Tennis 3D
Proper tennis on a clay court — share one screen, or play a match out against the CPU
About Tennis 3D
The court here is not a stylised rectangle. It is built to the real singles dimensions, with the net sagging to 0.94 metres in the middle and rising towards the posts, and clay that keeps the bounce marks of the last few shots so you can see where the ball landed.
Scoring is the real thing too: fifteen, thirty, forty, deuce, advantage. Serve alternates by game, and a match goes to four games with two clear, or six outright — long enough that a single break settles it.
Two people can take half the screen each on one device, which is what this was built around: one player on WASD and one on the arrows, or one dragging on the bottom half of a phone and the other on the top. A CPU on three settings is there if nobody else is, and the gap between them is not just foot speed: the hard opponent aims for a corner on most shots, where the easy one pushes the ball down the middle and feeds you short balls.
What is different about this version
There is no shot-select button and no aiming stick. Which shot you hit is decided entirely by when you meet the ball, and its direction is read off your position relative to the ball plus your sideways momentum at contact — so you steer by running through the ball rather than by pressing anything. The serve works the same way: stand wide and it goes wide, stand by the centre mark and it goes down the middle. Contact height matters too, with a band around waist height striking cleanest. Every shot carries a real chance of going wrong, small when balanced and rising steeply when stretching, split between long, wide and into the net.
How to play Tennis 3D
- Serve to open the point. Where you stand behind the baseline decides where it goes — wide from near the tramline, down the middle from near the centre mark.
- Move to the bounce. The swing fires on its own once the ball is in range.
- Timing decides the shot. Meet it mid-window for a flat, deep drive; early gives a short weak ball, late a slow floaty one.
- Direction comes from your feet — where you stand relative to the ball, and which way you are moving.
- Four points take a game, through deuce if needed. Four games clear by two, or six games, wins the match.
Controls
| Desktop | Player 1 moves with WASD, Player 2 with the arrow keys; Space and Enter serve. |
|---|---|
| Phone or tablet | Player 1 drags on the lower half of the screen, Player 2 on the upper half. |
| Players | One or two people on the same device. Nothing here plays over the internet. |
Strategy
The window for a clean strike is narrow, and missing it in either direction is punished differently. Too early and you get a short weak ball near the service line that invites an attack; too late and you get a floaty one that sits up. Arrive at the bounce and wait rather than lunging. Reach is a little over a metre, and every centimetre past comfortable costs power and adds error, so a ball taken at full stretch is close to a coin flip on whether it stays in the court.
Because direction comes from footwork, the default shot goes straight back at whoever hit it. To move the ball you have to be moving yourself: run to your right as you strike and it goes right, stand still and take it level with your body and it goes up the middle. Recovery after each shot therefore does double duty: covering court, and setting up the next angle.
Matches are short, so service games matter more than they would over three sets. Vary between the T and the tramline with your standing position, and remember the court you serve from swaps every point. Against the hard CPU, recovering to the middle and accepting a running shot beats guessing a side. Against the easy setting the opposite holds: it drops short often enough that a step inside the baseline changes the match.
Mistakes that cost you the game
- Lunging at a ball rather than running to it. Contact at the edge of your reach loses power and raises the error chance sharply.
- Hitting while stationary, then wondering why everything goes back down the middle. Direction comes from movement.
- Serving from the same spot every point. Standing position is the only serve variation there is.
- Chasing the corner against the hard CPU instead of recovering to the middle. It will simply hit the other corner.
Tips
- Watch the clay marks. They show where the last shots landed and how deep you are really hitting.
- Deep beats hard. The flat shot already carries pace; depth is what stops the opponent stepping in.
- In two-player, agree who takes the top half first — that side plays with the court running away and takes a point or two to adjust to.
- The net is lowest in the middle, so the safest ball over the tape is also the least angled one.
Questions about Tennis 3D
Can two people really play on one phone?
Yes. One drags on the bottom half of the screen, the other on the top, and both respond at once.
Is there online play?
No. Two-player means two people on the same device.
How long is a match?
First to four games with a two-game lead, or six outright — usually five to ten minutes.
Can I lob?
Not as a player. Lobs are in the game, but only the CPU hits them.
Why did my shot land short?
You met the ball early. Shot type is set by timing, and early contact makes a weak, short ball.
Does it cost anything?
No. Tennis 3D is free to play, runs in your browser, and needs no download, install or account.
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