Have your career stats as follows:

Speed: 10
Focus: 10
Service: 8
Forehand: 10
Backhand: 10
Precision: 10
Power: 10

Disregard all the other attributes, especially Stamina. As long as you remain focused on what your player and CPU is doing and try to win the point as soon as possible, Stamina does not matter. Reflexes do not matter also, unless you really like coming to net. However, most players probably choose to use the baseline and only come up to the net when the other player or CPU does a dump volley. Volley is not really that useful either, especially if you are a baseline player. Spins are only useful if you know exactly when and how to use them (like the lob), so disregard these attributes. Precision is fairly important so. If you want to divide the Focus and Precision with 5 each, then it may be useful.

By far the worst players to play against are Leyton Hewitt and Carlos Moya. The worst service to be up against is that of Andy Roddick. If you defeat them and get past the service of Roddick, then the grand slams and masters tournaments are yours for the taking. When any player is serving against you, lob. This gives you the chance to slow the service down and get back into the center of the court so that you can do whatever you want when the CPU returns it. This does not always work, however, because the CPU sometimes rushes forward and does a power volley and hits it into a corner you cannot reach. Try to aim the lob towards the side of the net where the CPU is not. In place of the lob, you can instead do a top spin return to the corner of the court the CPU is not at.

When first playing the game, the only button you ever find yourself using is the Safe Shot because it never goes out of bounds. It is never a risk, and always goes where you want. This button alone will not win you any tournaments, especially if you are up against people like Hewitt or Moya, and it can get a little repetitive.

The Top Spin is probably one of the most important shots in the game. If you use it wisely you will always come out on top. You must know exactly when and how to use it. This is where the attributes come in. Top Spin shots work especially well when the other player is on one side of the court and you want to place a shot into the other before he or she can get there. This is where Power, Focus and/or Precision comes in. If you have high Power attributes, your shot will be faster and will be hit harder into the corner. If you have a high Focus and/or Precision, chances are that the ball will be hit exactly where you want it to go.