Nothing says ‘Tennis’ like the evocative twang of ball on taut catgut, not that racquets are strung with catgut anymore, it’s some sort of space-aged nylon derivative, and not that Virtua Tennis’ ball-meets-racquet sound effect actually sounds anything like ball meeting racquet. Despite this strange foible, World Tour is an effervescent interpretation of the sport.

World Tour has three aces up its sleeve (that was a poker analogy, not a tennis one, so don’t get uppity) – it’s fast-paced, arcadified action, series of novelty mini-games and exhilarating multiplayer mode. Virtua Tennis offers three shots to twat a ball about the court – topspin, lob and slice – enabling players to hit a crosscourt shot, before attacking the net and limply plopping the ball over the net.

Racqueteers on offer include Tim Henman, Roger Federrer, Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova, who brings up the phrase ‘free naked sexy tennis’ if you Google her name, each player boasting a specific skill such as strong backhand, forehand or powerful shots. It’s possible then, to pick a player to complement your on court approach, PLAY’s Virtua favourite Lleyton Hewitt offsetting our baseline whackathon strategy perfectly.

Away from the lawns, a series of Ball Games adds a puzzle spin – Block Buster playing like a tennis-themed version of the vintage Breakout, Fruit Dash requiring players to utilise fancy foot work to collect fruit – minor diversions unless you’re a score-attack obsessive compulsive. Bringing together these seemingly disparate strands is the titular World Tour mode where players take fledgling tennis stars, building up stats via an expanded series of puzzle challenges, buying better quality equipment and winning tournaments. Arguably, there’s a bit too much of the former and not enough of the latter, but it’s still compelling stuff.

It’s the Wi-fi multiplayer that’s sweeter than Tiger Tim never winning Wimbledon though, bringing all the zip of arcade mode, but all the more intense thanks to real opposition. And, better than any console version of the game to date – you always view your character from behind the baseline thanks to the joys of having a screen all to yourself. Love all!