Mana Games

[CC]

I finally made it past N. Djokovic in World Tour, French Open, with the opponents all at mid-Junior level only (it took many re-matches). Now, I am trying to get by David Ferrer.

The problem is that it is almost impossible to hit a winner. I repeatedly try both versions of the short shot to bring him in, but the shot isn't really all that short, and he can mostly stay on the baseline and return it. I try to step into the ball to hit a winner, but it is easy for this to result in shot that doesn't clear the net. I haven't gotten to the point of being able to step in enough to hit the ball before it bounces, and I am afraid of doing this. His shots generally keep me near the baseline. As soon as he returns or hits any shot, he moves back to near the baseline center, from which point he can get to anything. I can hit to the extreme left, then to the extreme right, and back again, and he gets there almost always. If I use Top Spin shots, I may be able to get him to make some errors, and it is from his errors that most of my points against him seem to come. I'm frustrated that the short shot isn't more effective. I can't imagine how hard it must be to play against Pro or Master levels. There is a very useful post in the forums for TE2006 tips. Maybe someone can make one for TE2009.

Any ideas on how to get past David Ferrer?

[Santiago92]

Just be patient, play with top spin shots... that is all what I can say, I have the same problem against Rafael Nadal, you have to be patient. I was close to beat him and had 2 match point, but I couldn't

[CC]

Thanks, Santiago92. I have won a set, but he always obliterates me in the next set. It seems that if I play well, he plays even better.

I'm experimenting with slice. This at least takes away his top spin, or at least the balls that he returns from a slice shot are much lower. I've been able to use this and drop shots to bring him in and sometimes hit a winner passing shot. However, he is so sly. Out of nowhere he finds this amazing drop shot when I am not expecting it at all. Several times he has hit an angled slice shot that hits the tape and rolls over onto my side, and I don't have time to get to it. I have the problem with the drop shot still (maybe it is just me) where instead of a drop shot some hard-hit shot results that goes flying in some direction totally different then what was expected. That happens a lot, and I lose a lot of points because of it.

[CC]

This is getting interesting. The use of the slice shot has completely changed the game for me. It has ended the long rallies. I also am realizing that I can use this to bring David Ferrer in much more, with the bonus that his return shot is with much less top spin and is much lower than "normal." As a result, I may be able to step into his return and actually hit a winner, which was seeming impossible before. The drop shot is also working well, at least when I can pass him. He play's with 80% top spin, by the way, and is a Defender.

Shouldn't a slice be harder for me to hit? I am not very experienced at real tennis, but it seems that a slice shot in real tennis requires a more difficult preparation and angle than does a "normal" shot so that the ball isn't hit improperly. The slice seems too easy to use in TE2009. What do others think? Am I wrong?

[CC]

I must say that the AI is great! I won the first set 6-1, and I was ahead in the second 2-0 (I believe). Then, Ferrer started playing incredibly deftly. Wow! The drop shots, the slices, the angles, the top spin. During this onslaught, I broke him once more, but he broke me several times, and he won this set 6-3. I have a sick feeling right now. I am so frustrated. I thought that I had him beaten. One more set to decide.

The slice is definitely the key for me; also, I have been going to the net a lot on my serve. It isn't easy, though, as it is hard for me to hit a winner here. I try to not hit the ball out, and often he will commit the error. I have never before never seen such deft drop shots as he is using. They are so humiliating. Many times when I do get him to the net, he will run back so quickly that I can't pass him. If he does remain, passing him still is not easy, as he volleys very well. Great job on the AI, ManuTOO!

It seems that when I have watched Federer and Nadal play that I have seen Federer use a slice many times. I always questioned why, as it seemed that a more powerful shot would have been better. Perhaps what I am seeing with Ferrer explains this. Maybe Federer was right.

[CC]

I'm glad that I am not the one that hit this (this was break point on his serve, despite what the scoreboard says):

[CC]

I won! (well, not really; he beat many numerous times, but I kept reloading the saved game state). In the end, it was 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. I thought that I had it at 5-3, but again, he came up with these incredible shots (oh those deft drop shots). Such great game play! On his serve after this break, he hit an error, followed by another I think, and then I stepped into a return shot for a winner. This may have been my only forehand winner like this. There were several exchanges, and finally he returned a ball short enough for me to run closer to the net and nail it. I think that the slice had allowed me to get closer than I normally would have been for this shot. After that, he lost it. It seems like this has happened before, but I may be imagining it, where it seems as though I get under the silicone-skin of the CPU player. He seems to fall apart. Anyway, I won! Also, I think that I learned a lot from this match. But, I learned more from the matches that I lost against him, I guess.

I was going to post the match summary, but when I pressed the Alt key to follow with the Prt Scrn key, the screen changed. Oh well. I wish that I could retrieve this information. Is there any way to do this. I only had I think 19 winners, whereas I think that he had 64 or so. Isn't that incredible. He was so tough. Thanks to the slice, I did not commit many errors.

[CC]

Having defeated David Ferrer, I am playing Nadal in the Final. Many of the same tactics used against Ferrer are working well here. The drop shot has worked quite well to setup a passing shot. Again, though, the slice is the key. I am still on the first match (haven't had to load saved game yet ). I was so pleased with my last point that I decided to post it, being that I have had so much trouble hitting a drop shots:















That wasn't an easy shot to return, but I made it. Nadal did not get to my drop shot return in time, so it lay there behind him to his demise.

[CC]

I beat Nadal, French Open! It only took one match. Actually, he was easier for me than was Ferrer, but I say that after having learned a lot from having played Ferrer. There is something great in the AI, unless I am imagining it, where the opponent, in tight spots, comes up with some incredible shots. In the last set, Nadal hit two unusual shots in a row. One was a slice drop shot that clipped the tape and rolled over; I think that the other was a deft drop shot that brought me in for a volley which he won easily (although I won many of these). They were just very odd shots in a row based on how he had played during the match. He also hit a number of slice shots that went from one side of the court to the other and bounced inside of the service line on the opposite side -- quite an impossible angle for me to return. I think that the slice and my coming to the net just unsettled him a bit. There weren't a lot of very long rallies, although there were some.

[Santiago92]

Congrats! On which difficulty were you playing?

[CC]

Santiago92,

Thanks! I think that you are asking what level the opponents are set to (?). I have them at mid-Junior level, because I don't think that I could handle Pro or higher right now. My level is changing as I play, unless I misunderstand you. Forehand is between 61 - 65, as is backhand, etc., but I don't think that this is what you wanted to know.

CC

[manutoo]

CC, I want to give 1 tip to beat Ferrer & all top players : u need to have very high skills at least as high as them.
If you still don't have high skills, u have to accept to lose against a player who is just better than u, and go back to training for a while, like in real tennis...
And in Tennis Elbow, the training is a lot easier than in real life : u just need to gather some experience points and raise ur skills before entering a new tournament...

[Togtdyalttai]

CC, I want to give 1 tip to beat Ferrer & all top players : u need to have very high skills at least as high as them.
If you still don't have high skills, u have to accept to lose against a player who is just better than u, and go back to training for a while, like in real tennis...
And in Tennis Elbow, the training is a lot easier than in real life : u just need to gather some experience points and raise ur skills before entering a new tournament...

Wow, I don't feel anything like that, manutoo (either that or I got what you meant wrong). It's just important to have some good skills: I have 100 in all forehand skills, 100 in speed and stamina, and a few points in serve, but nothing else. I was able to win the French Open on Master sub 10 with those skills and am now winning in the US Open final also.

[manutoo]

I didn't mean that all skills should be high, but CC stated that his rally skills were in the mid 60's.
I guess Ferrer has something like 80+ in speed, so actually, CC doesn't have powerful enough rally strike to overwhelm him... He still can win coz he's playing in Junior-5, but in Pro, it'd be probably almost impossible to win with such stats...
If he has 90+ in his rally skills, everything will become easier...

[CC]

I beat Nadal at French Open and then beat him again on a grass court. Then, there was a game update. Maybe nothing about his level of play changed. I don't remember. This was the update where the inverted topspin was corrected (there had been too much topspin on surfaces such as grass and not enough on clay). Well, I made it in the Singles Draw UK Open to the point of having to play Nadal (the Last 16). That is when my anguish started. So, I probably shouldn't do it, but I have been reloading lost matches sometimes so that I can play them again and try to win. Well, I probably did this 20 - 30 times with this battle. It was unbelievable how good he was. I started to think that maybe it was just impossible -- that no matter how well I played, he was just going to win. I thought of the cheat code for winning every point (which I have never tried), as this is how Nadal was playing.

Anyway, I did finally beat him . Since this is a post about tips, I will share what I did. I realized that I could not win the rallies. Or, I could rarely win the rallies. I was lucky to get 1 out of maybe 40 - 50 shots that I could step into and possibly hit a winner accelerated shot. It was very frustrating. Usually, anytime I tried to hit a winner, he returned it. I am still not sure why I hit the winners that I did; maybe I was able to get a little closer to the net. It did not matter, though, because he gave me little opportunity to learn from that and have another chance, although I did have one game where I hit three forehand winners in a row. I then tried to duplicate this tactic (stepping in to where I had been for those winners) in the next game, but that did not work out.

What I did to win is to not let him have the shots that he wanted. He seemed to thrive on my hard hits, so I quit trying that except for the rare times when I was very sure that I could hit a fast winner; so, I did get a few points from these. I did try to volley some, but that didn't go very well as he passed me so often. Also, when I would get to the net, if we did have an exchange where I volleyed, I just could not find a way to hit a winner from the net with him staying on the baseline (normally). I was too afraid that I would hit the ball out, and if I tried a short ball, he just stepped up and nailed it. There were some times when he would step up and I could pass him, but that wasn't often, so I gave up that tactic (it took probably 15 matches (reloads) or more to realize this).

He hits with so much top spin, that he gets me running everywhere, and then he hits a hard, fast winner, or he deftly hits a great drop shot that I can usually not get to. So, I took this away from him by using the slice. I had to be careful, but when he would finally return a flatter ball because of my slice, I would keep going like this until I could get into position for a drop shot to the place that I wanted it (a little to the side of center) (with me staying at the baseline). This would bring him in, and then I had my chance to pass him. Sometimes this failed, and he nailed the ball so hard that it almost broke my will, but I kept on, as this was the only chance that I had. This is similar to the tactic that I used before, with Ferrer and Nadal in previous matches, but it was much more difficult this time. The result was 7/6 (where I had been down 0-4 until I started using this tactic), 1/6 (he is so good that I just couldn't do better in this set), 6/4. Even with this tactic, I barely won. Maybe this will help someone else.