With no indication when Sega might return to "Virtua Tennis," the "Top Spin" series is really the only tennis game in town. 2K just announced that the fourth iteration, the aptly-named "Top Spin 4" is being developed for release in 2011 for 360, PS3 and Wii. The game will feature vintage Andre Agassi (seen above) as a playable character, but only for those who pre-order at GameStop in the US. I guess Sweden already scooped up Björn Borg.
2K Czech will be handling the development of "Top Spin 4," fresh off the release of "Mafia 2." Somehow I doubt "Top Spin" will see similar, half-decade-long development times. And there probably won't be quite so much driving.
In the game's announcement, 2K noted that "Top Spin 4" will feature "all-new innovative controls to dominate the competition." Looking at the list of supported platforms, it seems likely that Kinect and Move will each be getting a nod in some way or another. It'll be interesting to see how much work 2K Czech puts into the game to support these new modes of control. Kinect would be especially tricky, given that there'd be no way to move your character around or to select a certain type of shot. The game may have to be simplified, ala Tennis in "Wii Sports," where much of the controls are handled by the game's AI. That's if Kinect is supported at all, which hasn't been confirmed yet.
Whatever the case, looks like tennis fans have a new title to watch out for in 2011. Oh, and an old, Andre Agassi to stare at.