Tennis season preparation 2018 - what should you consider when choosing your tennis hotel?

What's that nice saying? "After the season is before the season" - and that doesn't just apply to football. 

While tennis players, especially tournament players, technically have a year-round season, the clay court season with its league matches is THE season for most of us. And it's essential to prepare for it well in advance each year. We've compiled some of the most important points to consider when planning your tennis season preparation.

Many of you probably already know how and where you'll be preparing perfectly for the new clay court season. Some of you might still be planning where your pre-season training will take place in 2018. Since I also plan and organize the training camp at our club, I know all too well that there are many things to consider when planning. 

Who exactly is coming along?

Are only team players participating, or also recreational players and families? Is the entire club going, or is the preseason training being planned for just one team? If families are also participating, including some members who don't play tennis, it's essential to choose a tennis hotel and destination where non-tennis players can also enjoy a pleasant vacation.

When exactly is preseason training supposed to take place?

Tennis preseason training usually takes place around Easter. However, depending on the regional association, league matches might not start until June, allowing for travel in May or even during the Pentecost holidays. The destination can then be chosen accordingly. Should we head towards spring, i.e., to Italy, Croatia, or perhaps fly to Mallorca? Or is the weather already good in the Allgäu region or in Austria?

If you're traveling early and perhaps not too far south, the availability of indoor tennis courts is an important consideration. Does the tennis hotel have its own indoor court, or are there indoor courts nearby? It's essential to find out about the options beforehand – including reservation procedures and costs.

Will we bring a trainer with us, or can I participate in training courses on site?

If you participate in tennis pre-season camps organized by clubs, the issue of finding a coach or coaching team is almost always resolved. After all, it's usually the coaches who organize these camps. However, if you belong to a small club or only want to travel with your own team, you should check beforehand whether a suitable coach can be booked locally.

Leisure and supporting program

We know this from our club: it's not just the team players who go on preseason training. The whole family comes along – that's wonderful, but it needs to be taken into account when planning. For the children, there's an (indoor) swimming pool, maybe a small spa area, a shopping trip to one or two nearby towns, a nice walking route, and so on and so forth….

Pricing, or what price are you willing to pay?

Not everyone has the same amount of money – this is obviously crucial when choosing a hotel. Clarify beforehand what the approximate travel budget of the participants is and discuss the topic openly within the group.

Choosing the "right" tennis hotel

There are certainly pre-packaged tennis trips from well-known travel providers that you can book as a tennis club or team, regardless of size. That would be the perfect all-rounder.

However, if, like us so far, you would like to stay somewhere away from the well-known tennis hotels and have very specific ideas about the hotel, the surroundings, and so on – then it becomes a bit more difficult, but not impossible.

Once you've found a tennis hotel for your stay, you should clarify the following beforehand:

• Can a specific number of rooms be reserved in advance?
• be booked advance for fixed times
• Is it possible to negotiate a discount for the entire group and a small bonus for the organizer? Just talk to the hoteliers.
  
  

Note: There is no such thing as a perfect, all-in-one solution when it comes to tennis season preparation

As an organizer, it's incredibly important to understand the different needs of the tennis players and their accompanying families beforehand. Of course, it's impossible to cater to everyone's expectations, but there are many tennis hotels off the beaten track that can be explored and perfectly meet a wide range of preferences. Ultimately, this contributes to a fantastic tennis training camp – both on and off the court!

On this blog, we present some beautiful tennis hotels that we have personally visited and found to be great, and which we would therefore like to recommend to you.

Do you have any tips for organizing a tennis pre-season training camp that we've missed? Or would you like to share "your" tennis hotel or "your" pre-season training hotspot with our tennis community? Then please use our comment function or send us an email to This email address is being protected from spam bots! To display JavaScript must be turned on.