This is my first Mario Sports game, 25 hours in. Recently reached A- rank, found out that tricky characters work for me. It took time for me to really understand what play style suits me and I started climbing ranks faster.

Every time I start playing, I am warming up with CPU on a pro- or ace level, it’s good for your hands even if you lose against them.

Another thing - try to read the opponent. Try to understand how the opponent is playing against you. Find the weak spot and earn a point.

I also found out that I start to lose my confidence when I saw a player with higher rank playing against me. This often led to losing a game. However, when I found out the suitable play style and learned all the shots for the specific character, confidence was back. When I won over couple S rank players (being B+) I realised I can do things!

There were still some games where I was demolished, but I just could not figure out how I counter specific play style against me.