The concept of the game is very basic in that the player controls one person faced against an opponent CPU player. This game uses the same scoring system as real-life tennis. The game also features a doubles (2-player) option. The opponent CPU player can be set at 5 difficulties.

Apart from other Nintendo first party tennis games, such as Mario Tennis (Nintendo 64) and Mario Power Tennis (Nintendo GameCube), this game had much more realistic physics. For instance, players could accidentally hit the ball out of the court. In the other games, the power was purposefully limited and the ball would almost always stay in the court.

In a self-referential manner typical of Nintendo, Luigi is the referee.