So, use the arrow keys to return to the center baseline (or to run to the net) after every shot.

STROKES & ELEVATION. Use the following keys to control the power and vertical elevation of your shots.

• Z Key. Hit the ball hard (fast hit).

• X Key. Hit a low shot, like a ground stroke.

• C Key. Hit a high shot (lob).

To angle your shots, press a movement key at the same time. For example, to angle a forehand shot toward your opponent's right corner, hold down the Z key and press the Right Arrow key. (It takes a little practice to get this right.)

POWER SHOTS. Once you fill your Power Bar, you can perform Power Shots. These are special shots you take to win the point. They are performed by holding down a movement key and pressing one of the hit keys.

The Power Shots include:

• Smash. Move toward the net + Hit.

• Drop Shot. Move away from the net + Hit.

• Aim to the Left. Left + Hit.

• Aim to the Right. Right + Hit.

Your Power Bar and your opponent's bar display at the top of the screen. Keep an eye on your opponent's Power Bar. When it's full, count on them hitting a power shot shortly thereafter.

SELECT PLAYER. In Twisted Tennis, you can choose from several different player profiles. The Select Player screen appears after you select which type of match to play.

The image at right shows an example of the player selection screen. There are male and female tennis players to choose from.

They all have the same level of skill at tennis as far as I can tell. (This differs from the other free tennis game on my site, where in tournament play you choose from famous tennis players who have varying skill sets, such as Navratilova, Sabatini, Evert, Graf, etc.)

On the Select Player screen, click the image of the player you want as your avatar. The default name doesn't matter, because you can change their name to whatever you want.

LEVEL (LOCATION). After choosing your player, you next select the location to play. A Level screen appears, where you can select Zoo, City, or Cruise as the location for your exhibition or tournament match.

After selecting the location, next choose the level of difficulty. Click the Easy, Normal, or Hard button to determine how skillful your opponent(s) will be.

Play Tennis Online - Options

MODE SELECT. A neat feature when you play tennis online is that you can quickly select from different options for game play. After pressing the Start Game button, you are shown the Mode Select screen. This is where you choose which type of tennis match you want to play.

Tennis mode options include Exhibition matches and Tournament matches. With exhibition matches, you can choose to play either against the computer or a friend. In tournament matches, you compete against computer opponents only.

1) EXHIBITION MATCHES:

• 1 Player Single. Click this button to play a single match against the computer.

• 2 Player Single. Click this button to play a single match against another player. In other words, play against a friend who is in the room with you.

When you play tennis online against a friend, you need to define movement and hit keys so both of you can use the keyboard at the same time. When you click "2 Player Single", two control screens appear where you can do this. Player 1's control screen displays first. When done with that screen, Player 2's control screen displays next.

On these control screens, change the Move and Hit key assignments by clicking the key images on this screen, then pressing the key you want to assign for that move. For example, to change the "move forward" key, click the W key then type which key you want to use in its place.

Tip: You probably want to map Player 1's move and hit keys to the left side of the keyboard, and map Player 2's move and hit keys to the right side of the keyboard.

2) TOURNAMENT MATCHES:

As an alternative to exhibition matches, you can play tennis online against computer opponents in a tournament! A tournament is a series of matches. Defeat three opponents to win the gold cup prize.

The image at left shows the tournament match selection screen. The letter "P" displays next to your player in the chart. Click the question mark nearest to your player to start your next tournament match.

To win the tournament, you need to defeat three computer opponents in a row. This can be quite a challenge. (In fact, I haven't won a tournament yet.)

SOUND. Usually when you play tennis, there is not a lot of noise about. In a live tennis match, court judges often ask the audience for silence so the players can concentrate.

You might also want silence when you play tennis online, but a sound track of music automatically plays in Twisted Tennis. To turn off the sound, click the SOUND button at the top of the Main Menu screen when the game is first loaded.

QUALITY. If Twisted Tennis seems to run slow on your computer, consider lowering the game quality by clicking the QUALITY button on the Main Menu screen. This may speed it up. The default is "BEST" but you change change it to NORMAL or LOW as necessary. Lowering the game quality makes the graphics a bit fuzzier, but when you play tennis online it is probably better to have good game play speed than fancy graphics.

Tennis is an excellent game for improving concentration. Just watch the faces of the players at Wimbleton or any live tennis match, and you'll see that's true! It also trains your thinking speed and reaction time. To win the point, you obviously need to react fast and make quick, accurate judgements about what your opponent is doing and where you need to hit the ball to score the victory.

Published: 06/07/2012
Last Updated: 12/09/2022