For parents hungry to get their children into professional tennis, joining academies can be an attractive prospect but one that will also hit your wallet.

The practice is nothing new with the likes of Novak Djokovic, the Williams sisters and Andy Murray also spending part of their youth at academies but for everyone that makes it, there are dozens of other players who never get close to the tour.

Here are some of the most renowned academies in the world and how much it costs to study the game there:

The Mouratoglou Tennis Academy – Biot, France

Patrick Mouratoglou is one of the most famous coaches in tennis and has his own academy in his home country, France.

Established in 1996, it was originally named after fellow coach Bob Brett who Mouratoglou learned his trade from but was renamed in 2002 and in 2016 it moved to Biot on the French Riviera, just 15 minutes away from Nice Airport.

One of the main selling points of the academy is the weather as they boast ‘320 days of sunshine a year’. The facility is also enormous with 12 hectares including 33 clay and hard courts as well as other sports like padel and an athletics track.

With 50,000 students having walked through the door, it has become one of the most well-known academies in the world, even setting up centres in China, Greece, Italy, Malaysia and the UAE but staying in this Riviera paradise will cost you.

A full academic year is around €38,000 with an additional €14,000-€25,000 for accommodation.

Total: €63,000

Former students: Holger Rune, Simona Halep, Naomi Osaka and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Rafa Nadal Academy – Manacor, Spain

If you fancied getting coached by one of the best players ever to pick up a racket, well your dream came true in 2016 when Rafa Nadal opened his own academy.

Set up with his uncle Toni, the base is in Nadal’s hometown of Manacor and has 45 tennis courts. Of those, 23 are hard with the other 22 being clay.

As for the coaching, while Nadal will not be there every day, the website says a team has worked with the 22-time Grand Slam winner to develop a ‘unique training system’.

The academy leans heavily into technology and says that as the game is ‘moving towards a faster form of play’, players ‘must be prepared to make decisions very quickly.’

To do this, they focus on training the eyes then the mind then the legs and then the hands with the belief that this way is how you get the best tennis players.

Accommodation-wise, there is a bit of a uni vibe to some of the rooms but at least you get all your meals cooked for you.

To get all this, your parents will have to stump up €56,000.

Cost: €56,000

Former students: No notable ones as of yet but only opened in 2016

IMG Academy – Bradenton, Florida, United States

With 25.7 million Americans playing the sport, it is unsurprising that one of the biggest tennis academies in the world is in the United States.

The IMG Academy is in Bradenton, Florida and is an enormous base, stretching over 600 acres. It was set up in 1978 by Nick Bollettieri and is not solely for tennis with football, soccer, hockey, basketball, baseball and hockey programmes available for the students.

Tennis-wise, there are 62 courts (35 hard, 18 clay, and 9 indoor) and a dedicated ‘Tennis Center’ where coaches and players can analyse their game using technology.

The academy’s best year came in 1987 when 32 alumni were in the draw for Wimbledon. Given its history, it also has plenty of famous players to brag about including Andre Agassi, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.

But it comes at a cost with prices running from $51,100 to $53,300. With this you get tuition as well as tennis coaching but there are other fees to pay such as your US health insurance.

Cost: $53,300 (€45,545.65) + fees

Former students: Andre Agassi, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova

Emilio Sánchez Academy – Barcelona, Spain

Nadal is not the only former pro to have an academy in Spain as Emilio Sanchez Vicario and Sergio Casal set up their own base in 1998.

The Emilio Sánchez Academy is right next to Barcelona airport and has 27 courts, varying between hard, clay and grass.

It also has some pretty impressive alumni, including Grigor Dimitrov and Juan Monaco while Andy Murray moved there when he was 15.

But using the same facilities as the Scot does not come cheap and the fees are around €50,000.

 

Cost: €50,000

Former students: Andy Murray, Grigor Dimitrov and Juan Monaco

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Juan Carlos Ferrero Academy – Villena, Alicante, Spain

Having the current men’s No.1 as one of your former students is an impressive accolade and currently that honour goes to the Ferrero Tennis Academy.

Based in south east Spain near the city of Villena, there are 12 clay courts, 13 hard courts (one of which is named after Alcaraz) and a grass court. It would not be Spain if there were not some padel courts too with eight on site.

Coaching wise, the academy does not have too many spots per year as they prefer to go for a ‘highly personalised training’ routine.

Total training time per week is 33-38 hours on the weekday with the weekends off for recovery and along with Alcaraz, the likes of David Ferrer and Pablo Carreño trained there.

The cost of training here is around €58,392 per year with accommodation included.

Cost: €58,392

Former students: Carlos Alcaraz, David Ferrer and Pablo Carreño

Swiss Tennis Academy – Bern, Switzerland

Considering his impact on the game, it is somewhat surprising that Roger Federer does not have his own academy but one is at least named after him.

The Swiss Tennis Academy is on Roger-Federer-Allee 1 and is led by Tom Simmen. It is not the biggest academy in the world, even describing itself as ‘small but nice’ but that size allows it to focus more on the students.

They state the goal is for the juniors to either represent their countries or gain scholarships for the ‘best American universities’ and it is one of the cheaper academies at €35,340.

Cost: €35,340

Former students: No notable ones

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