Those Fall Feels

The end of summer may be bittersweet, but getting lost amid the backroads of NEW ENGLAND adds a silver—and golden—lining to the season change. Pack a few sweaters along with your tennis kit and prepare for leaf-peeping, scenic drives and delicious autumnal ingredients to pair with your forehands

Rebecca Wallwork

1: New Hampshire

For a tennis camp that feels like a vacation, New England Tennis Holidays offers its signature experience at the Waterville Valley Tennis Center from May to early October. The package includes five hours of daily instruction (with a low student-to-pro ratio), daily video analysis, round-robin play, and the use of ball machines and courts after “school hours.” Accommodations at The Valley Inn and a meal plan are also included. Surrounded by the White Mountains, the Waterville Valley Tennis Center has a total of 18 outdoor clay courts and two indoor courts.

For a more leisurely tennis escape, the Omni Mount Washington Resort in Bretton Woods has several red clay courts (the resort has hosted the Volvo International Tennis Tournament) and offers clinics, private lessons, round robins and individualized programs upon request. The property’s grand setting will inspire fall evenings spent fireside, but there’s plenty of outdoor action nearby, including at Crawford Notch State Park, the Flume Gorge and the Mount Washington Cog Railway, which takes you to the top of the mountain.

2: Vermont

The Green Mountain State is home to some of the country’s best tennis resorts and academies, among them the Cliff Drysdale Tennis School at Stratton Mountain Resort. Offering year-round instruction for all ages and abilities, the center has six outdoor clay courts, six hard courts and two indoor courts. Cardio tennis and other clinics are on offer through the fall and winter, and players can supplement court time with laps and workouts at Stratton’s Sports Center.

If you like a taste of adventure on wheels, Stratton updated its Bike Park this summer, sprucing up its eight existing downhill mountain bike trails and breaking ground on a new phase of trails of varying terrain. To take in the fall foliage at a less frenetic pace, take Stratton’s Gondola to the summit of southern Vermont’s highest peak and soak up 360-degree views of the White Mountains, Adirondacks, Berkshires and the Green Mountain range.