My Mii Can't Hit Crosscourt When He Needs To

November 20, 2006 3:09 PM

Wii Sports: Tennis-- How do I aim the ball accurately?!

I've read the manual's directions about speeding up and slowing down the swing to aim the ball, and apart from causing me to whiff a few shots per game, it's not helping. Any better directions than the crappy ones in the instruction manual for improving my court placement?

Moreover, are there any guides on figuring out how to hit the power serve? I get it about 1/10 times.

posted by LGCNo6 to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (9 answers total)

My impressions: It's not about speed of swing, but timing. Swing early and get maximum angle (to L for forehand, R for backhand), swing late and the return will be straight (very late will give it a little "pull"). For the serve, hit it at the apex of its arc for the power.
posted by Rock Steady at 3:21 PM on November 20, 2006

Direction is just timing. If you swing early forehand the ball goes left, swing late it goes right, and it's reversed for backhands. Think about the angle of incidence w/ ball & racquet.
posted by moift at 3:21 PM on November 20, 2006

You need lessons. You don't need to go to a trendy club and spend a fortune. There are low rate people who know how to teach looking for people like you hanging around public courts in big cities. You cannot read a book and learn how to hit a tennis ball. And expect it to take awhile to learn how to play, depending on your coordination and how much work you put in.

Serving motion is identical to throwing a baseball.
posted by bukvich at 4:59 PM on November 20, 2006

Methinks bukvich misread the question.
posted by sourwookie at 5:05 PM on November 20, 2006

No, man, bukvich is right. I'm opening a Wii Country Club next week. I'm hiring golf and tennis pros now. Think of the money I'll save on caddies and ball girls!
posted by Rock Steady at 5:30 PM on November 20, 2006 [2 favorites]

My wife nailed that damn power serve on my three times tonight. I hadn't seen it before. I can't figure out how to get it. She's not sure how she's doing it, but it helps her win...
posted by jdroth at 7:14 PM on November 20, 2006

My husband was killing me on the power serve until I started using the A button on the hit. It doesn't work every time, obviously there's some kind of build-up of stamina or there's something really subtle going on in the controller. I can't serve nearly as hard as he can, because I already have tennis elbow from IT-related lifting, but I can smoke him or the computer with the A button even on a fairly gentle serve...sometimes.

On your returns, watch the left-right tilt of the controller. I need to rotate the controller left on my forehand and right on my backswing (right-handed).

(Four hours of fake tennis yesterday = horrible pain today for both of us. Be careful.)
posted by Lyn Never at 7:39 PM on November 20, 2006

He was not using the A button, by the way, so there's clearly some organic way to invoke the power serve. I haven't been able to do it myself, though.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:41 PM on November 20, 2006

Response by poster: See, these confusions are part of what I'm talking about-- as much as people say it's all in the timing, I've spent enough time with the Training and actual game play to know that the ball goes down the line and crosscourt based on something OTHER than how early/late I take the ball. And then there's the wrist twisting... I'd pay to see a guide that shows a person demo-ing a down the line forehand and backhand and showing where to take the ball to get those shots. The same goes for crosscourts and serves, as well as putting spins on the ball.

Nothing like this anywhere yet?
posted by LGCNo6 at 11:42 PM on November 20, 2006