The Olympics is one of the most important sporting events every four years, celebrating the best athletes from all around the world.
Since the first-ever Olympics in 1896, the Olympics has helped propel the careers of athletes into sports superstardom. In a previous post, we highlighted the tennis competition at the Paris Olympic Games and some of the great sporting venues in the world, including the site of the French Open every year. More importantly, we highlighted the high-stakes excitement of Olympic match tiebreakers, with nine of 16 matches hinging on decisive tiebreakers. The doubles silver medalists, Zhizhen Zhang & Wang Xinyu, for example, played match tiebreakers in all four of their Paris matches. Meanwhile, 10 of the 32 men’s doubles matches were decided by tiebreakers — a close statistic to the nine of 32 matches for women’s doubles.
While we begin our wait for the next Olympics in Los Angeles, it’s important that we acknowledge the other side of high-level sports — esports. In 2023, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially acknowledged esports as part of the prestigious sporting event. The Olympic Esports Series 2023 took place in Singapore. The event featured esports players competing in virtual sports like Gran Turismo in place of motorsport, Zwift instead of cycling, and, of course, Tennis Clash for tennis enthusiasts.
However, while this was certainly an important step forward for esports and tennis esports especially, not many people were pleased with the IOC’s decision. This post will explore some of the reasons Tennis Clash and other games weren’t a fan favorite at the Olympics’ first foray into esports and how future Olympic Esports events can potentially fix this:
A lack of traditional esports games
One of the primary complaints about the Olympic Esports Series in 2023 was the lack of conventional esports titles. Despite the official recognition from the IOC, many gamers and esports enthusiasts expected to see popular esports titles like the MOBA League of Legends or tactical team-based shooters like Counter-Strike. However, the IOC’s insistence on sticking to traditional Olympian values led to the use of solely sports-simulation games, like Tennis Clash or Gran Turismo.
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The esports industry has grown tremendously in the past years, and many popular esports titles today hold major seasonal tournaments celebrating the best esports athletes in their respective games. Part of the continuously growing esports scene, of course, are the esports bettors. Much like traditional sports betting, esports bettors enjoy watching or attending live games to place bets on teams they think will win. Reputable crypto-only esports betting platform Thunderpick facilitates this by streaming various popular esports titles, from League of Legends and Dota2 to Valorant and Call of Duty. Thunderpick also offers top sports betting odds for tennis, hockey, as well as NBA and NFL games. As such, by considering well-known and loved esports titles, the Olympics can stand to gain a wider audience and reach the younger demographic.
There are better tennis video games
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Another issue with featuring Tennis Clash in the Olympic Esports Series 2023 was that the game had no established esports scene. Released exclusively for mobile platforms iOS and Android, Tennis Clash looks and plays like a mobile game. Worse, gamers who tuned in for the event also noted that the game was pay-to-win due to player upgrades that can be bought with in-game currency.
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Of course, the IOC can still improve on this. After all, Tennis Clash isn’t the only tennis-based video game on the market. In August, developers at NACON and Big Ant Studios announced Tiebreak, the official game of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). The game is available on PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam. A Nintendo Switch™ version is also in the works, making Tiebreak a more accessible tennis game backed by official tennis organizations. The game features a large roster of over 120 tennis heroes and icons, and for a potential Olympic esports appearance, tennis fans can also create their own players to compete. Similarly, there are also the TopSpin games from developer 2K Sports, known for the NBA 2K and NFL 2K games — both of which have established esports scenes.
The future of Olympic esports
So, what can tennis fans expect from future Olympic esports events? It’s hard to tell whether or not the IOC will ever consider conventional esports titles in future tournaments. Still, if they’re to stick to only sports-simulator games, it would be beneficial to think of more authentic titles and strive to bridge the gap between traditional sports and esports. Titles like Tiebreak and TopSpin are a great start thanks to their accessibility and wider reach and are likely to be more familiar to esports enthusiasts.
If you found this post interesting or useful, you can check out more World Tennis Magazine posts for tennis-related news, insights, and guides.
