The Tennis Holiday, Done Properly

Every July, the same thing happens. Wimbledon runs for a fortnight, a significant percentage of the country temporarily becomes interested in tennis, and somewhere in the middle of week two, the thought surfaces: I should play more tennis. The feeling rarely survives long contact with a British summer. But as a prompt to book a trip somewhere warm with excellent courts, it is not without merit.

The tennis holiday, done well, is a specific thing. It is not a resort that happens to have courts somewhere at the back of the property, between the children's club and the car park. It is a combination of genuinely excellent tennis facilities, a setting worth travelling to, and enough quality in the rest of the experience that non-playing members of the group - partners, families, those who came for the pool, are equally well looked after. These are some of the properties that get this right.

Pine Cliffs, Algarve

The Annabel Croft Tennis Academy at Pine Cliffs is one of the most credible tennis programmes available in Europe. Five floodlit courts, clay and hard, with coaching structured around actual skill development rather than the cursory lesson-and-hit that passes for instruction at most resorts. The Algarve setting does the rest: dramatic clifftop views over the Atlantic, a full resort with excellent spa and beach access, and enough going on that non-tennis guests are not simply waiting for you to finish your session.

Verdura Resort, Sicily

Verdura is a Rocco Forte property on the Sicilian coast, which is a way of saying it operates at a level where the tennis programme is taken as seriously as every other aspect of the experience. The academy offers genuinely tailored programming, from beginners working through fundamentals to more experienced players wanting targeted coaching, and the broader resort is exceptional: long stretches of private coastline, three golf courses, a spa of serious ambition. The weekly in-house tournaments are a good test of what the coaching has actually produced.

Sani Club, Halkidiki

Sani is set within a protected thousand-acre pine forest on a peninsula in northern Greece, and the views from its courts, across the Aegean towards Mount Olympus, are an argument for tennis that has nothing to do with the sport itself. Six floodlit clay courts with qualified coaching available, within a resort that has become one of the most accomplished family and multi-generational destinations in the Mediterranean. The combination of serious tennis infrastructure and serious everything else makes it particularly good for groups with mixed levels of interest in actually playing.

Forte Village, Sardinia

Forte Village operates its own tennis academy with twelve clay courts and a level of professional involvement that goes beyond most resort programmes. The academy has hosted international players and coaches, and the video analysis available to guests, reviewing technique after sessions, reflects an approach to improvement that takes the sport seriously. The resort itself, spread across fifty hectares of Sardinian coastline with multiple restaurants, spa facilities, and family programming, means that a week here functions as a proper holiday rather than a sports camp with accommodation attached.

La Residencia, Mallorca

La Residencia is a Belmond hotel in the village of Deià, in the Tramuntana mountains in the north-west of Mallorca - which is, by some distance, the most beautiful corner of the island. The tennis offering is smaller (two courts, a resident professional, a practice wall) but the setting makes it entirely worthwhile. This is a property best suited to players who want tennis as one element of a broader trip through one of the most exceptional landscape in the western Mediterranean rather than the centrepiece of the holiday.

What to think about before you book

The key question is whether you are a guest who plays tennis or a tennis player who also wants a holiday. The former suggests a resort with excellent all-round facilities where courts happen to be excellent. The latter may want something more structured, a property with a genuine academy, timetabled coaching, and the possibility of playing with other guests at a similar standard. Both are valid; they just point to different properties.

If you would like help matching the right destination to how you actually want to spend a week, we are well placed to help. Start here.