A tennis game that runs in a browser tab
Tennis Lob is a 3D singles tennis game you play in a browser — no download, no installer, no plugin. It keeps official ATP and WTA scoring, from deuce and advantage through tiebreaks and lets, and the ball flies with a real tennis ball’s aerodynamics: a serve sheds about a third of its pace between the racket and the bounce, so the speeds on the HUD are the speeds you would see on a broadcast. Play the computer, or play a person.
Nothing to install
The court, the crowd and both players are drawn by the browser itself. Open the page, wait for one load, and play — on Windows, macOS or Linux, in Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
Real ball physics
Drag, spin, bounce and the net cord are simulated, not scripted. A flat first serve, a heavy topspin drive and a dying slice behave differently because the numbers behind them are different.
A person on the other side
Ranked online matches decided by a server that scores the point, not by either player’s browser. Elo, six divisions, and a ladder you can be beaten down as well as up.
Ways to play
- Career
- Turn professional at seventeen and play a 52-week season. The ranking rolls: every point you win expires a year later, so the calendar always arrives telling you what you are defending. One decision a week, and any match can be played or simulated.
- Exhibition
- Four rounds in one evening against opponents that get harder each time. No account needed — this is the quickest way to see whether you like it.
- Quick Match
- Ranked singles against whoever else is searching. Your rating moves on every result and carries a division badge from Bronze to Ace.
- Private Lobby
- Play a friend with a room code. Deliberately unrated — a private room is not a ladder.
How to play
Move with the arrow keys. Charge and release a shot with space: hold it and a ring of pips fills beside your player, and where you let go decides the ball. The green window is a clean drive; the narrow red sliver at the very top of the charge fires a flat winner at around 200 km/h, and missing the window shanks it. You never choose the stroke — forehand, backhand, volley, smash or a scrambling slice is decided by where the ball actually is when you reach it.
Questions
- Is Tennis Lob free to play?
- Yes. The whole game is free — career mode, online matches and every court. There is one in-game currency, Ace Points, earned by playing, and it buys cosmetic kit only. Nothing you can own changes how the ball behaves.
- Do I need to download or install anything?
- No. Tennis Lob runs entirely in the browser, on the same technology a web page uses to draw 3D (WebGL). There is no installer, no plugin and no app store — open the page and the court loads.
- Can I play tennis online against another person?
- Yes, two ways. Quick Match puts you against whoever else is searching and is rated: your Elo moves and you climb through six divisions from Bronze to Ace. A Private Lobby pairs you with a friend using a room code, and is deliberately unrated.
- What are the controls?
- Arrow keys move your player; the space bar charges and releases a shot. How long you hold it decides the stroke — a green window is a clean drive, and a narrow red sliver at the very top of the charge fires a flat winner at around 200 km/h. The game picks the stroke itself (forehand, backhand, volley, smash or a scrambling slice) from where the ball actually is.
- Does it work on a phone or tablet?
- Not yet. Tennis Lob is built for a desktop or laptop browser with a keyboard; touch controls are not implemented. Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari all work, on Windows, macOS and Linux.
- Do I need an account?
- Not to try it. Exhibition mode is playable as a guest. An account is needed for the things that have to be stored somewhere — ranked online matches, a career save and the kit you own.
- Is the tennis realistic?
- The physics are. The ball flies with a regulation ball's real drag, so a serve loses about 30% of its pace between the racket and the bounce, and the speeds on screen are directly comparable with the ones on a broadcast. Scoring is the official singles format, tiebreaks and lets included, and players carry momentum — nobody changes direction instantly.