Virtua Tennis: World Tour serves up roster

Sega today trotted out the lineup of professional tennis players that have signed on to lend their likenesses to Virtua Tennis: World Tour. The game will be available exclusively for the PSP this fall, and it's the unofficial portable version of Sega Sports Tennis for the PlayStation 2.

Leading the cast are 2005 Wimbledon champions Venus Williams and Roger Federer. With her win at this year's British leg of the majors, Williams has broken a slump after being overshadowed by her younger sister Serena, who is not included in the game. Federer, from Switzerland, has been mopping up the court with opponents this year and is quickly hearing murmurs of "best tennis player ever" talk. The 23-year-old star has lost only two tournament matches this year.

Both 2005 Wimbledon runner-ups will also be playable in Virtua Tennis: World Tour. American Andy Roddick was in search of his first Wimbledon crown, and Lindsay Davenport, also American, was trying to hoist the trophy on the grass lawn for the second time.

Rounding out the playable tennis stars are 2004 Wimbledon champ and Russian pinup star Maria Sharapova, fiery Aussie Lleyton Hewitt, perennial British hopeful Tim Henman, 2003 French Open champ and Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero, German Tommy Haas, Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean, Argentinean David Nalbandian, Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova, Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo, and Czech Nicole Vaidisova.

Virtua Tennis: World Tour features an exhibition mode, world tour mode, and minigames, such as blockbuster, fruit dash, blocker, and balloon smash. The game will also be playable head-to-head through the PSP's integrated wireless capabilities.

For more information on the game, get a serving of GameSpot's previous coverage.