The Prince of Tennis is a shōnen sports action-comedy manga. The story centers around Ryoma Echizen, a prodigal tennis player at Seishun Academy whose ultimate goal is winning the National Middle School Tennis Championship. While the series focuses on Ryoma, it also chronicles the path of his club, especially those that play pairs, as Ryoma tends to play singles.

The Prince of Tennis volume 34 begins with the end of one such match, which features team members Eiji Kikumaru and Shuichiro Oishi. Eiji has the club's keenest eye, but lacks the stamina to use it fully while Shuichiro, the Vice-Captain, is calm and calculating and overworks himself worrying about his teammates. Eiji and Shuichiro are in a heated match between Ryo Shishido and Chotaro Ohtori. As the game reaches match point the two enter Synchro, where their bodies enter an unconscious state and the two of them become as one being, each helping the other. While they end up reaching this professional level state, they lose the match due to Eiji's lack of stamina. Right after this is Ryoma's match with Keigo Atobe, the captain of Hiyotei, who is an arrogant and wealthy and known as the the “King of Tennis.” As the match begins, Ryoma uses the Selfless State to copy Keigo's moves, but when Keigo begins using his World of Ice ability to pinpoint blind spots in Ryoma's defense the match seems all but over. At the last possible moment Ryoma manages to enter an imperfect Tezuka Zone, where he is able to alter the trajectory and speed of the ball so it is always returned to him where he can reach it.

Chapters:
293: "Synchro"
294: "The Nation's Number-One Double Pair"
295: "What is a Satisfying Game?"
296: Two Arrogant Players"
297: "Clash!!! Ryoma Echizen vs. Keigo Atobe"
298: "Prelude to Battle"
299: "World of Ice"
300: "An Approach to Perfection"
301: "Becoming Seishun's Pilar"
302: "The Value of Ryoma's Experience"

Highlights:
The volume begins the final matchup between Ryoma and Keigo. Both use high level abilties, with Ryoma using an imperfect Tezuka Zone and Keigo having perfected his eyesight and knowledge into the World of Ice ability. While it isn't finished, this match definitely shows why the two players have their titles.

Overview:
The Prince of Tennis volume 34 is a fast-paced volume. We get to see multiple characters finally attain some real abilities with Eiji and Shuichiro entering Synchro and Ryoma at least partially entering the Tezuka Zone. While Eiji and Shuichiro lost the match it's clear they've attained a high level and we'll likely see them use it again. For Ryoma, his technique isn't perfected, but it's clearly among the ultimate techniques in the world of The Prince of Tennis.

The contrast between the Tezuka Zone ability (along with what is shown of Synchro) and that of the World of Ice ability makes a great difference in how one goes about playing. World of Ice is an exploitative move used by those with keen abilities to exploit an enemy's weakness whereas the Tezuka Zone uses experience to control the flow of the game. While both are used to control the game to your advantage, World of Ice is a signifier of how keen ability makes someone strong while the Tezuka Zone, and Synchro, rely on hard work and training and, for the latter, trust. The fact that the Tezuka Zone is able to defeat the Wall of Ice is a subtle hint that ultimately hard work and effort can defeat raw ability, although not easily, especially when both have put effort into honing their abilities.

While I enjoyed The Prince of Tennis volume 34 for what it was, it ultimately doesn't feel like my kind of book. Takeshi Konomi has done a lot of research for this and it shows through enough that it was enjoyable for the matches, but ultimately the arrogant nature of the main protagonist and his ability to win every official match is a bit off-putting. A lot of recent manga have moved away from the guarantees of the main protagonist winning every major battle they're in like in Bleach, One Piece and even Pokemon; occasionally they lose and in losing they learn to pick themselves up and keep going. Maybe it's because Ryoma is supposed to be a genius that he never loses such matches, but even geniuses aren't perfect.

The Prince of Tennis volume 34 picks up the pace as the final battle against Hyotei comes down to Ryoma vs. Keigo. Definitetly a must read for any The Prince of Tennis fan and a great read for any sports manga fan.

ComicsOnline gives The Prince of Tennis volume 34 a 3 out of 5 World of Ice attacks.