An ace Florida tennis holiday to sell

I’m standing at the back of a tennis court with a ball spinning towards me when I’m overcome by stage fright. I swing my racket and try to channel my inner Serena.

What happens? I whack the ball into the net.

I’m tense because this isn’t any old court. I’m at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, west Florida, started by Nick Bollettieri nearly 40 years ago. Bollettieri is the only coach to produce 10 number one tennis players. Legends Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Boris Becker and Serena Williams are all former alumni who have graced the court I’m standing on. And now, thanks to a new tennis package holiday with America As You Like It, your clients (whatever level) can include a camp here as part or all of their trip.

My family and I have come to Florida for a week and we’ve booked a two-day tennis camp. My husband Marc and twins Nathalie and Gabriel, 13, are good players. Hannah, 11, is a novice and as for mum... hmm.

Coach Roger – one of a large team and himself one of the first students to attend the academy after opening in 1980 – feeds me another ball. I hit it wide into the tramlines and my next shot leaves the court altogether. “I’ve not played for a while,” I mumble, embarrassed.

But Roger is so chilled (in stark contrast to the Florida heat) that in no time I’m improving. He delivers each ball with an instruction: “Footwork; close your racket; kiss your bicep; fire it up.” While another Roger (my hero Federer) might not select me for a doubles partner quite yet, I can now hold my head high.

Unlike the children’s programme, which is positively heaving, there are only five adults in our 8am–3.30pm camp. The mood is relaxed, the crowd international and tuition well paced. We don’t (thankfully) play tennis for seven hours straight. Twenty-minute drills are followed by pit stops to rehydrate, and with two coaches for the five of us we enjoy top-notch one-on-one coaching.

Birthplace of champions

Play is also interspersed with expert tutorials on topics such as rackets and what the Bollettieri Academy terms “mental conditioning”. Instruction on the latter is what sets this camp apart. All players – amateurs and pros – are taught how to be mentally tough. Ability to focus without hanging on to negativity is what turns a good player into a great player, a top seed into a champ.

Lunch fit for athletes is served at the clubhouse – barbecued chicken, diced potatoes, roasted cauliflower; no desserts. We dine on a terrace overlooking a swimming pool fringed by sun beds and I wish I’d booked myself half-day tennis (a viable option) instead of full. Your clients, like me, might prefer to rest poolside whilst the rest of the family plays on. And for non-tennis players there’s golf on-site too.

At the end of the afternoon we stroll around the campus’s 55 courts. We don’t spot Japan’s Kei Nishikori (ranked world number six) or Britain’s Heather Watson, who both train here, but we find all our children happily sparring with their American counterparts and thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Our base is a bright two-bedroom apartment in Shorewalk Vacation Villas, a condo five minutes drive from the academy. Round the corner is a large supermarket, where we buy an easy-to-cook dinner before conking out from all the exercise.

The next morning an even bigger treat is in store. At 84, Bollettieri is still hands-on. He watches our son in action. Gabriel’s groundstrokes are well-executed and brush the baseline. Will Bollettieri say he’s the next Andy Murray? No. He tells Gabriel to build up his legs.

This brief encounter with Bollettieri rubs off on me later. Roger feeds me an entire basket of balls – forehands, backhands and drop shots. I rally, slice and volley until my clothes are soggy; 99% of my shots are in. My inner Serena is found!