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Where To Beat the Summer Heat
As a tennis player, I look forward to summer—until those first hot, humid days strike and a hour on court can leave you feeling red-faced and sapped of energy. Once that happens, the opportunities for al fresco tennis can get relegated to the fringes of the day. We play our matches early in the morning before temperatures skyrocket or late in the afternoon once it cools. Suddenly the dream of spending the all day at the courts evaporates and we retreat back inside, cranking up the air conditioning for relief and wondering whatever happened to the all tennis, all the time summer we imagined.
Happily there are parts of the country where those perfect summer tennis days really do exist. Before there was air conditioning, those who could escaped their own withering climates by taking refuge in the mountains, along the coast, near lakes, or in canyons and woods. As it happens, today many of those same locations are also home to some of the continent's most appealing tennis resorts and camps.
The options for a summer tennis escape are far too numerous to cover comprehensively, so the examples that follow provide just a sampling of what's available. All of them share a passion for tennis often coupled with an abundance of other recreation.
In the Mountains
The higher you go, the cooler the temperature, lower the humidity, and the wider the window of playable hours for outdoor tennis. But mountains add another allure: it feels more refreshing to leave behind concrete and exhaust fumes of the city for their green vistas and pure air.
Though relatively low, the Green Mountains of Vermont and White Mountains of New Hampshire bask in a northern latitude that further tempers their summer climate. That has historically made them a favorite retreat for urban-dwellers in places like Boston and New York City. They also harbor an exceptionally diverse collection of tennis resorts and camps, including several of the nation's best. New England Tennis Holidays' highly rated operations in North Conway, NH and at the Inn at Essex in Vermont stand out for their well-run camps, and so does the 100-room Topnotch at Resort & Spa in Stowe, VT.
For scenic beauty, few can match the mountain setting of New Hampshire's Waterville Valley Resort, a family playground with inns, condos, and 18 red-clay courts. The historic Balsams Grand Resort Hotel in Dixville Notch, NH, has a similar family orientation, coupled with abundant recreation—golf, a lake, hiking, tennis on red-clay courts, among the options—and sumptuous meals. Back in Vermont, the Bridges Family Resort &Tennis Club at Sugarbush combines an active family tennis program with spacious condo lodging.
The standout in the mid Atlantic region is Wintergreen Resort in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, which perched its main tennis complex in the cooler air atop a ridge called Devil's Knob. Also noteworthy is the historic Greenbrier in West Virginia's Allegheny Mountains, best known for its hot-springs spa but also endowed with 10 indoor and outdoor courts and limitless recreation options.
As you head west, you bump up first against the Rocky Mountains. There in the foothills at 6,000 feet, the fabled Broadmoor basks in a salubrious climate abetted by camps under the direction of the legendary Dennis Ralston (note, though, that the courts will close in early August as they reconfigure the tennis facility). Higher still, the 13-court Snowmass Club near Aspen has views of the Snowmass/Maroon Bells Wilderness and a very active summer program. At Sun Valley in Idaho, the Sun Valley Lodge abuts a very active 18-court tennis complex (including five sessions of NIKE junior day camps) and enough varied recreation to thrill every member of the family.
Arizona may be one of the last places you'd think of for a summer vacation, but the seven-court Enchantment Resort &Mii amo Spa in Sedona, two hours north of Phoenix, huddles in a red-rock canyon at 4,400 feet above sea level where even during July and August the nights may be cool enough to use your room's fireplace.
In California's Sierra Nevadas, the most active tennis resort is the family-friendly Northstar-at-Tahoe, whose spiffy new village and abundant recreation are just a short drive away from Lake Tahoe. While in Canada's British Columbia, the Whistler Racquet Club provides the rare opportunity to hit balls in the morning and ski a glacier in the afternoon. And both Northstar and Whistler offer well-run summer camps for both adults and juniors.
Along the Coast
A dip in the surf is a fine way to cool off, but you can't play tennis on the water, so merely heading to the coast provides no guarantee of a salubrious climate. You do need to be selective. Along the Atlantic Coast, check out two Massachusetts standouts: Winnetu Oceanside Resort on Martha's Vineyard, which has free adult and kids' clinics on its 8 hard and clay courts, or New Seabury on Cape Cod, which borders 3½ miles of beach and has an active 16?court tennis complex. On the west coast, the dozen always busy hard courts of La Jolla Beach &Tennis Club basks in a springlike climate year-round just steps from the sand. Farther north, winds sweeping in off the Pacific bend the coastal pines inland along the picturesque Monterey Peninsula, but they also cool the protected 12 hard and clay courts at the opulent Lodge at Pebble Beach.
Beside a Lake
If you can't get to the ocean, you may want to look to other shores; namely, those bordering the continent's northern lakes. These inland bodies of water provide many of the same cooling benefits as a coastal location. In fact, like some of the great mountain hotels, many lakefront resorts first gained popularity as summer retreats.
The Sagamore, the rambling 100-room white-clapboard National Historic Landmark on an island in New York's Lake George, traces its history to the era when the wealthy built mansions on the adjacent shore. Today, its allure has more do to with its proximity to Adirondack National Park and its own abundant recreation, including a 6-court tennis complex. A similar flurry of distractions greets guests of Mohonk Mountain House, a fairytale castle perched beside Lake Mohonk in New York's Shawangunk Mountains. Hiking trails lace the surrounding wilderness, and outdoor activity abounds, including a very strong social tennis program on the hotel's six red-clay and Har-Tru courts.
The Homestead Resort on a stretch of Lake Michigan unofficially dubbed "the Michigan Riviera" devotes extraordinary attention to tennis, both giving it prime beachfront real estate and scheduling enough varied activities to get the whole family out. Wisconsin's American Club stands slightly inland from the opposite shore of Lake Michigan, but that Great Lake still contributes to cool summers while the small spring-fed Wood Lake adds to the recreation option at its Sports Core, a posh health and fitness center with a dozen indoor and outdoor courts.
Finally, the Inn at Manitou is far enough north—two hours from Toronto—to experience balmy summers anyway, but as it happens this luxurious little 32-room Relais &Chateaux property backs up to the shore of Lake Manitouwabing. Long a haven for avid players—it started out as a tennis camp—the inn now caters to pleasure-seeking adults with its romantic rooms, sumptuous cuisine, a spa, nonstop tennis, and a golf academy.
At venues like these, the you can indulge your passion for tennis all day long throughout the glorious days of summer.
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