It’s challenging to evaluate Grand Slam Tennis 2’s gameplay, because it’s a completely different experience depending on what difficulty level you select. On the highest levels, the CPU almost never misses a shot. On the lowest levels, the CPU players trip all over themselves trying to get to the ball and move like slugs. But in between those extremes, there’s a decent game of tennis. 

First, it’s important to mention that this isn’t a sim-style tennis experience. Gameplay is fast and accessible. Most of the time, the ball will end up where you meant to hit it. Matches seem relatively shallow at first, but nuances emerge as you continue to play. In short, this game nails the “pick-up-and-play” factor, and there are no enormous game-breaking flaws in the core gameplay. 

Grand Slam Tennis 2 won't be mistaken for a pure sim of tennis.

But even though the game isn’t a pure sim, there are a lot of unrealistic elements that detract from the overall experience. The CPU doesn’t miss first serves, ever. They also almost never hit unforced errors. On lower difficulty levels, the game is easier because the CPU players can’t get to anything you hit, not because they make any mistakes. But on higher levels, the CPU will reach (and make good contact with) pretty much everything. This becomes especially problematic when the CPU attacks the net. Passing shots are extremely difficult to pull off and lobs are woefully ineffective. 

As far as tactics go, the tried-and-true strategy of keeping your opponent running around to all corners of the court works well. But in real life, there’s more than one way to win a point, and this game doesn’t reflect that very well. Many real-life players achieve great success by simply slugging it out with their opponents, baseline-to-baseline, and trying to outlast them. In this game, that style just doesn’t appear to work. 

There are some variations in play style among CPU opponents, but not enough. The serve-and-volleyers come to the net reliably, and it’s satisfying to prevent a young John McEnroe from playing his preferred style by keeping him pinned back with deep topsin-heavy shots. But the baseliners and all-around players pretty much all feel the same, aside from the absurdly fast Rafael Nadal. All things considered, I’m afraid that playing against the CPU won’t have much replay value.