Disclosure
Jade Peak writes about places, experiences, and the people behind them, so hotels, operators, and companies come up often. We have no financial relationship with any entity named in this article. If that ever changes, we'll say so plainly, right here at the top.
The third instalment of the series. Same rule as before: courts worth travelling for. Five more.
Grand Hotel Tremezzo, Lake Como, Italy
A private clay court that went in around 1910, one of the earliest on the lake, set in the lakeside gardens behind clipped hedges and old trees. Bellagio sits across the water and the Grigne rise behind, and the founder's daughter, Mariuccia Gandola, played here through the 1920s and '30s. More than a century on, the clay is still in play.
Bunabhainneadar, Isle of Harris, Scotland
A single court above West Loch Tarbert, on the road out to Hushinish, ringed by heather and bare peaks. A retired coach and his wife built it in 1998, buying the plot for £1 and hauling 2,000 tons of rock off Clisham to lay it down. It serves an island of about 2,000 people and is, by its builder's careful phrasing, the most remote court in the UK.
San Paolo Converso, Milan, Italy
The odd one out. A deconsecrated 16th-century church whose frescoed nave held a full tennis court for a season in 2017, the artist Asad Raza's installation "Untitled (Plot for Dialogue)." It was free and open to anyone, staffed with coaches and iced jasmine tea. You can't play there now, but the picture stays with you: a court under 400-year-old saints.
Bürgenstock Resort, Lake Lucerne, Switzerland
Courts on a ridge roughly 500 metres above the lake, sheltered under the Diamond Domes, timber covers faceted like a chapel ceiling so the light comes through and the rain stays out. The resort has taken guests for 150 years and runs its tennis with a resident coach. This is the engineered end of the scenic court.
La Rosière 1850, Savoie, France
Three courts and a free practice wall at 1,850 metres, on the French side of the col that drops into La Thuile, Italy, looking out over the Tarentaise valley to the high Alps. The altitude is the feature. Thinner air, less drag, and a ball that carries harder than your timing expects. Open through the summer, much of it self-service.
Suvretta House, St. Moritz, Switzerland
Courts above St. Moritz at around 1,800 metres, looking straight down the Engadin's chain of valley lakes. Suvretta Sports runs the school year-round, summer and winter, with the lakes and the alpine light doing the work no clubhouse can. Grande-dame tennis where the setting is the amenity.
Originally published at jadepeak.com.
