Hi,
First let me thank you for a great game. I'm rather new so forgive me if this has been suggested a thousand times before (couldn't find anything, though, using the search).
I have an injury in my arm so I can't play the game right now since it hurts when using the controller (ironically, it's tennis elbow!). So I'm running CPU vs. CPU instead and just watching. Yes, the game is so good, even this is interesting!
In doing this I noticed that cpu vollyers have a really hard time defeating cpu defenders (i.e., Edberg vs Muster etc). There seems to be an imbalance here. All tennis games I've ever played has had some imbalance that makes volleyers weaker than defenders. This game is the best I've seen, but there's still a slight problem, at least with tiredness on.
The problem:
After a set and a half the volleyer is so tired he can't break the defenders serve anymore. The reason I think, is because the volleyers don't attack that much when not serving. The just engage in long rallys which tires them out. In real life I'm a serve and volleyer. I know this tactic inside out so I thought I'd share some knowledge. So, in this situation, a real volleyer would try to shorten points by attacking much more, even on slow surfaces.
I realize, of course, that the volleyers were designed with a human opponet in mind, nit cpu vs. cpu. But still, the volleyers are easier to beat than defenders, for a human as well.
Solution:
a) have the volleyer attack more when they're not serving. In rallys and directly off service returns (so called "chip and charge")
b) also, I've noticed that when they do attack they do so with a drive stroke. A real volleyer would use a slice on the backhand side most of the time (but a drive on the forehand side). The slice is slower and lets the volleyer come closer to the net for the volley.
c) The volleyers also seems to hit an awful lot of volleyes right back to the opponent and into the middle of the court, even easy ones they should've put away. Have them put these away.
d) Finally the courts seem very slow. In the 1990s, when serve and volley was still played extensively the courts were faster. Perhaps faster courts if the player chooses to play in the 1990s?
e) The volleyer doesn't seem to have the same speed bonus when approaching the net behind a ground stroke as he has after a serve. He is often caught in no mans land and has to back up to the baseline again.
Hope this was useful.
BTW, if there's any way I can mod this my self, let me know.
/LR