We like to imagine that you’ve all come through the holidays with some kind of windfall intact. In this scenario—stay with us here—there was a tiny envelope at the very bottom of your Christmas stocking—you almost missed it!—labelled “travel.” Or your grandma tucked a surprising number of crisp bills into this year’s holiday card. In any case: if you didn’t alert anyone to this hypothetical largesse, your only concern now should be what to do with it.
This is where we come in. Because whether we, too, received the Gift of Travel this year, or, let’s face it, are more likely going no farther than the other side of the tracks in 2026, we make it our business to know just where you should go, and how you can play tennis when you get there.
Find yourself on court amid virgin jungle
Then return to your room in what used to be the home of an Italian duchess. At Hotel Esencia, in the jungle but also on the most beautiful beach on the Mayan Riviera, you can do it all. The Esencia manages to be very chill, very beach-y, but also very civilized: there’s complimentary afternoon tea every day.
Play tennis in a different spot every day
Trips that involve near-constant movement are often neither relaxing nor conducive to racquet sports, but we’ve found ways around that: Features editor and inveterate luxury traveler Wendy Laird spent eight days on an ultra-luxury Seabourn ship as it cruised the Med, and played tennis (or padel) in nearly every port. She maintains that small-boat cruising is the best way to travel and remain active, and we believe her. Find out how she did it, and why you should, too.
Book a room in a Belmond—literally any Belmond
And when we say “room,” we’re not merely talking about hotels; Belmond has boats, and it has trains. Beautiful trains that go to beautiful places where there are tennis courts. Many of the company’s properties are seasonal; they wouldn’t dream of booking you into one of their lovely hotels at the wrong time of year. A few of their locations with gorgeous courts: Mount Nelson, Capetown, South Africa; Copacabana Palace, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Reid’s Palace, Madeira, Portugal.
Spend a week at the Abaco Club
There are the Bahamas of crowds and water slides and huge ships, and there are the other Bahamas. We prefer the latter. You can’t get any farther from the former than a lucky visit to the Abaco Club, a private retreat on Great Abaco Island. “Lucky,” because you can’t just go to this 500-acre paradise on its own pristine bay; you have to be invited, know a guy, join the club itself, or purchase one of the luxurious homes on the property.
We were invited. It is spectacular, in a remote, understated, well-appointed, miles-from-anywhere kind of a way. Hop into your dedicated golf cart and tootle down to The Stables, the newly-completed racquet center, for tennis on just-laid hard courts, or a game of pàdel: we at Racquet can confirm that we were the first to hit on, and the first to accidentally hit a ball out of, their brand new pàdel courts.
Cool off later with a kayak or standup paddle out to Winding Bay’s own tiny island, where bottles of water on ice and tropical fish right there in the shallows are waiting to help you forget any errant backhands.
Play LUX Tennis
There’s a lot to be said for curated experiences, in tennis and in life. LUX Tennis brings its coaching programs to high-end resorts around the world, setting up shop to make sure the tennis, at least, meets elevated expectations. Their newest hotel partner, the One&Only Aesthesis in Greece is just one of many properties around the world with world-class coaching, pristine courts and thoughtful incorporation of tennis luminaries at select times throughout the tennis calendar.
At Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, LUX operates out of the Oscar de la Renta Tennis Center, and Racquet was there for Padel Week, where massive stars such as Coki Nieto came to play, coach and hang out for the week. Over the holidays, they hosted experiences at the Fairmont Marrakech with David Ferrer and Caroline Garcia, in the Turks & Caicos with Carlos Alcaraz and have one planned with Feliciano Lopez at the St. Regis Maldives for Spring 2026.
Join a Beach Club
The latest Four Seasons resort lives in what was, for decades, a storied property in Old Naples, Florida. I retains its historic vibes, of course, but now the Naples Beach Club is a 125-acre coastal village, complete with town center and The Racquet Club: the former Mary C. Watkins Tennis Center is back, but better, with six Har-Tru clay courts and modern amenities.
Get lost in the Empty Quarter
But not that lost, and not that empty; at the Anantara Qasr al Sarab desert resort in Abu Dhabi, there’s tennis and pàdel. There are camels and palm trees, and plenty of sand, but there’s also the kind of opulent luxury that makes you glad you’re not wandering the desert for real.
Lose balls in bougainvillea
The clay tennis courts at Amanjena—as with absolutely everything else at this gorgeous resort on the outskirts of Marrakech—are perfection. LUX Tennis makes the instruction superb; Aman makes everything else wonderful. It’s an ideal location from which to explore the souks and the gardens of the Red City.
Experience a desert closer to home
At Racquet, we’re big fans of Indian Wells and the near-grand-slam that happens there every March. This year, we hope to be staying at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa. This iconic property sits on 450 manicured acres, with its own lake and pleasure boats that meander the grounds, so naturally there’s a full tennis club on the property. There are clinics and drills and round-robins and player matching and private coaching; you will not arrive home after a trip to Desert Springs to find your tennis game has atrophied.
