Imagine you’re designing your fantasy tennis weekend. There’s the exotic travel, of course: you’d obviously pick one of the world’s most stunning enclaves, say, Portofino, on the Ligurian Coast; design a program of intense days of play on some of the world’s most beautiful tennis courts—there’s a reason the Belmond Splendido’s cliffside court makes every player’s bucket list—tournament play with real stakes; and then there’s the après. Take your pick—beaches, boats, maybe even some tabletop dancing to end the very long evenings before waking up to sweat it out on court the next day. Now give it a name: the SEASE Cup.
In this scenario, you’re playing the role of Franco Loro Piana, one of the two SEASE founders along with brother Giacomo, and you’ve turned what started as an annual (casual) gathering of sporty friends into the most full-tilt tennis-tournament weekend imaginable. The only catch? You’ll need to know the Italian lifestyle brand at the heart of it to look the part and join the family. But after SEASE’s first tennis collection hits shelves early next year, it’s not hard to imagine everyone clamoring for their own SEASE Cup to celebrate. For those who’d like to do so, we humbly present the recipe:
Start hard, then go harder: This year’s SEASE Cup began with a spirited draw ceremony at harbor trattoria Winter Rose with piles of local pine-nut pesto pasta and Portofino Dry Gin, where the group toasted brand ambassador and Spanish tennis legend Feliciano Lopez. It helps to have tables full of friends old and new, and copious amounts of bonhomie. Bonus if you can hear the party as you’re walking up, as we did from blocks away winding our way down to the storied Portofino harbor.