
• Tier S : I’d call them the god duo of ITST. I can’t find any other character that was able to make such an impression on the tour. Simon as the most versatile character I’ve ever played : insane control of the points, top tier defensive capacity, very good attacking thanks to a good counter, top tier speed and fantastic slice serve thanks to the Sampras animation back then, he was the whole package. You could adapt to any situation at ease.
Concerning Hewitt, he is a bit different. He didn’t really have any plan B, but his plan A was so good that it was not really a problem. Basically infinite stamina making him better and better the more the match was going, majestic backhand and a counterattack machine, that’s what you call a beast.
Today they are no longer the monsters they used to be due to some deserved nerfs, but since then I’m yet to have faced a character that could leave me such a feeling of domination as them.
• Tiers A : They are, to me, the safe bets of the game. Sure picks that guarantee you the potential to be competitive in a tournament. Overall they all have a good capacity at attacking and defending in general, no major thing is lacking in any of them. Exceptions would be two of them : Fish and Llodra. I’d put them between A and B, contrary to the others they are not really balanced, have clear weaknesses, however they compensate it by some out of proportion talents (insane serves for both, surprising BH for Llodra with which you could paint the line as you wished) that made them somehow competitive. The perfect WTF chars for a troll like Vramvrim.
• Tiers B : Characters that, for me, are suffering of some problematic weaknesses which can be exploited in tournaments. I’ve put what I consider the best hard-hitters in this category (character in the archetype of Tsonga/Berdych) : some lethal power but the faults (lack of potential plan B, reduced coverage of the court, poor defense) prevent them from going in tiers A. Overall, tiers B character have either not enough perks or have important weaknesses that make them not as reliable as tiers A characters.
• Tiers C : Characters that feel quite mediocre, quite the same problems as tiers B but even worse. Special mention for Kuerten : since I have never faced any and since I have never tried him, it’s impossible for me to judge him. I’ve put him there but I just don’t have an opinion on him for the moment.
• Tiers D : Dustin Brown. SSS+ tiers in terms of fist bump animations, but on the court he was pretty much a tragedy by himself. He deserves to have this tiers for himself.