Rally Tennis

Controls

Swipe to hit: the direction of the swipe aims the shot, its length sets the power, a curved swipe adds topspin and a downward swipe plays a slice. To serve, touch the screen to toss the ball and swipe up near the top of the toss. With a mouse, click and drag the same way. On a keyboard, press Space to swing while holding the Left or Right arrow (or A or D) to aim, Up or W for a harder topspin shot or Down or S for a slice; to serve, hold Space or Enter to toss and let go near the top. P or Esc pauses.

How to play Rally Tennis

You play from behind your own baseline, with the camera behind you. Your player runs to the ball automatically, so your job is the swing: swipe as the ball arrives. The direction of the swipe sends the ball left or right, a longer swipe hits harder and deeper, a curved swipe adds topspin and a swipe downward plays a slice.

While the ball comes toward you, a timing bar appears at the bottom of the screen and a yellow ring marks where the ball will bounce. Swing in the green zone for a PERFECT shot or the yellow zone for a GOOD one. Early and late swings still go back, but they fly wide of your aim, and a very late swing can clip the frame into the net. To serve, touch the screen to toss the ball and swipe up near the top of the toss.

The ladder and the match rules

Every match is one short set: first to 4 games, win by 2, with a tiebreak at 3–3 that goes to 5 points (win by 2). Miss your first serve and you get a slower, safer second serve; miss that too and it is a double fault.

The ladder has 8 fictional rivals, each with a style of their own: Benny Wall (The Pusher), Milo Brandt (The Baseliner), Lulu Moon (The Moonballer), Victor Blaze (The Big Server), Nadia Swift (The Net-Rusher), Otto Slice (The Slicer), Kiko Lefty (The Angle Artist) and The Duchess (The Champion). The first two matches are on a hard court, followed by clay, grass and finally a night court. A win moves you up one rung and earns 3 stars for a 4–0 match, 2 stars for 4–1 or 4–2 and 1 star for a tiebreak win. Lose and you get a rematch against the same rival. Beat The Duchess to become ladder champion, then keep playing her to defend your title.

Tips and tricks

• Watch the yellow ring on the court. It shows where the incoming ball will bounce before it gets to you.
• Aim for the green zone of the timing bar. A PERFECT hit lands close to where you aimed, while early and late hits drift to one side.
• Topspin clears the net with more room to spare, so it is the safer shot when you swing hard. A slice stays lower and lands shorter.
• A very long swipe lands close to the baseline, so a small mistake can push it out. Ease off when you only need to keep the rally going.
• Your second serve is slower and safer, so use your first serve to go for the lines.
• If you lose a match, you can watch a short ad once per match to replay the deciding game from the score before it. A plain rematch is always free.