Sega says that Virtua Tennis 2009 is Wii-bound after all. Oddly zombie-like renditions of the sport’s biggest stars ahoy!

Seriously, though, this is excellent news for Wii gamers looking for a stiffer, more realistic challenge after the lightweight, grandma-pleasing frivolity of Wii Sports - and particularly since Sega reckons that the Wii iteration includes all the same features and hot centre-court action as the PS3, 360 and PC versions. Which is nice…

And that means the likes of Federer, Nadal, Williams, Andy Murray, those stern-looking Russian lasses et al slugging it out across 40+ lavishly rendered arenas, along with multiplayer options aplenty, fun single-player training modes and five brand-new game types. More exciting still the ‘World Tour’ mode allows Wii gamers to take their madskillz online and challenge others of a likeminded bent.

Excellent stuff all round, then. Although it’s not clear whether the Wii game will adopt the button n’ pad-based controls of its bigger brothers or, in view of the Wii’s mainstream audience, just let users swing their Remotes with giddy, imprecise abandon. Both options with any luck. Either way all versions of Virtua Tennis 2009 are heading your way this May.