ANDREW SHARPLES suggests some other places to brush up on your game

GET INTO WINNING WAYS
Learn from the best at the private Tennis Club Lucca in the unspoilt Italian village of Vicopelago on the outskirts of the old Tuscan walled city of Lucca. One of the resident coaches has notched up victories over Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt.

After you’ve honed your ground strokes on one of the seven clay and artificial grass courts, cool off with a dip in the pool. Spend your evenings exploring Lucca, home to an ancient Roman amphitheatre.

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● Tuscany Tennis Holidays (0141 576 7205/www.tuscanytennis.com) offers a seven-day tennis break from £440pp (two sharing), self-catering. Price includes 10 hours tennis tuition and use of all facilities. BA (0844 493 0787/ www.ba.com) offers return flights to Florence from Gatwick from £156.

GREEK RETREAT
Learn how to sail, windsurf or waterski and improve your tennis skills during a one-week activity holiday at The Retreat, a secluded, tree-lined coastal resort 10 minutes from Sivota on the mainland’s west coast.

You can also go mountain biking, kayaking or try the fitness classes on this action-packed holiday.

● Neilson (0845 070 3460/www.neilson.co.uk) offers a seven-day tennis break from £499pp (two sharing), half board. Price includes return flights from Gatwick, transfers and seven hours tennis coaching.

SERVICE WITH A SMILE
Spend the mornings improving your tennis and afternoons exploring the spectacular Austrian lakes and mountains that formed the backdrop to The Sound Of Music, at the Wolfgangsee Tennis Hotel, a 40-minute drive from Salzburg. The family-run hotel overlooking Wolfgangsee Lake has six indoor and outdoor courts and a tournament every Saturday.

Other activities include windsurfing, water-skiing and boating on the lake or hiking in the neighbouring Leonsberg mountains.

Roger Walker Travel (01962 713330/www.tennisholidays.co.uk) offers a seven-day tennis break from £699pp (two sharing), half board. Price includes unlimited use of courts and five 90-minute tennis lessons. Swiss (0845 601 0956/ www.swiss.com) offers return flights from Heathrow to Salzburg from £307.

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THE SPANISH SET
Former venue for the Davis Cup, La Manga Club in Cartagena is brimming with tennis facilities including 20 clay courts, four hard courts and four AstroTurf courts. There’s a junior academy for children, while toddlers stillstruggling to grasp a racket can be left in the crèche. If you tire of tennis, this sprawling, 1,400-acre resort also offers golf (three courses), mountain biking and scuba diving.

Nearby is Mar Menor, Europe’s largest saltwater lagoon and ideal for windsurfing, water-skiing and sailing. The city of Cartagena is also worth a visit with its Roman theatre of Carthago Nova.

La Manga Club (dialling from the UK: 0034 968 331 234/www.lamangaclub.com) offers a seven-day tennis break from €594pp (two sharing), B&B. Price includes 10 hours coaching and use of the spa, pool and gym. easyJet (0871 244 2366/www.easyjet.com) offers return flights to Murcia from £119.

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE
Jonathan Markson’s annual tennis camp among Oxford’s dreaming spires offers some of the most intensive tuition available. Coaching focuses on a different stroke each day of the week, with training  in groups of six and an all-day tournament on the Saturday. Extra sports are available in the evenings. Players are put up in student accommodation  in Queen’s College and St Edmund Hall, which may be as close as many get to an Oxford education.

Jonathan Markson Tennis (0207 603 2422/www.marksontennis.com) offers a seven-day tennis break from £890pp (two sharing), full board.  

Price includes accommodation in student halls  and 30 hours tennis coaching.

BATTLE IT OUT
Can’t get away for a whole week? Then Sedlescombe Tennis Academy in Battle, East Sussex, offering two-night weekend breaks, may be just what you’re looking for. It was near here that King Harold got an arrow stuck in his eye in 1066 but all you’ll have to worry about is your opponent’s killer serve.

Guests are accommodated in Sedlescombe Golf Hotel, overlooking the first and 10th tees of the 18-hole parkland course. Nearby attractions include the Tudor-built Herstmonceux Castle, restored rural Kent & East Sussex Railway and the seaside resort of Hastings.

Sedlescombe Tennis Academy (01424 871700/ www.sedlescombegolfclub.co.uk/tennis-coaching.htm) offers a two-day tennis break from £210pp (two sharing), B&B. Bookings for 2011.