Mr Patrick Mouratoglou, the man who’s directed Ms Serena Williams to 10 of her 23 Grand Slams and now works with the likes of Mr Stefanos Tsitsipas and Ms Coco Gauff, has been expanding his academy in the French Riviera since 1996. Head to the Nice location if you want watch his Ultimate Tennis Showdown pro-tournaments or for the chance to hit alongside Williams and Mouratoglou’s rising stars. But if you want to experience his new, luxury European training camp, book a spot at Costa Navarino in the Peloponnese in Greece. After opening at the Jumeirah in Dubai last year, Mouratoglou – who’s half-French, half-Greek – wanted a place close to his heart and his heritage. Have private or group lessons on the 16 Grand Slam quality courts (including natural clay, hard and natural grass) and after lessons lap up the fan-shaped Voidokilia Beach, considered one of the world’s most beautiful coastal phenomena.

In the 1990s, Florida made a name for itself amid the tennis world with the Nick Bollettieri Academy, the breeding ground for outstanding talent including Messrs Jim Courier and Andre Agassi and Mses Monica Seles and Anna Kournikova. A little further north is Saddlebrook, an old-school American resort that’s hosted past legends including Mr Pete Sampras, Mses Jennifer Capriati, Martina Hingis and Mr Andy Roddick, and is still a favourite of current competitors Messrs Jack Sock, Alexander Zverev and John Isner. Saddlebrook was opened in 1986 by Mr Harry Hopman, whose focus on fitness made him one of the most successful tennis coaches in history. Today, fitness is still the foundation of their five-hour a day programme and the focus of the intense drills there. Being American, it’s also big, so that means 540 rooms and suites, three swimming pools, two fitness centres, golf courses, volleyball, basketball, spa and 45 tennis courts (including four Grand Slam surfaces), which can be played on all-year round.

Messrs Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Djokovic might all be battling it out for that Grand Slam record, but Nadal is way ahead in the race to grow a tennis empire. His main training camp is an hour’s drive from Palma (you might catch him training with gut-busting intensity here) and there are now off-shoot centres in Sani, Greece and on the Costa Mujeres in Mexico. The centre in Mexico is based in the facilities of the TRS Coral Hotel and the Grand Palladium Resort & Spa, but you can also stay off-site and even tag the tennis onto your trip to Tulum. There are full-week, half-week and weekend programmes that will show you how to sharpen up your game, all under the technical direction of Rafa’s mastermind coach, his uncle Mr Toni Nadal.

Less of a mega tennis mecca than the other resorts, Curtain Bluff is nonetheless a perfect place to practice your serve before hitting the beach. Its four championship hard courts are in impeccable condition and are floodlit for cooler night play. Private lessons are available for $90 per hour and there’s a pro-shop, if you don’t want to bring rackets in your carry-on. Curtain Bluff has played host to Antigua Tennis Week each spring since 1975 and holds Tennis Challenge Week every November. As well as hitting, you can work out in their gym or play basketball, pickleball or squash. This 20-acre piece of paradise on a peninsula on the southest tip of Antigua has been the epitome of laid-back luxury since the 1960s and feels beautifully intimate with its 72 rooms and suites. After a day’s hitting, look out over sunsets, forested hills and the nearby islands of Guadeloupe, Montserrat and Redonda.