An Olympic Bronze Medalist Kicked My Ass in Mario Tennis Fever and I Lived to Tell the Tale

Let maine acceptable the scene. On 1 broadside we person Taylor Fritz. Olympic bronze medalist. U.S. Open Finalist. A 6’5” tennis phenom who’s presently the fig 8 ranked men’s tennis subordinate successful the world. On the different broadside we have, well, me. A congenial feline who gives disconnected loads of dada vigor and is supra mean astatine astir video games.

It was not an adjacent match.

Throughout my playing 4 games of Mario Tennis Fever with 1 of the champion tennis players connected the planet, I was thoroughly and utterly humiliated. But I had a blast.

In the archetypal 2 games, Fritz laid it connected beauteous thick, befuddling maine with his usage of powerfulness serves and Boo slices. To beryllium fair, helium did springiness maine a heads-up.

“I'll pass you, the crushed wherefore I play Boo is due to the fact that he's got immoderate nasty spin,” Fritz said close earlier the lucifer began. Boy, helium was not joking.

In the 3rd game, Fritz abandoned Boo (maybe retired of pity, who knows) and I recovered the quality that clicked champion for maine successful Luma. I went up 5-0 connected Fritz’s Bowser (Tornado racket and all) earlier helium came storming backmost and tied it 5-5. Thanks to immoderate tricky maneuvering and a good timed assemblage changeable (after which I whitethorn oregon whitethorn not person yelled “FINISH HIM!”) I was capable to prevention immoderate pridefulness and instrumentality 1 crippled disconnected of him.

I foolishly decided to power to Baby Bowser for the adjacent game, successful which Fritz promptly destroyed maine 7-0. Who would person thought that real-world tennis skills could person truthful thoroughly to Switch 2-based competitions?

After our match, I sat down with Fritz to speech astir his emotion of Mario games dating backmost to the Nintendo 64 and whether oregon not his accomplishment connected the tribunal gave him a limb up erstwhile competing connected the Switch.

“Maybe a small bit,” Fritz says. “A batch of the crippled is moving to the shot erstwhile you spot it and knowing similar I bash with the boost slices, it catches radical disconnected defender due to the fact that they conscionable privation to travel the ball. It's similar (real) tennis similar that. I'll spot it and I'll cognize wherever to really determination to, to deed it. And you enactment astatine a position, you travel to the net. There's decidedly immoderate tennis nuances there.”

In fact, the precise archetypal video crippled Fritz remembers playing was the Nintendo 64 mentation of Mario Tennis.

Olympic Bronze Medalist and Mario Tennis Fever Superfan Taylor Fritz

“I retrieve conscionable being successful the household country and we would person 4 controllers and we would play doubles, two-versus-two, and it was a batch of fun,” Fritz says. “There’s tons of antithetic tennis titles, but for me, Mario Tennis has ever been my favourite 1 by far. I (also) emotion conscionable classical Nintendo Wii Sports. (Also) Super Mario Galaxy. It's a spot of a nostalgia thing.”

With Mario Tennis Fever, you tin usage GameChat to play the crippled with friends. And though Fritz mightiness conflict to find worthy competitors among his interior circle, helium says the game’s online options springiness him immoderate opportunities for challenging matches.

“There are bully competitory settings,” Fritz says. “You tin spell successful and conscionable play an online gully tournament, however a nonrecreational tennis bracket would be. I deliberation that's a chill happening you tin do.”

So the adjacent clip you log connected to your Nintendo Switch 2 and occurrence up Mario Tennis Fever, you mightiness look disconnected against a mean run-of-the-mill gamer. Or, you conscionable whitethorn find yourself successful the concern that I was in: trying to clasp your crushed against 1 of the champion tennis players successful the world. My advice: clasp onto your butt and larn however to parry Boo’s topspin.

Read our Mario Tennis Fever review, successful which we said the crippled “is the astir amusive erstwhile you’re playing with a fewer friends.”

Michael Peyton is the Senior Editorial Director of Events & Entertainment astatine IGN, starring amusement contented and sum of tentpole events including IGN Live, San Diego Comic Con, gamescom, and IGN Fan Fest. He's spent 20 years moving successful the games and amusement industry, and his adventures person taken him everyplace from the Oscars to Japan to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Follow him connected Bluesky @MichaelPeyton