"There's hope" of Rafael Nadal in Tennis World Tour

Gamereactor was at yesterday's Mutua Madrid Open Virtual presentation in Spain, which was hosted by Mutua Madrid Open CEO Gerard Tsobanian and Orange CEO Laurent Paillassot, who where joined by former clay court specialist and one-time French Open finalist Alberto Berasategui. The esports tournament will be based on the upcoming Tennis World Tour, and will be held both online (via the beta) and on-site at La Caja Mágica, in parallel with the real sports event in May, offering up more than 10,000 euro in prizes.

Given Rafa Nadal's absence in the game's roster so far, we asked whether fans could expect ATP World Tour's current #2 to be added later to the game.

"There's hope to see Rafa Nadal", Bigben Interactive Spain marketing manager Adrián Juan told Gamereactor. "What I can confirm so far is that we won't see Rafael Nadal Day 1, but from [ATP] top 10 we'll have seven players, and in Spain we're going to enjoy a top player such as [WTA's current #3] Garbiñe Muguruza, joined by Roger Federer and Roberto Bautista, as cover stars". In each country, two local star players will join the Swiss champion.

Based on our first contact with the game in France we knew already about absences certain players and a doubles mode (at launch). Ramos confirmed "the idea is that the game keeps updating and improving in two phases", the first being related to more licensed players "as there's 32 confirmed between men and women". Then doubles mode will be added as free update whenever it's ready gameplay-wise.

Tennis World Tour releases May 22 on PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PC, but the Mutua Madrid Open Virtual allows players to try the game and enter the competition before launch.