While the coronavirus has kept sporting events from taking place, athletes continue to compete through games. The trend began to spread when soccer teams and streamers began hosting virtual matches, but has since spread to all sports. Today it is tennis, where 32 professionals will hit the ball through the Tennis World Tour at the Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro.

Some of the world's best players, including Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Karolina Plishkova, and Angelique Kerber, will switch rackets for controllers from today through April 30. Conveniently, the Tennis World Tour already has a replica of the stadium where the event will take place, so the pro players should feel right at home.

The players will also be joined by eight streamers in the second event. While the streamers will likely have the advantage, the tennis pros will have a lot of downtime between matches, so perhaps they will showcase their own skills.

Since this is a charity event, the total prize money of €350,000 (£305,000/£380,000) will be donated by the winner to tennis players who are currently out of work and in need.

My family is quite tennis-obsessed, which is another reason I am convinced I am adopted. I decided to ask them if tennis appeals to the over-60s crowd. Apparently, it's not for the over 60s. Yes, it is a game, just like any sport. Not one to back down when my hobby and career were at stake, I used my lunch break to convince them to give it a chance. You don't even want to watch a tennis match.

If it seems more up your alley, you can channel them through Facebook.

The Tennis World Tour touts its realism, which seems, at least on the surface, to be tournament-friendly. Unfortunately, realism does not always translate into a good game, and reviews for the game have been generally negative: released in 2018, it was criticized for its few features, many bugs, and poor presentation; on Steam, after 192 user reviews, it is still " Mostly Negative", and the professionally played PS4 version has an aggregate score of 45 on Metacritic.

If you missed this and are still playing Tennis World Tour, you can now play as Denis Shapovalov, Alex de Minaur, and Caroline Garcia, a free addition to all versions except the Switch version, which is coming soon. to be added in the near future.