Everything You Need To Enjoy Tennis Greats Smacking Balls Around

Everything You Need To Enjoy Tennis Greats Smacking Balls Around


If you didn’t get enough of the world’s greatest tennis players demolishing their competitors at the Olympics, the US Open is another opportunity to watch these titans of tennis smack around fuzzy green balls.

But to fully enjoy the spectacle you have to immerse yourself in all things tennis, so here’s everything you’ll need to enjoy the US Open, even if you’re just stuck watching it from your living room.



2012 US Open Tennis Championships

There’s an app for every major sporting event these days, and the free US Open iOS app is your one-stop shop for all the news and stats you could ever need. It lets you keep track of who’s playing, who’s gonna play, and who’s already played — and with video and radio streams who really needs to spend time watching coverage on their TV? Free. [clear]


DIY Tennis Ball Chair

Court-side seats? Whatever. There’s no better place to watch athletes 1000 times more fit than you are than sprawled out on a couch. Or better yet, this DIY tennis ball seat that repurposes an ugly old stacking chair and 100 tennis balls into a throne fit for tennis royalty. DIY. [clear]


Gyroscopic Strength Trainer

You didn’t think these handheld gyroscopic exercisers were just a way to challenge your friends to see who could rev to the highest RPM? Believe it or not they actually provide quite an arm and wrist workout, spinning up to 13,000 RPMs as displayed on its tiny LCD screen. After all, staying in shape can still be a competition. $US70. [clear]

Mario Tennis Open for the Nintendo 3DS

Sooner or later you’re going to get the hankering to play a little tennis yourself, and you can ease into it with Mario Tennis Open for the 3DS. It’s not quite as robust a title as previous entries in the series, but in 3D it will help you deal with the loss of the Virtual Boy version you had to give up when you went blind for three weeks. $US36. [clear]


Classic Video Table Tennis Kit

Maybe you prefer something a little on the retro side of gaming. According to a fact I just made up Agassi started his professional career as a Pong prodigy, and would have probably loved this tiny portable version with built-in controllers and TV hookups. Just make sure your resume lists ‘soldering’ as your other pre-emanate skill. $US20. [clear]


Mattel Sonic Slam Tennis

And in case you want to actually swing around a racket but are too intimidated to visit a real court, Mattel’s Sonic Slam is like playing Wii Tennis minus the Wii that’s probably buried in dust by now. It requires you to listen closely for ball sound effects and time your swings accordingly. $US35. [clear]

Image: Mike Groll/Associated Press


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