Man, Sega read my mind! Earlier this week I dusted off my old 360 copy of Virtua Tennis 3 in the wake of excitement stemming from Nadal and Federer’s latest epic clash at the Australian Open finals, and while finding that it has held up pretty well since coming out in 2007 it still got me itching for a new Virtua Tennis. Low and behold, a new Virtua Tennis is actually on the way!
This afternoon Sega has announced Virtua Tennis 2009. It’s in development for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 (PC version will be download only, hence the lacking box art) and will ship this May featuring an enhanced World Tour Mode with integrated online rankings, an expanded player creation system, a collection of new and old-favorite Court Games, the official Davis Cup license for authentic country-based team play, improved mechanics particularly in the areas of player movement, volleying and serving, and of course top pro tennis stars like Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams, Andy Murray and Ana Ivanovic.
“The return of Virtua Tennis promises to be a real treat for both fans of the series and sports game fans everywhere” commented Gary Knight, European Marketing Director for SEGA Europe. “The tennis season is shaping up to be the most exciting in years, and with new players, courts, an Online Tour and extensive on-court updates – Virtua Tennis 2009 is sure to maintain its spot as the standard by which all tennis games are judged.”
Matt Litten is the full-time editor and owner of VGBlogger.com. He is responsible for maintaining the day to day operation of the site, editing all staff content before it is published, and contributing regular news, reviews, previews and other articles.
Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com. After a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez, Matt assumed full ownership over VGBlogger, and to this day he is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
Why doesn’t the Tennis Video games include Novak Djokovic in them, he is one of the Top ranked players in the world and there aren’t any Video games out there with Djokovic included in them.
Djokovic is not my favorite player but I do think that he should be included in The new Tennis Video games.
Federer is one of my favorite players, but with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic I think that the Tennis Video games will sell alot more.
Wow – has it been two years already? I also love those games!
Hmmm no PSP/DS version? Too bad.
That’s weird, I never even noticed Djokovic missing from the lineup. I guess that’s because I’m not a fan of his, he is always complaining about being injured and giving up on matches. Fun personality, but don’t respect him much as a competitor.
As for him not being in the games, it’s tricky with sports title due to licensing agreements and all that stuff. Not always easy for publishers to get the rights to add a player to a game. Like last year’s Top Spin 3- Nadal was only in the PS3 version because of conflicttions with a sponsorship deal he had with Sony.
And don’t give up on portable versions yet. Probably a long shot, but since this initial announcement Sega has also confirmed a Wii version.
Yep – noticed that in your behemoth list!
I don’t worry much about players … more about different styles of play.
Good news, Roland. Djokovic actually will be in VT 2009. Sega’s debut trailer for the game confirms it: http://www.vgblogger.com/?p=4491