Take on opponents in local or online matches. Play against a cunning AI or face your friends and rivals on the court via local sessions and online cross-play.

What makes this particular game more challenging than any of its predecessors is that a minor misjudgement to your timing can see the ball sailing long or drifting out of bounds. For example, you may have worked hard to push your opponent deep into the corner of the court with a couple of precisely placed shots, but if you mistime the winner then your shot will fall agonisingly on the wrong side of the line, and you’ll lose the point. These kinds of unforced errors plague even the best players at times, but can mean the difference between Grand Slam champs and Grand Slam chumps. The developers did not spend much time on getting the design just right, but everything else plays as it should. When it first launched, Tennis Word Tour wasn’t received particularly well – and for good reason. It was essentially unfinished, with numerous issues. You couldn’t even play online, which is quite a big deal in a game where multiplayer is a key element. Thankfully, since its release, Tennis World Tour has had more time and love poured into it, and many improvements have been made. Now, it’s one of the best tennis games on PS4 if you’re looking for a serious game. It might not quite live up to the standards of the excellent Top Spin series, but it’s certainly not bad.The career mode is pretty bare-bones, but can capture the attention of people who want to rise up in the ranks. It takes a little bit of time to get to the top, but it is interesting to face off against created and real players. There is an online community that is pretty challenging as well, and to this day, the best competition is found there. Not only is the game inexpensive, but it can be very addicting since the gameplay is fast overall. Tennis matches can sometimes take a long time when it is too much like a simulation, which is frustrating for gamers who might not be fully immersed.

As is the case with Top Spin 4, timing is paramount to your success on the court. You have two shot options: precision and power. With the former, you’ll simply need to tap the flat, top spin, or slice buttons prior to the beginning of your swing, and if you get it right, you’ll place the ball in a specified sector of the court. Power shots, meanwhile, need to be charged up and released at the precise moment of your follow-through; again, if you get it right, you’ll hit a devastating shot into the area of the court that you’re aiming for. When Big Ant Studios first released AO Tennis, many people thought it instantly became the best video game on the PlayStation 4. It was definitely a great option in its own right, and might even technically be #2 if it were included on this list. Think of this game more for casual tennis fans instead of those really into the sport. More intense tennis fans will want a little more licensing and realism to the game, but those who want to battle it out as a fast-paced alternative will be very happy with Super Tennis Blast. Replay mode. Breakpoint or deciding match point, capture your fiercest rallies on film and study the outcomes to improve your game.Compete in exhibition matches at spectacular venues around the globe. Each court has its own characteristics; study your arenas of play and adapt your game to grass, clay and hard courts. It is not a perfect game by any means, but it does have just about everything a pure tennis fan would like. It has the Australian Open license for real play on the real courts in Melbourne, but people have to use heavily customized options for all the other major tournaments. The community does a good job of creating these lifelike venues, as well as players to use in the game as well. If the ‘VR’ on the end of its title didn’t give it away, Dream Match Tennis VR is a virtual reality game, so you’ll need a PSVR headset to be able to enjoy it. Released in 2018, it puts you on the tennis court in a first person perspective and aims to fully simulate the experience of a real game of tennis. While you occasionally come up against real-world guns like Daniil Medvedev and Taylor Fritz on the men’s tour, and Victoria Azarenka and Madison Keys on the women’s, an overwhelming number of matches in Matchpoint’s career are played against fictional opponents. While it’s pretty hard to tell these carbon-copy competitors apart since they’re cut from the same restricted character creation toolset as your avatar, Matchpoint does at least attempt to inject some individuality into each of them by giving them a handful of strengths and weaknesses that can be uncovered during a match. This is more of a game that can fit into just about any type of schedule. There is even the opportunity to play very short matches by using different scoring systems.

Master all strokes and shots in grand style. Determine the outcome of a rally by choosing the best technique for the time: top spin, flat, lob or slice shot.

Thankfully, Big Ant has followed up with AO Tennis 2. Released in January 2020, it’s a much better game than its predecessor straight out of the gate. With a fully-fledged career mode, an extensive character creator and a plethora of game modes and training to take part in, it’s one of the most comprehensive tennis games you’ll find on PS4. There’s also a wealth of professional tennis players in the game, with their likenesses faithfully recreated thanks to motion capture and 3D scanning. Study your rival’s moves and tactics. Watch your opponents and get to know their strengths and weaknesses to gain a tactical advantage before you even hit the court.