tennis pro

Racor PRS-R Pro Racquet and Ball Storage Rack
$21.00
Arrival: fast
Packaging: excessive, if anything.
Installation: easy (I used my own toggle bolts because I am paranoid)
Capacity: we have four rackets on it and two cans of balls

Misc: I like the rubber "coating" on the top bars so that the rackets don't get dinged or slip.

Smash Court Tennis 2: Pro Tournament
$39.99
I bought this game not too long ago, and I have found this game to be simply amazing.

Pros:
- The gameplay is phenomenal. Most other tennis games basically revolve around hitting a forehand, backhand, lob, and dropshot. In this game, not only do you get the added slice (which is actually useful here) and the flat, powerful shot, but each one of these shots has at least 4 or 5 different variations that you experience based on both the player's and the ball's positions. The gameplay really is very impressive, and the rallies are exciting and sometimes exhilarating.

Furthermore, serving is actually not bad. It's hard, that's for sure, but if you're playing with one of the real players, or your own player has a high mark in serves, it becomes very doable to get aces. At this rate, with an A- in serving, I am getting around 2 aces per 3 games. The serve is also useful to put the opponents out of position, and this is also manageable. It's just that you can't press left and then expect a good serve. You sort of have to navigate the serve without seeing any "marker", but that's something that a player will develop over some games. This game is NOT an arcade game, and anyone expecting that will be disappointed. While it doesn't fully simulate real life (it is a bit too easy to run cross-court and hit a decent shot back), it is much closer to taht than it is an arcade game. And the serve reflects that.

-The Pro Tour mode is great. I kept reading that the mode was "deep" but no one on the web seemed to specify what that actually meant, so I'll do that myself:
Basically you play the calendar seasons, and each week get to decide whether to practice (either a drill or a practice match) or a tournament. However, each time you do something, your stamina gets weaker. Specifically, if you get deep into a tournament, your stamina will be shot, and you'll have to take a longer break before playing again. Now, as for the tournaments, there are the 4 grand slams, 7 Grand Prix's, which are the equivalent of the ATP 1000, 7 Advantage International's, which are the ATP 500, and 8 SmashPoint Series, which are the ATP 250. You will only be able to play the ATP 1000 and ATP 500 once you reach certain rankings. The tournaments themselvess have unique venues which adds a nice touch, with different colors of clay, hard court, and grass tournaments to play with.

-The surfaces actually matter here, as playing on clay is different than playing on grass, and you can feel that difference in the motion, specifically in the ability to play a more serve-and-volley approach during the grass court tournaments.

-Another thing about the Pro tour: I can't talk about the mission mode because I've chosen not to play it. I like playing straight tennis, and the one thing is that you don't play full matches, but usually somewhere between 2 and 6 games depending on the type of tournament and which round you're in. I find this to be more convenient, as I don't have the time to spend hours on each match that I play, not with the task of moving up from 250 to 1 in terms of ranking.

-They have a version of the Davis Cup! It's an international tournament where you play if you're invited. I don't know if it is easy to get invited for all countries, but I had no problems with that.

Cons:

-On some courts, it is actually hard to see the ball. Especially the bright clay of Roland Garros (not much of a problem on the darker clay surfaces) and the green hard court of the AO (that's an old game, remember).

-I do wish Federer was there, but the collection of players is very solid. 8 of each gender is too few, though, but if you're playing Pro Tour mode, that won't be much of a problem.

-The replays are pretty much useless.

All in all, this is a fantastic game, and I would highly recommend it, even with the presence of more advanced games and consoles. It is hard to go wrong with a game this great.

Wilson Pro Soft Overgrip Tennis Racquet Grips (Gold)
$6.00
I was surprised because the pack came with 3 overgrips!!
I put on 2 as i liked the added girth. The quality of the grip is good too. Its quite soft but not very spongy. I should have purchased a black or dark colored one though, as the gold one gets dirty within the first 1 hour of playing.

Break Point: The Secret Diary of a Pro Tennis Player
$16.95
Pretty interesting account of a life on tour, but the story is marked but sadness as you see Spadea's game & ranking spiral downward as the book progresses. Also heartbreaking to see how often he was treated as an outsider by the elite tennis establishment. Being overlooked can definitely affect one's game. The most annoying aspect of the book for me was, as a woman, reading Spadea's detailed tips on how to score with women. Did he think only men would read this book? I just rolled my eyes & skimmed past the nonsense. Despite the pursuit, no girl is good enough for him to commit to & he seems decidedly confused about his feelings for women overall. Whatever...getting back to the tennis, I have to give props to anyone who can make it to as high a ranking as he did on tour, with tennis being such a challenging game--even top players make tons of mistakes & have trouble staying focused. So it was nice to read this behind-the-scenes glimpse of a sporting life with a lot of ups & downs. Also, the rapping, fashion, & Hollyweird side stories make it a fun book to read overall.