Tennis Video Games

Talk around the office early this morning centered on the return of the legendary Sega Genesis cult game NBA Jam, which debuted in 1993 just in time to lower my college grade-point average severely for a few semesters.

Instead of boring 5-on-5, 12-minute quarter hoops, NBA Jam took two players from every NBA team and turned them into superheroes, with the ability to leap 20 feet in the air, make slam dunks that defied physics and three-pointers that went in way, way, way too frequently.

There were no fouls, few goal-tending calls and absurd secret codes and Easter Eggs, including but not limited to the ability to play as then-President Bill Clinton.

A sequel to the game was recently announced and due out for the Wii in October.

Tennis needs a video game like this.

There are tons of tennis video games out there, include a few free ones that can get you through a work day right here on TennisNow.com, but nothing with that real pizzazz that made NBA Jam such a sensation 17 years ago.

Oddly enough, “Tennis for Two” was the first video game ever constructed, going way back to 1958 for its debut. Based on the video I’ve seen of it, it was a little less thrilling than Pong, assuming that’s possible.

One of the big video game producers needs to crank out a game where human players do super human things. Instead of being clocked at 155 miles per hour, Andy Roddick’s serve should break the speed of sound, and burn a hole through his opponent’s body on an ace.

When John Isner lunges his 6-foot, 9-inch frame out for a return, his arm reach should extend into the crowd at Centre Court and his racquet should accidentally smack the Duke of Wellington in the face.

And when Serena Williams misses a break point, she should smash her racquet three times – the first breaks the strings, the second the head and the third rips a hole clean through to the earth’s core.

In the meantime, suffer through the painfully slow evolution of video game tennis, won’t you?