Tennis enthusiasts can now have it all when it comes to their cherished vacation time- cruise to exotic locations and play on fabulous courts , “schmooze” and share pina coladas with tennis celebrities, and attend world class professional tournaments such as the US Open in New York and the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.
The Cyprus Tourism Organisation, eager to promote the island’s attractions, can count on the twin pulling power of Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, and Marcos Baghdatis, as in 40-love.
Cyprus’s tennis icon, a truly international personality from the beautiful eastern Mediterranean island, is an obvious choice to be an ambassador for tourism, the hope being that he will draw visitors the way he attracts spectators and inspires local sportsmen and women.
“Now tennis is the number two sport in Cyprus after soccer,” the 23-year-old from Limassol is proud to say, having almost single-handedly raised the sport’s profile as a Grand Slam finalist with a career-high world ranking of No 8.
An estimated 12,000 people play tennis in Cyprus (pop, 800,000), the exploits of the flamboyant Baghdatis on the ATP Tour and in Davis Cup having created an interest not dreamed of by the English Commissioners who first created courts at their homes there in 1900, or by the Cyprus Tennis Federation, formed in 1951 and based in the capital, Nicosia.
There is a National Tennis Centre in Nicosia and the Cyprus Tennis Federation has six full member clubs and 10 associate member clubs, some based at hotels. I visited three five-star hotel resorts and sampled the amenities and the tennis academies, open to guests and locals alike.
The Coral Beach Hotel and Resort.
Nic Sutherland ordered coffee and placed a set of keys on the table. My eyes were drawn to a miniature set of false teeth attached to the key ring. “My little babies,” Nic said. “I used to make these. I was a dental technician. I’ve still got this to remind me of what I used to do.”
Considering that this was the prelude to a tennis lesson I was somewhat apprehensive until Nic explained that he had been a part-time coach for 20-odd years while making dentures at his shop in Heywood, near Rochdale, Lancashire. He had decided to coach full-time before becoming too long in the tooth. His wife, Janet, is also a qualified tennis coach.
“It’s great here to be working outside, because so many lessons used to get cancelled in the UK,” Nic said as we made our way to the sanded artificial grass courts of the tennis academy at the Coral Beach Hotel and Resort, just north of Paphos. “You’d be on court, you’d be off court, whereas here you’re pretty much guaranteed good weather.”
I asked Nic to treat me like an absolute beginner (no pretence there) and demonstrate his method of instructing hotel guests with little tennis experience. He made the lesson enjoyable, putting me at ease and gently coaxing me to rally. The tempo would be stepped up, I was assured, for players of a higher standard.
Jason Smith, the resort sports manager, co-ordinates the staff at the tennis academy, the health club, yoga classes, pilates, circuit training, body combat, aqua-aerobics and swimming classes.
“We’re one of the hotels that actually welcomes locals,” Jason said. “We like that community feel here. We have international tourism, ex-pats, and we also have the Cypriot community here as well.”
How much has the Baghdatis factor played a part? “It’s helped a lot,” Jason said. “He looks cool, he’s not just a player in a white shirt and shorts, he’s like a rock star. He’s really opened interest in tennis in Cyprus. The more academies we have on the island the better it will be. We can have competitions together and really make a name for ourselves here.”
He emphasised, however, that recreation is the resort’s chief goal. “Being a fitness instructor, I like the idea of kids running around for an hour and sweating and being in a non-threatening environment, having fun in a group. It’s not just about being the best. It’s not an academy of excellence like you would get in Australia, specifically for training champions. We want someone who has never played tennis before to come along and experience the game.”
While my wife Phyllis went to the Jacuzzi, I was booked for a sports massage from Janos, who used to loosen the muscles of volleyball players in his native Hungary. Taking one look at me, Janos said: “If I give you a sports massage you will be black and blue tomorrow.” We settled for a relaxing rub down, and I stayed pink.
Because of the heat, July and August are not ideal months for playing tennis in Cyprus. “We won’t run the academy through the August month and probably half of July,” Jason said. “I would think any time in March, April, May, June, September and October would be good.”
InterContinental Aphrodite Hills Resort
This spectacular location east of Pathos is set in 578 acres on two plateaus 300 metres high either side of a ravine and surrounded by the Rantidi Forest. The site comprises a luxury hotel, a tennis academy, a championship golf course dotted with olive and carob trees, horse riding, a nature trail, a spa, a children’s play area, a club for teens, numerous and varied restaurants and an integrated community development of villas and apartments. A shuttle is provided to take guests to Zias Beach Club and The Cove.
According to mythology, the Goddess Aphrodite was born in the Paphian Sea at nearby Petra tou Romiou. One story tells how her lover Adonis was killed by a wild boar while hunting in the Rantidi Forest: “From the blood shed from Adonis sprang the first rose and from the tears of Aphrodite there appeared the anemone.”
Careful planning has ensured that the resort’s flora is indigenous and impressive and that buildings cannot be seen from the road and the road cannot be seen from the resort. We were allocated a room overlooking the ninth hole of the golf course, where PGA professional Grant Sinclair changed my stance on the driving range (an improvement, so far) and Phyllis joined me in sampling the spa’s myriad steam rooms and sauna.
At the tennis academy we attempted to graduate to topspin with the guidance of coach Nic Papadopoulos, from Johannesburg. Nic’s mother is South African and his father is Cypriot, from Limassol. Nic, a former professional player, has coached for 12 years and has worked at the resort for five years.
“The resort started out with four hard courts, and four clay courts were completed 18 months ago,” Nic said. “As well as providing tennis for the visitors to the resort and the local community, we have an academy-style program for international pro players who come out here and train for a week or ten days.”
The academy’s manager is Sebastian Gordon, a former professional player from Sydney who coached in Oman, the UK and Austria before diversifying into commercial spa management. Land at the tennis academy has been set aside for the building of a stadium court in the hope of hosting ATP Tour and WTA Tour tournaments. Sebastian also spends a good deal of time visiting schools, keen to develop interest in a grass roots programme.
Le Meridien Limassol Spa and Resort
It was here that I met a man who played a small part in grooming Marcos Baghdatis: the delightful Manos Loukaides, who was born in Alexandria, Egypt, to Greek parents, raised in Limassol, and is the manager of the health and fitness club and tennis coach at the Le Meridien resort.
“I know the Baghdatis family very well,” Manos said. “They have three boys and their father spent a lot of money. The first two boys became good players but nothing really special. Marcos was very talented. When he was six or seven years old his father asked me to give him a few lessons, which I did, but I had other things to do and Marcos went to the United States for a short time and then to France.
“Because of him more people know about Cyprus, and since Marcos became high in the ranking list more families here want their children to play tennis, thinking they can make a lot of money. I tell the parents, ‘Listen, it takes a lot of work. This is a small island and you can’t become a good player in any sport unless you go abroad.”
Nowadays Manos instructs people from abroad who come to Cyprus. A mainly self-taught tennis player, Manos was also a noted soccer player. He was a right back with Appallon in the Cyprus First Division and once played against Arsenal.
Along with a tennis academy, the resort has a mini-soccer court, a basketball court, a mini golf court, sea-water and fresh-water swimming pools and also caters for water sports enthusiasts.
We were allocated a room with a Jacuzzi in the Royal Spa wing, and, at Manos’s invitation were also able to indulge in the resort’s extensive spa bath treatment.
On the way to the courts Manos paused beside two sunbathers, saying, “Excuse me, but I must ask this gentleman how he is.” Small world: Phyllis and I are acquainted with Geoff Tomline, the gentleman in question, and his wife Judy, a former PR in tennis sponsorship, but had not seen them for years. Geoff had sliced off the tip of a big toe in an accident with the base of a sunshade, and Manos had dressed the wound.
There are four sanded artificial grass courts at the tennis academy, and Manos had an appointment with Micael Pervolarakis, the Cyprus boy’s under-12 champion. As Manos passed on some of the finer points of the game to Micael, as he had once down to the young Baghdatis, Micael’s father Nasos mused: “Maybe one day Micael will be on the cover of TennisLife.”
Places to Visit
Troodos Mountains, in the Province of Limassol; Kykkou Monastery, where President Makarios is buried, in the Province of Nicosia; Tombs of the King’s, Paphos; Kalidonia waterfalls at Platras and nature trails at Artimis, Atalanta, Aidonia, Persephone, on the summit of Troodos, all in the Province of Limassol; Petra tou Romiou (birthplace of the goddess Aphrodite) on the Paphos-Limassol Road; Baths of Aphrodite, Province of Paphos; Gorge of Avakas, Province of Paphos; salt lakes near Larnaca Airport.
In addition to the familiar vegetation found in Mediterranean countries, there are 127 species of plant native to Cyprus, more than half of them in the Troodos range. A rare variety of shrubs and flowers adorn the island, including wild orchids and cyclamen. Spring brings more than 300 species of wild flower on the plains and in the mountains.
Further details can be found on the Cyprus Tourism Organisation website www.visitcyprus.com
John Roberts travelled with Cyprus Airways www.CyprusAirways.com
Cyprus Tennis Federation
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tennis Clubs
Nicosia TC +357 22668041
Larnaca TC +357 24656999
Limassol Sporting Club +357 25564697
Famagusta TC, Limassol +357 25335952
Paphos TC + 357 26939068
Paralimni TC +357 23825006
Eleon TC +357 22679923
Laiki TC +357 22484815
Bank of Cyprus Athletic Centre, Nicolsia +357 22560222
Sunrise Beach Hotel, Paralimni +357 23831501
Valley TC, Derynia +357 23824036
Yeroskipou TC, Paphos +357 26941669
Golden Coast Hotel, Protaras +357 23814000
School of Tennis Ioannides, Limassol +353 99619906
Aldiana Hotel, Larnaca +357 34649000
Herodotou Tennis Academy, Larnaca +357 24654616
Resorts
Aphrodite Hills Resort
www.aphroditehills.com
Coral Beach Hotel and Resort
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Until very recently, the heartening reports about the growth of tennis did not seem to have had much impact on the resort and camp landscape. Suddenly, however, there is a raft of good news there as well. Within the last 18 months, two handsome new tennis facilities have opened—the Boulevard Village & Tennis Club in Vero Beach, Fla., and the Inn at Palmetto Bluffs in Bluffton, S.C. And a third, the Turning Stone Resort in Verona, N.Y., is on the drawing board.
Elsewhere, several resorts have opted to supplement their own tennis offerings with adult or junior programs bearing the names of Sánchez-Casal, Evert, and Patrick McEnroe. Still others have spent money improving their tennis complexes to make them more appealing. So as you plan your next tennis vacation, here’s a quick overview of some of the new or improved options now available to you.
Boulevard Village & Tennis Club
Kurt Grabher, one of the individuals behind the $3 million tennis club at the heart of Boulevard Village (www.blvdtennis.com), has a long history of catering to the needs of avid tennis players. For more than two decades, he has run New England Tennis Holidays camps for adults in New Hampshire and Vermont. travel
When it came time to build this facility, Kurt and his partner, Sue Rodman, knew what they wanted. Rodman, shared his vision and had the ability to raise the capital to make it happen. “Our dream has been to be the club where people come to eat, drink, and play tennis,” she told me.
Their design clusters 13 Har-Tru courts on three sides of a handsome clubhouse containing a casual restaurant and bar, pro shop, and game and meeting rooms. Broad covered decks just off the restaurant encourage hanging out to view matches. Adjacent to the clubhouse are a fitness center—its suite of equipment chosen specifically to meet the needs of tennis players—and a free-form swimming pool. Thirty-two courtside villas, with full kitchens and washers and dryers, extend along the western side of the courts, while to the south rises the first phase of what will eventually be another 66 townhomes. The entire complex borrows its architectural style from Key West.
During a stay guests effectively become members, eligible for programs on the weekly calendar, like the two-hour Rock ‘n’ Roll drill sessions, where I was paired with Sally Fish (mother of current touring pro Mardy Fish, who lives in Vero Beach) in some of the competitive games. Former touring pro Mikael Pernfors wandered by one afternoon, now himself a resident after purchasing a three-bedroom townhome.
Unlike Grabher’s New England operations, however, the Boulevard is not offering week-in and week-out tennis camps. Instead he’s elected to focus on custom-tailored programs designed around the needs of individuals, groups, or teams. Tell him what you want and he’ll carpenter together a suitable package, which can include lodging in the villas or townhomes, advice about local restaurants, and directions to the beach, which is a short drive away.
Grabher has succeeded in making the courts a magnet for members and guests. When you’re not on court, there’s plenty of tennis to watch, whether it’s matches among high-school kids, afternoon junior programs, league matches, or pickup games.
The Inn at Palmetto Bluff
From the porch on my cottage, I am looking across the May River at the distant outline of South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island. As the crow—or more appropriately the snowy egret—flies, Hilton Head is only five miles east, but the Inn at Palmetto Bluff (www.palmettobluffresort.com) where I’m staying has little in common with Hilton Head other than views of a marshy landscape.
travelAs I sit on the porch two dolphins surface in the river (a tidal estuary, really), startling a small flock of mergansers. Behind me, inside the cottage, a fire burns in the gaslog fireplace and Faith Hill is belting out “If You Fly Away” on one of several CDs and DVDs provided with a surround-sound multimedia system and 42-inch plasma television. So although I am remote from the civilization as defined by the most famous of South Carolina’s barrier islands, I am bathed in creature comforts.
The Inn at Palmetto Bluff is the newest addition to the tennis landscape in this part of South Carolina’s Low Country. One of the resorts in the Auberge collection, the Inn is the centerpiece of a 20,000-acre parcel of unspoiled maritime forest and marshes near Bluffton on the mainland. Unlike the barrier islands, it has no beach, but makes up for it in soul-soothing tranquility and opportunity for selfish indulgence. (Excursions by boat to the beach on Daufuskie Island, just off Hilton Head Island, are available.)
At the resort core is a village green, anchored by the sections of the stone pillars that once graced the front of a 72-room mansion that stood on this spot. Bordering the green are a tiny steepled chapel, a post office and gallery, a bakery/bookstore called Buffalos, a real estate office, a carriage house (source of bicycles or golf carts for getting around), and River House, a three-story clapboard mansion with broad verandahs that houses the check-in desk, a small clothing shop, and the main restaurant and bar.
It’s a 10-minute walk or a quick bike ride from the cottages to the Wilson Sports Complex, named for Richard Wilson, who built the 72-room mansion that has since fallen into ruins. It consists of two professional croquet courts and two bocce courts, anchored by a large pro shop and pavilion with cedar-shake shingles on its roof and siding. Arrayed around the perimeter are eight Har-Tru tennis courts laid out singly and in pairs and sporting wooden fence poles, cedar-shingled wooden gazebos with ceiling fans, sub-surface watering, and a forest backdrop. It is an exceptionally tranquil and pleasant place to play.
Tennis director Warren Florence, who once ranked as high as No. 5 in South Carolina, skews his programming toward the weekends when property owners frequently visit (otherwise the local population is 27). He runs clinics for adults and juniors, a social round robin every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and a member-guest tournament with rackets-only event Friday evening (hotel guests are considered members) over major holidays. During the week, he may schedule exhibition or, if there’s demand, clinics.
Florence expects to see the calendar of weekly activities evolve as demand rises. Meanwhile, he’s always eager to custom-design packages—often bundling in spa services—for groups or teams. Of his approach to teaching, Florence says, “I teach that you have four tools: Your eyes, your feet, your imagination, and then your racket,” he told me. “If the first three aren’t working, then the fourth won’t do you much good.”
And beyond
Another tennis facility is on the horizon. At Turning Stone Resort (www.turningstone.com) on Oneida Indian lands in Verona, N.Y., plans call for the construction of eight hard courts, half of them surfaced with Rebound Ace. Four will be indoors. Turning Stone is an expansive development with several hotels—among them an elegant lodge—more than half a dozen restaurants, five designer golf courses, a stravelpa, a casino, and a showroom for headline entertainment.
The family-run Sea Island Resorts (www.seaisland.com) on Sea Island, Ga., meanwhile, is in the midst of a sea change. The Cloister, the Spanish Mediterranean hotel Addison Mizner built in 1928, was torn down and recreated with new opulence a few hundred yards away on the Black Banks River. The Cloister tennis complex also succumbed during this makeover but has been replaced with a handsome collection of eight Har-Tru courts adjacent to a new 65,000-square-foot spa and fitness center, all just steps from the new hotel. “The reaction of the guests has been fabulous,” says longtime tennis director Dickie Anderson. “One of our first people through the door said, ‘If God played tennis, this is where He’d come.’”
But physical changes aren’t the only improvements to America’s tennis landscape. The most stunning new development is the creation of a Florida branch of Spain’s renowned Academia Sánchez-Casal (www.asc-florida.com). Former tour players Sergio Casal and Emilio Sánchez Vicario chose the 38-court Naples Tennis Club & Resort (www.tennisnaples.com) in Naples, Fla., as their North American venue. They’ve installed a junior academy offering everything from short-term camps to full-time training under a staff of Spanish, American, and international coaches. For adults, the camps Curly Davis has been running at Naples Tennis Club continue under his direction, though they are now part of the Sánchez-Casal academy and have adopted its training methods.
Over in Boca Raton, the Evert Tennis Academy (www.evertacademy.com) is completing the construction of additional lodging, a state-of-the-art gym, and a players’ lounge and game room. Once work is complete, the USTA Player Development Program currently headquartered in Key Biscayne will move to the Evert academy. The academy has also introduced a series of adult clinics from Thanksgiving to late April at the nearby Boca Raton Resort & Club (www.bocaresort.com).
To the south in Coral Gables, the Grove Isle Hotel & Spa has renamed its 12-court complex the Patrick McEnroe Tennis Center. It continues to offer basic adult programs; however, the affiliation with McEnroe brings with it a junior academy (www.pmactrainingcenter.com) mainly for local kids but open to children of hotel guests as well.
New staff and programs have also enhanced the tennis at the Oglebay Resort & Conference Center (www.oglebay-resort.com) in a municipal park in Wheeling, West Va. Marc S. White, who formerly ran a popular tennis school at Litchfield Beach & Tennis Resort, now directs operations on the park’s 16 clay courts in summer and at the four indoor hard courts in nearby Wheeling Park in winter. The resort and park are popular with families for their diverse recreation, which includes golf, horseback riding, swimming, and hiking. White runs a variety of adult and junior programs, including some junior camps, during the busy summer months, and custom-designed tennis school sessions for groups and teams.
Finally, several resorts have added to or upgraded their tennis complexes. Topnotch Resort & Spa (www.topnotchresort.com) in Stowe, Vt., resurrected its old stadium court (remember the Head Classic) in order to host the Fed Cup tie in July. TOPS’L Beach & Racquet Resort (www.topsl.com) in Destin, Fla., replaced its two hard courts with clay as part of a general upgrade that includes wooden fencing and an enhanced players’ lounge and pro shop. Out west, Peter Burwash International pros Scott Anders and Eric Gessner took over management of the Lodge at Ventana Canyon (www.lodgeatventanacanyon.com) in Tucson, Ariz., and immediately set out to resurface all 11 of its hard courts (the stadium, sadly, is too damaged to be salvageable) and expand the tennis options. All of this means you have even more to look forward to the next time you’re planning a tennis vacation.
Tennis Life Travel Editor Roger Cox is the editor and founder of Tennis Resorts Online (www.tennisresortsonline.com), the Internet’s leading source of tennis travel information
Grass courts represent an estimated 1 percent of all tennis courts in the United States. They are known for being easy on the bones, and in their driest and most well-maintained state, for making games quick and unpredictable. Before clay, asphalt and the newfangled composites, there was grass—the original playing surface. While slipping into history, grass courts do exist beyond the hallowed All England Club in Wimbledon. You just may have to do some traveling to reach them.
Baker City Grass Courts, Baker City, Oregon
Nearly 4,600 miles from Great Britain’s storied courts, an obscure but nonetheless intriguing grass-court facility has been hewn into eastern Oregon’s high desert stubble and soil. People are calling it “Wimble-Don,” the namesake of one Don McClure, who somewhat off-handedly came to the rescue of the Baker City Grass Courts when he bought the property from owner and founder Borden Granger in 2005.
“I took one look out the picture window and said I’ll take it,” said the retail entrepreneur of a panorama that includes the white-crested Elkhorn and Wallowa Mountain ranges. McClure doesn’t play tennis—at least not yet.
For the growing cadre of players that had made Granger’s grass into a beloved home court, the change in ownership was cause for concern. There was doubt, and a little bit of fear, that the singular and renewing experience of playing on those verdant courts might be as endangered as Klamath River salmon.
After playing on grass courts in a Canadian tournament, Granger began kicking around the notion of building his own. Work commenced on two painstakingly leveled and seeded courts in 1994, and by the first serve in Baker City’s June–September outdoor tennis season of 1995, his fields of green had become a reality. Soon a slate of tournaments, ranging from youth to senior, became summer institutions. Word spread and tennis lovers from all over the region and beyond began converging at Granger’s courts. During his tenure, two courts became four, and he maintained them religiously. But by 2005 he and wife Sandi wanted to move on.
After McClure took ownership, a contingent of long-time players approached him about the facility’s future. When McClure proved amenable, those devotees formed a nonprofit organization under the acronym SAGA (SAve the Grass courts Association, www.BakerCityGrassCourts.com), and implemented a plan to ensure that the courts would survive.
McClure told the Baker City Herald in 2007 that he never considered demolishing the courts. “I looked at this and saw a ton of work.” he said. “I respect that.”
Indeed, the courts presented a Herculean and costly challenge. While details of the future administration of the courts were being finessed, McClure jumped on his John Deere and worked as hard as Granger had to keep the place up. In March 2007, SAGA officially announced a plan that covers everything from scheduling to logistics to the estimated $15,000 annual maintenance costs.
“Our membership drive is going well,” said treasurer George Burns, affirming that as of April, before the grass court season had even begun, 68 of the 163 2007 members had renewed. For a $75 single or $125 family membership, folks can enjoy unlimited play on the courts, attend tournaments at a discount, receive the SAGA newsletter and know that they are helping to preserve what all involved agree is a magnificent setting for a great match.
“It was a joy to us because of the people we met,” Granger told the Oregonian after handing over the keys and moving on to manage a tennis center in California’s sunny Anza Borrego Desert State Park.
McClure agreed, and has come to fully appreciate the value the facility has to the community. “Watching others have the time of their lives, and having a small part in that is a pleasure,” he said.
“Playing on grass is a great experience,” said the United States Professional Tennis Association’s Wayne Pickard, who manages tennis for Portland’s exclusive Multnomah Athletic Club. He talked about how balls bounce differently on turf, not as well or as high as on hard surfaces, and explained that most grass strategies involve getting to the net and not letting the ball bounce. “You see a lot of serving and volleying,” said Pickard, “and grass court points are much shorter in duration.”
Another contrast is the relative silence of a grass game. “Almost like a silent movie,” said Pickard, a nuance that he noted takes some getting used to. It’s not unheard of for folks to want to take off their shoes and play barefoot.
Thanks to the determination and affection of a committed core of racket buffs, the grass-court tradition lives on in Oregon as well as England.
Tennis enthusiasts can now have it all when it comes to their cherished vacation time- cruise to exotic locations and play on fabulous courts , “schmooze” and share pina coladas with tennis celebrities, and attend world class professional tournaments such as the US Open in New York and the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. 
