Remembering Top Spin 4 is probably hard for some people at this point. After all, the game came out in 2011, and while we have things like AO Tennis and Tennis World Tour now, I still miss Top Spin. Top Spin and Virtua Tennis are what I grew up playing, and that’s probably why it’s hard to forget them. On top of that, Top Spin 4 was just really friggin’ good. I was hankering for some Top Spin 4 footage, so I stumbled upon Leonardo Gatti’s replay of the real-life 2017 Australian Open final between Federer and Nadal.
Top Spin 4 is the perfect background noise for me — and this goes for tennis overall when I’m working. The grunts, light commentary and the soars in the crowd all put it into a category with golf for me as enjoyable to watch with complete focus or only in my peripheral vision. The 2017 Aussie Open is also easy to remember because this was one of Federer’s redemption arcs as he “finally” won another major after about a five-year drought. He had to get past his most known rival in the process, and I remember staying up all night to be there when it started at about 3:30 a.m. EST.
The Australian Open was memorable overall that year because the Williams sisters also had a showdown in the finals. Point being, I miss Top Spin, and while we’re right now bemoaning 2K probably being locked out of making NFL 2K, they could make Top Spin 5 right now if they wanted to.
