Sports simulators have been popular in the gaming world for quite some time. Titles such as FIFA, Football Manager and Madden immediately spring to mind. And, in recent times, games covering other sports, such as Formula 1, have come to the fore. But what’s interesting is that there has often been a lack of tennis-based games, and people undoubtedly want to see more of them.
Tennis is one of the biggest and most popular sports on the planet, and it has millions of fans around the world. And we’re not saying there haven’t been or aren’t tennis games available to play because there are. They range from video games playable on console and PC, handheld titles, mobile games, and there are even exciting online slots games that are found on popular gaming sites that carry a tennis theme. But, when you think of games covering soccer, the NFL, NBA, F1 and other sports, you can instantly name the titles. But it’s not the case with tennis.
As we mentioned above, there are tennis games out there, but there are none that are right up to date and covering the very latest players, their skill levels and the events taking on the tennis calendar, and this is what is somewhat of a shame. With tennis being a sport which encompasses four Grand Slam tournaments, you could say it’s a real missed opportunity because the popularity of tennis and tennis players increases tenfold during events such as Wimbledon and the US Open.
It’s at these times more than ever that people who are fans of the sport or potentially new to the sport and intrigued want to get involved. And, what better way than to play tennis on demand via a modern video game? You could also argue that tennis-based video games will do a lot of good between the Grand Slam and major tournaments, too, keeping fans entertained until the next event rolls into town and onto TV.
We’ve talked a lot already about how fans of tennis can and would benefit from there being more tennis games or at least a standout title available to play, but the sport itself will reap the rewards too, and this has been proven by other sports such as Formula 1. Of course, Formula 1 has always been popular, but the official Formula 1 video games have gone a long way towards getting new people invested in the sport as fans. They play the game, see others play, such as streamers, and then want to watch the F1 race weekends unfold.
The same could apply to tennis if there was a shift where tennis-based video games are concerned. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a case of a tennis fan then going on to play tennis games to get their fix of sorts. Instead, it could be gamers playing tennis-themed games who then go on and become fans of the sport in the long term. And that would be fantastic as it would bring more eyes to tennis as a result.