Return to Main Menu

All content found in the "Original Top Spin FAQ & Strategy Guides" (aka The Original Top Spin Superguides) is completely original work by the noted author(s).  
Content is owned by TheXBFL.com and protected by copyright law.  It is not to be reproduced or redistributed without the expressed written consent of the XBFL.

Intro:

Top Spin 2 is the sequel to one of the most popular tennis videogames to date (the other being Virtua Tennis).  The original Top Spin was a unique game in that it appealed to both the tennis enthusiast and the casual fan with its easy-to-learn controls, and excellent replay value when experienced over Xbox Live.  TS2 was released in March 2006 after four significant delays, and surprising to some, by a new publisher (2K Sports). Aside from the better models being available to create more realistic custom players and the obviously improved roster of new pros to choose from, TS2 had other revisions which made it different from its predecessor:  the risk shot had been modified considerably, and more tactical shot making was available to gamers who choose to use it.  A casual look-over upon TS2's release revealed that quite a bit had been borrowed from Outlaw Tennis in terms of the non-traditional tennis competitions and use of the momentum meter.  But is TS2 better than Top Spin 1?  In some respects, yes.  But the general consensus is that TS2 does not have the "X-factor" that the original Top Spin did, and in terms of overall fun, is a slight step backwards.   Below you find my in-depth guide to playing through Top Spin 2 both offline and online, as well as many extra bits of information that should enhance your overall experience with this game.

Table of Contents:

A - Creating a Player
B - What the Pros Use (equipment and clothing found in TS2)
C - Getting to #1, Seasonal Breakdown
D - Offline Strategies
E - Getting your player 60 gold stars as quickly as possible (alternate route through career mode)
F - Career Mode Summary
G - Xbox Live Gamer Achievements
H - Xbox Live! Play
I - Online Strategy
J - Cheesy Gameplay: Beware!
K - Sim-Tennis For Dummies
L - Xbox Live/Top Spin Server Update
M - FAQs
N - Game Review (Author's Opinion)
O - Improvement Suggestions for PamDev/Indie Built & 2K Sports
P- Reality Flaws In TS2
Q - Wrap Up (conclusion) - final posting 10/14/06
R - Miscellaneous Links
S - The Author (and acknowledgements)
T - Gamer Log
 

* Special Notice Key:

- Pro Tactic: a technique I developed to improve a scenario found in the game, or, an alternative (and original) way of winning points.
- Pro Strategy: strategy I developed to increase the chances of winning a point.
- Pro Insight: an issue or thought that I felt was important enough to make mention of; could pertain to offline career planning, or online gaming
- Glitch! an in-game glitch or anomaly that I discovered during my experience with Top Spin 2
- Fun Fact:  an identified part of the game that really holds no perceived value, but is entertaining/amusing nonetheless
- FAQ: questions posed to me that share a similar theme

** Court Basics:

Throughout this FAQ, I will use terms like deuce court, ad-court, baseline, etc.  These terms may or may not be familiar to everyone. Below are simple illustrations depicting these areas of the court.

Court Basics: Details various parts of a tennis court: baseline, singles and doubles lines, service boxes, and doubles alley.
Court Basics 2: Illustrates the ad and deuce courts as well as "no man's land."  The term "deuce court" refers to the left service box (and right baseline area when serving).  The term "ad court" refers to the right service box (and left baseline area when serving).

A - First Things First, Creating a Player:

One of the biggest changes in Top Spin 2 is the create-a-player mode.  The level of detail you can add to your character is astounding, though many of the sliders are either ambiguous or redundant at best. 

I won’t spend too much time here other than highlighting a few key points with regard to creating your character:

Unlike Top Spin 1 where you had pre-defined character types (defensive, power, tactician), each with their own strengths and weaknesses, you can select three items from the following that will ultimately shape who your custom character will be as a player:

- Speed: affects your quickness and ability to get around the court
- Power: adds more velocity to your shots
- Focus: reduces the likelihood of errors when using the risk meter for serves or risk shots
- Reflexes: improves your ability to react quickly and effectively to incoming shots, especially on service returns and while at the net.
- Precision: reduces the margin for error when you play a shot close to the lines
- Stamina: adds to your character's physical endurance, where abilities and skills will not degrade during long points, lengthy matches, or repeated "effort shots."
- Spin: enhances ball rotation on your spin-oriented shots (including serve).
- Service: improves your service speed and effectiveness
- Forehand: improves your forehand ground stroke
- Backhand: improves your backhand ground stroke
- Volley: improves your ability to hit effective volleys when near the net

If you are creating a character in your likeness, make note of two things:

1)      If you have a pronounced feature like a chin or nose, what you see in the create-a-player mode will look even MORE pronounced in the game during replays.  You may want to scale back a bit with what you have during your creation process, even if it doesn’t necessarily look right at that moment.  

2)      You cannot modify the shape of your player’s eyes – and for all the other nonsense you can tweak, this is a rather surprising omission.  Eye shape can really alter your character’s appearance, especially if you are particular about making your character look like yourself or someone else.  I’d suggest refreshing whichever DNA you plan to choose until you can get a model with eye shape that’s close enough to what you are looking for.  The only challenge here is that you can’t zoom in to see a DNA model’s face close-up before choosing. 

Height and weight:  Another omission that makes me scratch my head in wonder is the lack of a weight/height measurement.  We have sliders for each of these items, but no indication to the exact height or weight is given.  I assumed that the mid-point of the height slider is 6’0”, but I don’t know for sure.  It looks about right though.

If you have questions with regards to a good height/weight for a custom player, please refer to The Original Top Spin Superguide under the same category heading.  I would assume much would still apply here.

Service Motions:

Service Motion 1: Classic toe drag, a very popular service motion used by many pros
Service Motion 2: Deep knee bend with knees together, a less common motion, somewhat similar to what Boris Becker used, but not exact.
Service Motion 3: Twist motion, somewhat similar to what Patrick Rafter performed during his career on the ATP Tour.
Service Motion 4: Near identical to Pete Sampras' motion - and obviously modeled from it.

Right hand or left hand:

Whichever suits you best.  Right handers are more common in pro tennis, but lefties have their own advantage with contrasting spins.

Single or two-handed backhand:

Unlike Top Spin 1, TS2 does not have any obvious drawbacks due to glitches when using a two-handed backhand.  It's simply a matter of preference.  In real life, there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

Voice Frequency:

Quite simply (in my opinion):
Always On = very annoying
Serves and efforts = okay
Effort Only = good
Never = silence is golden

Remember, you may be investing between five and 20 hours in offline career mode (depending on your objectives).  You will undoubtedly grow tired of your character's grunts after a short period of time if you choose "always on."

Fun Fact: Press the A, B, X, or Y button while you are awaiting your opponent's serve.  Your player will split step, wipe his brow, fix his shirt, lower his head, or spit.

B - What the Pros Use: Clothing and Racquets

Clothing:

• La Coste Le Polo shirt (white and maroon): Andy Roddick (summer of 2005)
• Nike Sphere Strike Crew shirt: Andre Agassi (1st quarter 2005)
• Nike Dri-Fit Anytime Shorts: Andre Agassi (1st quarter 2005)
• Nike Air Max Breathe Free II shoes: Andre Agassi (1st quarter 2005)

Racquets:

Babolat Pure Control Team
Babolat Pure Drive Team: Ivan Ljubicic  (Andy Roddick uses the Babolat Pure Drive Roddick Plus Signature racquet)
Babolat VS NCT Drive
Babolat VS NCT Tour
Babolat Drive Z

Dunlop Maxply MacEnroe
Dunlop M-Fil 700
Dunlop M-Fil 500
Dunlop M-Fil 300: Tommy Haas, Tommy Robredo, Amelie Mauresmo
Dunlop M-Fil 200

Head i.X3
Head Liquid Metal 5
Head Liquid Metal Heat
Head Liquid Metal Prestige: Marat Safin, Gustavo Kuerten

Prince Diablo XP: Jennifer Capriati (I believe Jennifer actually uses the Diablo XP Tour frame, not the regular Diablo XP)
Prince Turbo Beast
Prince Thunder Rip
Prince Turbo Shark: David Ferrer uses the Prince Shark DB which is part of Prince's Turbo Series.  

Wilson nTour 96: Lindsay Davenport and Justine Henin-Hardenne use the Wilson nTour 95  (the '95' indicates the head size, which is 95 sq. in.)
Wilson nSix-One 96:  Roger Federer uses the Wilson nSix-One 90.  Taylor Dent, Nicolas Kiefer and Gaston Gaudio use the Wilson nSix-One 95.  
Wilson nOne Tour
Wilson n6 96
Wilson n4: Venus Williams uses the Wilson n4 nCode racquet.

Volkl Catapult 8 V-Engine
Volkl Catapult V1 4
Volkl Tour 10 MPV
Volkl Tour 8
Volkl Tour 9

C -Getting to #1, Seasonal Breakdown

Career Mode Overview:

Unlike the original Top Spin, Top Spin 2 requires you to pretty much follow a pre-determined path in order to obtain a balance of training time and match play to get to #1.  In Top Spin 1, you could train until your wallet ran dry, select a tournament at will to earn additional money, and then train some more until you were essentially maxed out with skills and attributes allowing you to pummel the competition right through ‘till the end of the game.  Additionally, in Top Spin 1, I was able to create a new character from start to finish (character DNA to having all stars/skills) in under two hours.  With Top Spin 2, a considerably larger time investment is required to complete the same process.

In Top Spin 2, career mode is much deeper, and in order to get your player to the top of the leader board, you will need to plan a schedule to accommodate both training and tournament play as your ranking will determine whether or not you are qualified for more prestigious tournaments outside of the minor circuit. 

Please note that the following guide is subject to revisions as I go through career mode with multiple characters.  New/better ways may be found, but what I have written so far is a decent way of making it through with your first character.  I have included a few original strategy tips as well as a way to score cheap points on your service game.  As expected, they were posted here FIRST!  Furthermore, let me emphasize that the following is the best route to take if reaching #1 is your priority.  If you are looking to max out your character as quickly as possible for online play, then the following steps will likely not be of much value to you.

The first thing I recommend you do is put together an idea of what you want your character to be: A baseliner? Serve and volley player?  A tactician?  Power hitter?   You should have a tentative plan of what you want your character to be because you will be accumulating bronze stars quickly during your training, and silver stars with your Season 1 tournament wins.  Obtaining 60 stars is your goal, and they will start adding up quickly. Gold stars will be readily available with wins at more prestigious tournaments, most commonly found in Season 2 (and 3 if necessary).  Remember, your ultimate goal is to put gold stars in your primary areas of interest (see FAQ below for more information on star allocation). 

Early in your career, I’d recommend that you begin putting your bronze stars in these core areas:

• Serve
• Forehand
• Backhand
• Precision (or power)
• Speed (about two or three here at first)

While you should probably focus on those areas first, you may want to add some bronze stars to other areas such as power or spin once you get your base down.  By September of Season 1, try not to have any category without at least a star or two (this includes attributes like Focus, Stamina, etc.).

While it was easy for me to make recommendations in the original Top Spin regarding star placement, Top Spin 2 is much deeper, and allows for much more fine-tuning of your custom creation.  It would be virtually impossible for me to suggest anything in particular (aside from the above), for what is preferential to me, may not be to you.  If you focus on the above items, you should do well enough in Season 1. 

For reference though, here are my thoughts on player types:

Power Hitters (baseliners): Andre Agassi, Jim Courier.   Groundstrokes (backhand/forehand) should have plenty of stars as should their power rating. They should also have moderate stamina (which is actually contrary to Andre and Jim - both of whom were in excellent physical condition for their type of gameplay).  Depending on your power hitter, sometimes precision is a tradeoff.  Some guys have very heavy swings but allow for some margin for error with the placement of their shots, while a very rare few (e.g. Agassi) possess the ability to paste lines with tremendous pace behind their shots.  Serves are adequate, but not typically exceptional.  Volleys are below average to average at best.

All-Court Players: Pete Sampras, Roger Federer: reasonable balance in their weapons of forehand, backhand, serve and volley, with one standing out slightly more than the others (e.g. Sampras' serve).  They have decent quickness around the court, good use of spins and angles, and are above average in their focus and stamina.

Defensive Players: Brad Gilbert is the best example in this category.  Strong stamina and consistency with groundstrokes is key to being a defensive player.  A defensive player has no real weaknesses other than lack of firepower on offense.  He'd be one of strong mental focus and excellent consistency with shot making.  He gets into the head of his opponent and causes them to make unforced errors.  Quickness would be a good attribute to have here as well.

Serve and Volley Players (net aggressors): Patrick Rafter, Stefan Edberg, Taylor Dent, Tim Henman.  Serve and volleyers are a dying breed in tennis as it takes an exceptional amount of skill and talent these days to succeed with this gameplan.  In Top Spin 1, in nearly 800 online matches, I experienced less than a half dozen net aggressors - and none of them were ranked very high.  If you choose this route, make sure you have an effective serve (120mph+), a strong ability to volley, and good court speed. The trade off is that you won't have firepower from the forehand or backhand side, but your shot making should be precise.  The best volleys are made after setting up a solid approach shot.

The Schedule:

As you have undoubtedly found, there are up to three options on any given date in your career.  You will always have the option to train.  In some instances, you will qualify for a specific tournament, or, you will have the option to participate in “Davis Cup” like events, exhibition doubles action, charity fund-raisers, or personal challenges from other players.  For Season 1, I’d recommend staying away from all the special events and focus just on training and tournament play.

Additionally, do not train until you run out of money and expect to hop into a tournament to earn additional funds.  Unlike Top Spin 1, you now have a set schedule you must follow.  If you run out of funds from excessive training, you may end up on a date where you can’t train, you don’t qualify for a tournament due to your low ranking, and there are no special events.  Additionally, your inability to do anything may last for a few months depending on when your wallet runs dry.  This situation leads to an unproductive period of time, thus putting your player behind schedule.  Consequently, his ranking will drop too from lack of tournament play.  This could put you out of position to make an appearance at a major event in your first season.

To eliminate this problem, the best plan is to participate in all of the minor tournaments, at least until October (see below).

Career Mode, Season 1:

Season 1 Goals:

Basic Goals:

• Determine the general outline for the player type you want, and what is required.
• Decide on a coach to help you achieve these goals (and you may need more than one coach in Season 1).
• Stay focused on what you need, but careful enough not to ignore the other fundamentals (stamina, reflexes, etc.).
  

Target Goals:

• Establish your player by winning all minor events so that you qualify for the two major events later in the season.
• Apply bronze stars to areas of immediate need (forehand, backhand, serve, power, precision).
• Leave no category without at least a star or two in place.
• Perform well in the two major events available near the end of the season (Estoril & Tokyo).

Stretch Goals:

• Win both major events
• Rank well enough by Season 1’s conclusion to enter the Australian Open qualifying event at the start of Season 2

Here is the tournament schedule I ran for Season 1 (assume training to have taken place on all the dates NOT mentioned below):

• Feb 1: Nippon
• Feb 15: You can either train or compete in the World Tournament (i.e. “Davis Cup”).  At this point in your career, you should definitely train.
• Apr 1: Essex
• Jun 1: Mediterranean
• July 15: Mexican Open
• September 15: Estoril (the first major you should qualify for!)

• On October 1^st, you will have a more important decision to make: train, enter another minor tournament, or compete in the World Tournament.  I opted to skip both the minor tournament and the World Tournament in favor of training.  I did this for three reasons: 1) the Grand Slams were over and I was already qualified to enter major tournaments, 2) I had sufficient funds (approximately $520k) to train further, and 3) my character needed additional training in preparation for the Australian Open qualifier rounds in Season 2.

• November 1: Tokyo Open (a major tournament where if you win, will put you in a position to qualify for the Australian Open in Season 2)

• November 15: This is another date in your Season 1 schedule that you may want to consider your options.  You can either train or play a minor event in New Delhi.  If your ranking is safely below 50 (mine was in the 30s at this point), you should opt to skip the event and train in preparation for the Australian Open qualifiers.  If you are very close to 50 (like 45-53), then you should definitely compete in the event.

Glitch Notice!  I chose to train instead of competing in the New Delhi event.  After my training session, I got an email from my fan club and coach saying that they were sorry for my loss.   ?!?!?  My loss?  I didn’t compete in the event!  How could I lose something I didn’t participate in?

Game Glitch! When developing my fourth character, a female, I encountered two glitches in my first tournament during Season 1 (Mediterranean):  In the second match of the event, my character's service motion had changed from motion #2 to motion #1.  She also grunted on every swing of the racquet (I had her designed to grunt only on effort shots).  In the final match of the tournament, I experienced a freaky yet amusing glitch where my character was completely invisible except for her cap.  A few months ago (April '06), a fellow gamer had written into this FAQ describing a similar story: his character was a male who's hair was the only thing visible for a particular match.  It was on my fourth character did I witness this personally for the first time.

The good news is that everything returned to normal on the next calendar event (which was training).  Below are a few screen shots I took of the "invisibility glitch" I encountered:

Career Mode, Season 2:

Season 2 Goals:

Basic Goals: 

• Focus your star disbursement on core areas of needs/wants.  This season will be the defining season of what your character will turn out to be.
• Look ahead to planning any coaching changes, but be wary of the potential negative impacts of making a switch.

Target Goals:

• Participate in, and do well at the Grand Slam Events.
• Participate in, and perform well in the Masters Series events.
• Join World Tournament Team.
• Pay close attention to skills/attributes that have been neglected, and budget newly earned stars to them wisely.
• Earn all 60 stars

Stretch Goals:

• Win all Grand Slams entered.
• Win all Masters Events.
• Become #1 in the world.
  

Several new challenges will present themselves if you qualify for the Australian Open.  First of all, you will be squaring off against professional players that are in a league of their own in terms of their physical talents.  To make the situation even more difficult, you should only have around 30-38 stars at this point if you followed my prescribed steps. However, if you can pull off an “upset” at the 1^st Grand Slam of the year, the rewards are outstanding if you followed my outline above:

• Substantial amount of income from tournament winnings.
• Superstar status.
• 14 silver stars (you may get more depending on how many bronze stars you have).
• 3 gold stars (you may get more depending on how many silver stars you have).
• Image Leader status by your sponsor.

Depending upon your existing disbursement of bronze stars, you may not be able to apply your newly acquired stars to certain aspects of your character.  In my case, I could not add these to my forehand or backhand!

At the Australian Open, you will find tough competition beginning in the quarterfinals (due to your character's limited strengths).  In my case, I met up with Tim Henman, Roger Federer, and Sebastian Grosjean in the final three rounds respectively.  Federer was by far the most challenging to beat, almost effectively causing me to lose a layer of skin on my thumb.  Fortunately enough, my service “trick” (see Pro-Tactic in Section D) kept it close enough for me to find a weakness in his game: he doesn’t respond well to incoming shots with top spin.  Grosjean was a walkover, much like I expected him to be.  

Now, if you did not qualify for the Australian Open, you should focus your efforts on training while the big event is taking place.  At this stage in your career, you will really need to strengthen your ground strokes (if you haven’t already), and begin putting an emphasis on your power game.  I am assuming that your serve is reaching the 118-122mph ranges by now.  If not, make it so.  

February 1^st: 

1) Train
2) Nippon tournament (minor)
3) Tryouts for the “World Tournament Team.”  If you, like me, won the Australian Open on your first try through – by all means, try out for the World Tournament team.

You should be ranked in the top 10 at this point, and depending on your country, you could expose a glitch in the game.

Game Glitch! Should you be ranked second in your country, you will play YOURSELF.  In other words, you will have complete control over both players on the same screen (zoom mode will not be an option to choose from).  So, you’ll serve the ball, and whatever movements you make on your controller, the returner will also be responding accordingly.  At first I thought it was a joke, but came to the conclusion that PamDev did not anticipate a player being ranked so high, so early in the game – that being the second ranked person in their respective country (my character is from the U.S.).  So what I did was purposely allow one guy score unanswered points and I was able to wrap up the “contest” in less than 5 minutes.  The payout was $75,000, six silver stars, and 4 gold stars.  Not too bad for 5 minutes (or less) of minimal effort.

February 15: Even though you have three options, the only two you should consider are training or the World Tourney preliminary event.  I opted to train because I needed to enhance my forehand and backhand prowess.  Despite disappointing my "Davis Cup Team,” I knew I was coming close to reaching my maximum star allotment and the competition at the Aussie Open was an eye opener as to how deficient my character really was.  It came to the point where I needed to axe my existing coach in favor of one who could strengthen my baseline game.  As stated earlier, silver and gold stars can only be applied to where bronze stars have been placed, and I was lacking extra bronze stars in both my forehand and backhand categories. 

Pro Insight: Assess where your character is now and where you want him to be.  By the end of Season 2, your character’s structure will have been built, and most, if not all, of your bronze stars assigned.  You may still have access to silver and gold stars, but they can only be placed where you have designated bronze stars.  It is also important to revisit your coaching options.

March 1:  1) Train, 2) Pacific Life Open, 3) Challenge Your Rival for $1M

For me, this was a no-brainer.  The Pacific Life Open is one of the premier Masters Series events and should be made a priority on your schedule as it will help improve your ranking. If for some reason you do not qualify for this event, then you may want to challenge your Rival so he'll shut up for a while.  Aside from the cash, you may earn a decent reward in terms of stars as well.  You should have approximately 35-40 stars at this point.  Depending on your star count, the number of silver and gold stars I received was 5 and 3 respectively (no other placement for those colored stars).

March 15: 1) Train, 2) NASDAQ-100, 3) Fundraiser for a private school

While it's a great thought to help out a school and have it named after you, the NASDAQ-100 simply cannot be overlooked.  It is part of the Masters Series and another priority on your schedule if your desire is to be ranked #1 in the world in offline career mode.  You may not see a ranking change by participating in the NASDAQ, but it will solidify your current ranking so that you can bypass the Dallas tournament (a major) prior to the French Open.  At this point in time, my star count was 38 and my ranking was #4 (winning everything that I entered thus far).  The star reward for winning the NASDAQ (for me) was 5 silver and 12 gold.  This may vary depending on your star total and the number of convertible bronze stars you have available.

April 1: Assuming you are on schedule and still undefeated, you should take a break from tournament play until the French Open, and train your character. Consider April 1st and the following two dates to be exclusively for training.  Your ranking should not change any during this time.  

May 15 - French Open: The French Open will offer a good payoff in terms of silver and gold stars, and it's best to earn some bronze stars in training prior to this event so that upgrades can be applied after winning it.  Your star count going into the French Open should be between 40-45 now.  Also, should you win the French Open title, your ranking will improve to #3.

July 1 - Wimbledon:  Provided you experienced the same success I have thus far (no losses), Wimbledon will be your pay dirt.  You should be #3 in the world, have about 45-53 stars (depending on your success in the challenges) and in prime position to overtake the #1 spot.  If you win Wimbledon, you will attain the #1 ranking.  You will also become a Brand Icon with your sponsor, a Legend in terms of your career status, and you will be handsomely rewarded in both monetary terms as well as silver and gold stars.

So what now?  You are number one in the world - and I am confident this is the quickest (but not necessarily the easiest) way of doing so.  If you want to wrap up your season as #1, follow the schedule I've outlined below:

August 1st: Vienna - participate in this Masters Series event.
August 15th: Train - you should only have a few stars left to earn.  Be careful with how you assign them to your skills and attributes (see Pro-Tip below)
September 1st: U.S. Open - it goes without saying that you must participate in this Grand Slam to secure your #1 position.  If you win here, you'll be a lock for #1 'till the end of the season.
September 15th: Train (see Pro-Tip below)
October 1st: You have the choice to either train or participate in the World Tournament finals on this date.  I opted to get my final star on this date.
October 15th:  Your choice -- Paris Indoor event or participate in the private match challenge where you receive a million dollars if you win plus stars if applicable (single set match against your rival)
November 1st: Tokyo event or train (if necessary)
November 15th: Masters Cup.  You will play a total of 5 matches should you make it to the finals.  There is no way to save this game at any point between rounds at this event.  All five matches must be played in one sitting.

After the conclusion of the Masters Cup at the end of the season, you will be prompted to begin Season 3.  This is where you will have access to four training sessions that will grant you the ability to pull off advance shots using the "L" trigger along with the "X", "Y", "B" and "A" buttons.  They are as follows:

• L+A: return your opponents hard shot with equal pace
• L+B: passing shot for use when an opponent is at the net
• L+X: slow curving slice ideal for situations where you are on the run and need an extra second to recover
• L+Y: dump volley, very effective drop shot

Is there more to Top Spin 2 offline career mode after acquiring these additional shots?  Well, if you consider meeting all of the payout challenges the various sponsors put up, then yes. Additionally, there are also "Achievement Points" that can be unlocked by ending your career successfully, and doing so with 1,000 points.  If you've followed my outline for becoming #1 above, you should be on the verge of 1,000 points at the end of Season 2.  Other than these unlockable items, and the two end-of-career Achievement Points, I see no reason why you should continue beyond the point where you acquire the four advance shots.  The outline I've provided above should take you approximately 10-12 hours (give or take an hour) from start to finish (i.e. being #1) should you go undefeated as I  had through career mode; making the most of your training sessions, and not "replaying" matches due to difficulty in winning.  I should have kept better track of time, but 10-12 hours is pretty much a guestimate.  Creating the look of my character took me 45 minutes alone!

Pro Insight: Last few stars, how to distribute stars exactly where you want and/or need them

Assigning the last few remaining stars can be a tricky process, especially if you are looking to improve a specific area that is grouped with two others that you are not interested in improving.  For instance, if you want to add a single star to spin, but don't want to apply the other two (or three) stars from at training session to stamina and speed (i.e. "Fortress") - you may be scratching your head as what to do.  The answer is quite simple:  fail the test.  By failing a test, you will get a single star.  This will allow you to itemize where your few remaining stars can go, instead of having to put the extra stars to areas you don't want.  It may take a little longer to finish up your 60 star total this way (by failing tests intentionally), but at least you will get them exactly where you want them.

Game Glitch!: Upon entering my third season, on January 1st, I chose to train to acquire the ability for my first advanced shot.  I was to play Guillermo Coria in a gymnasium for a single game match (I was the server).  To my horror, my character had a completely different service motion than what I assigned to him, and, he was using a single-handed backhand (he was created to use two!).  Somehow, my character's serve and backhand had changed without my doing between the change from Season 2 to Season 3 - and it was consistent for the entire training session. As soon as I completed the challenge, I powered off before the game went to "auto save" in fear that those new settings would be kept.  I rebooted my Xbox 360, loaded up career mode again, and tried the training session one more time.  Thankfully, everything had returned to normal.

Game Glitch!: If you save your progress at the conclusion of your January 1st advanced shot training session, and power down your Xbox 360- the next time you log on to Xbox Live for online competition, your character may not be wearing the clothing you applied to him (or her) in career mode - instead, the default 2K Sports clothing will be worn.  To correct this, you must go back into career mode, and despite your character dressed correctly there - re-assign the clothing anyway from the Sports Bag, return to the Tennis Central menu, and quit/save.  This should take care of the problem.

This concludes the "Getting to #1: Seasonal Breakdown" portion of my FAQ and Strategy Guide.

D - Offline Strategies

If you have followed my general outline for adding experience to your serve, groundstrokes, etc., the following strategies should really help make your life easier in Season 1 and in the beginning of Season 2.  These will especially help you when you play guys who possess substantially higher skill levels.

Pro Insight:  Use The Zoom View

For recreational gamers (and all gamers alike), I highly recommend using the zoom view.  To switch views: pause your game, change your view to "zoom," and resume your progress.  This way, you will never have difficulty again when "serving on top" as you will now always be facing forward.  This was something I figured to be general knowledge, but a fellow gamer wrote me stating that he wasn't aware of this option until halfway through his season, and since switching, has found TS2 much easier to play.  So, give it a try if you haven't already.  It may make your gaming both online and offline much more enjoyable!

Pro Tactic:  Easy Points On Serve

If you have a risk serve that can reach at least 115mph, you are in good shape for this tactic.  This trick will GUARANTEE you a cheap point each and every time for Season 1 if done correctly:

From your starting position in the deuce court, take three steps to your right (or, move all the way to the doubles alley and take a step-and-a-half or two steps to the left from there).  Use the “X” button to slice a serve.  You will need at least 75% power for it to be effective.  As the meter is rising, tap your analog stick to the left and press "X."  Your serve should hit the outside line of the service box and spin out wide forcing your opponent off the court.  As your opponent is preparing to return the ball, start moving towards the center of the baseline with your safe shot button “A” depressed.  Your opponent will likely hit the ball right towards the center of the baseline, or he’ll try down the line.  Either way, you will be moving in that direction and powered up for a rifle shot.  As soon as the ball reaches you, drive the ball cross-court (direction furthest from him) for a clean winner.  You should ALWAYS win your service point doing this.  I’ve done this over 100 times, and never once missed a single point against the computer.  If by freaky chance your opponent returns the ball cross-court back to where you served from, do not worry!  Just correct your positioning with the “A” button still depressed and simply drive the ball down the line for a put away.

In Season 2 (1st part), this technique is not as effective, though, would still probably give you a 90%+ success rate.  The determining factor regarding how well this works for the first few months of Season 2 is how powerful your groundstrokes are.  If you are a right handed server, you will need a beefed-up backhand to make this tactic more effective during the first quarter of your second season.

Pro Strategy:  If you get caught in a rally during Season 1. 

In Top Spin 2, computer controlled opponents (Season 1) don’t necessarily try to dominate from the center of the court, and you can use this to your advantage.

There will no doubt come a situation in any extended rally where your opponent is near a sideline and he’ll rip a cross-court shot.  In most cases, you can actually use this to your advantage to set up a winning shot off of YOUR racquet, or, put yourself it better situation to take control of the point.

When your opponent hits a cross-court shot from a sideline position (usually from ad-side if you play with the zoom camera), chase down the ball and use top spin to hit it cross court right back to him.  This will keep him positioned at the sideline.  He will likely in turn hit his next shot down the line.  By your anticipating this, you should already be in motion to be there when it arrives.  As soon as you get to it, hit a top spin cross-court shot to the open court (deuce court).  Your opponent will be too late in getting to the ball resulting in a point for you.  This situation is all too common in Season 1, and setting up your opponent is a relatively easy thing to do.  You should have a very high success rate with this strategy.  I’d estimate a 95+% success rate in doing this against all Season 1 opponents.

Pro Strategy:  Save that game! 

Unlike Top Spin 1, TS2 requires much more of a time commitment to complete the offline career mode.  Furthermore, the Grand Slams start you in the round of 16 in TS2 with a best of three game, five set format.  Thankfully, the developers of TS2 allow a game-save option in between rounds.  This will allow you to take a break if you can't play through the event all at once, but even better, if you lose a round, you could always revert back to your last save versus having to start the tournament from scratch.  So, if you aren't confident that you can beat the offline competition in a given event, make sure you save your progress every chance you get in between rounds!

Pro Strategy: Beating Roger Federer

If you've followed my steps above to being #1, you will undoubtedly realize how difficult it is to compete at the pro level (i.e. Grand Slams) with a sizeable deficiency in your star count.  You will have between 30 and 40 stars going into the Australian Open (Season 2) while players like Hewitt and Federer have in excess of 60 (Federer leads the group with 75).  I found Roger to be the most difficult to beat at the first Slam of Season 2, but I did find success against him.

When serving: No doubt about it, follow my service trick mentioned above.  Depending on your star allottment for groundstrokes and power, you should be able to win points serving from the deuce court almost every time.  On the ad-side, Roger is much more difficult.  He favors a cross court return at very sharp angles.  If you aren't prepared, your only option will be to hit it down the left sideline where he'll easily get into position to flick it back over the net for a clean winner.  Paying close attention to Roger's animations as he's winding up should tip you off as to which way he'll hit the ball.  If he's going cross court with his return, get into position and press the "X" button firmly and carefully place it down the line (quick left tap of the analog stick).  If you don't think you'll get into position for his cross court return, then I'd suggest just tapping the "X" button and putting it into the middle of the court and immediately begin moving your guy to the center of the baseline.  The slow slice shot will hopefully buy you enough time to get back into a defensive position.  In the rare case he returns one of your ad-court serves down the line, simply use the "B" button (tap) and analog stick up/left to hit a lofty top spin shot deep into his court and begin the rally from there, where no player will have a real advantage from the start.  Your goal is to neutralize his offensive capabilities when he's able to set up for a shot.

During a rally: Top spin is the most effective shot against Roger Federer in Top Spin 2.  Keep moving the ball around from corner to corner preventing Roger from being on the offensive.  If you can get him on the run, switch to the "X" button and slice it to a corner and follow in behind it for an easy volley ("B" or "X") to the open court when he replies with a weak return.

Pro Tactic: Reduce your unforced errors by not hitting shots into the net

It is human nature for us to press the X, Y, B, and A buttons harder when we need a big shot in a desperate situation.  However, this is not necessarily effective when you are behind the baseline.  Due to the nature of the "X" and "B" shots (slice and top spin respectively), it is best to tap the buttons when you are far behind the baseline.  This will make your character float the ball high up above the net versus hitting a low, line drive shot right into it.  The drawback is that the ball's pace is relatively slow, and your opponent might be able to put it away with ease.  However, the way I see it - it's better that he or she win the point with effort than it is for you to give the point away by dumping it into the net.

The same applies to volleys as well.  Only hold the "X" and "B" buttons down if you are right on beside the net, or, there is enough clearance so that when you do hit a strong volley, there will be no chance of it going into the net (trajectory/velocity of the incoming ball is usually the determining factor).  Pressing "A" firmly will always result in a more powerful volley without fear of hitting the net.  The only downside of using "A" is that the angle you produce will not be as sharp as when using "B" or "X."

Pro Strategy: Beating Andy Roddick

In Top Spin 2, Andy's only weapon is his serve.  His groundstrokes are average at best and he's not a threat to come in behind a ball and attack the net.  Be prepared for Andy's serve to clock in between 135 and 143mph at any given time.  Your placement to receive the ball should pretty much be the default location on the court, maybe a half step to the outside line.  When Andy serves, simply slice the ball back with very little analog stick use, maybe just a light tap so that the ball goes cross-court.  This should center the ball to reduce any extreme angles he can try hit.

  When Andy serves from the ad-court, you can pretty much mirror the following actions at least 75-80% of the time for easy "gimme points":

- Andy serves
- You slice ("X") his serve cross-court to the right (provided you are in zoom mode)
- He'll in turn hit the ball down the line (right side)
- Get to that part of the court and use the "B" button and hold the analog stick 'left' to hit a top spin cross-court shot.  (Note: your top spin controls may be sensitive depending on your precision and spin rating)
- He'll chase the ball down and hit down the left sideline.  You should be reacting to his motion and already be in position to cover this shot.
- As you are approaching the left sideline, begin holding down the "A" button and then blister the ball back to the right side for a clean winner.

There is a rare chance that Andy won't hit down the sideline after your service return, but 98% of the time his return won't cross the center point of the court - most of his replies will be to the right-most portion of the court, where the above steps can be modified just a bit to get him to run to the left side before tee'ing off to the right.

 Pro Strategies: Playing Doubles

If you have played doubles with a computer controlled partner in Top Spin 2, you have undoubtedly experienced some of the most frustrating videogame tennins known to man.  Computer A.I. in Top Spin 2 is erratic and completely unhelpful.  Fortunately, I've found a few tactics that may help increase the probability of you winning points by about 15-20%.

When you are serving: line up as far as you can to the doubles alley to make your serve.  If you use the risk serve, hit it out wide.  Many times, your serve will result in an ace, especially if you are playing against a computer team ranked 100+ (such as the Season 1 mixed doubles event).  If you need to use a second serve, use the slice serve("X") from the deuce court to spin it out wide, or the top spin serve ("B") to kick it out wide.  If you don't score an ace, your teammate may cut off the return for an easy put away volley.

When your teammate is receiving a serve:  Once your teammate is winding up to return a serve, immediately begin to cheat towards the center service line to bait the server into hitting down the line.  Be prepared to jump back into position to take the volley, and use "A" to hit it behind the opposing net player at an angle.  (Click HERE for example).

Volleys: For some reason, making a volley with "X" or "B" at a good angle cross-court is always picked up by the opposing netman (or netwoman).  Because of this, "A" is the best option to make cross-court volleys as it puts the ball further behind them.  Holding "A" makes your shot more powerful and therefore, more effective.  "B" and "X" are good for hitting sharp angles to the doubles alley of the side you are on.

Lobs: Lobs are a good choice if the deep person back (person on the baseline) is cross-court from you, and the person directly in front is at the net.  Press and hold "Y," and push the analog stick towards the opposing baseline.  If done correctly, the lob will travel far and deep enough to clear the outstretched racquet of the netperson, and the baseline player will be too late to get to the ball.  It may take a bit of you playing up at the net and then backpeddling to get your opponents to line up the way you want them, but this is a fairly effective tactic when executed properly.

E - Getting Your Player to 60 Gold Stars as Quickly as Possible

I would think that most everyone's initial goal with Top Spin 2 is to complete Career Mode with their first player, and for any subsequent creations, to get them online-ready as soon as possible.  With that in mind, below is my recommended course of action to get your custom player ready for online competition in the least amount of time. Please note however, that there are a few minor deviations you can take during your run through career mode here.  I have made mention of any such cases.  

Season 1

Season 2

F - Career Mode Summary

While I feel that TS2’s Career Mode is vastly improved over TS1, PamDev went overboard by requiring a career to last five seasons, which is utterly ridiculous.  When going into the game for the first time without much knowledge of Career Mode, I had made assumptions as to what would be required to complete it.  They were as follows:

• Gain #1 ranking, and defend it the following season
• Obtain all 60 stars
• Acquire the four advanced shots
• Win each Grand Slam event at least once
   

On November 15th in Season 5, you have the choice to participate in your final Masters Cup or in a special event called the Jubilee Open which is described as an event "to celebrate your career."  It is a tournament that matches you up with opponents (if any) who had beaten you the most over the course of your career.  

The final "scheduled" event of your career will be in New Delhi, which is a minor tournament.  If you skip that, your career will effectively conclude - HOWEVER, your rival will want one last shot at you in a single set match.  Once you beat him (which you should with ease), you will receive a career summary of how many tournaments you've entered, how many you've won, a summary of your training, etc.  You will also have the option to visit your sports bag one final time as well as shop around for other items.  When you are through with the sports bag/sports shop and retire, you may unlock the two final achievements which award you 200 and 250 points towards your gamerscore respectively (see Section G below for details).

G - Xbox 360 Top Spin 2 Achievements: