Tennis Holiday in Mallorca: Solo Travel's Big Hit for Adult Players

Solo Travel on the Rise for 2024

Solo travel and tennis holiday’s are ready to go with adults happy to fly solo! 2024 has travelers on the move with excitement while pouring out of baggage claim at Palma’s international airport (PMI) even on it’s shoulder season.

What shouldn’t have surprised me, is the amount of female solo travelers. I’ve long said, Mallorca’s THE BEST place for a woman to travel, solo. Women who know this gorgeous and top destination island travel here free & easy any time of year. Some even decide to settle down on Mallorca for its beauty, vibe & the safety they feel here. Mallorca’s the Spanish IT spot for tennis training. Its beaches, beauty & low cost flights make it a breeze to get here➡️ (for Europeans).

Solo travel for tennis holidays in Mallorca is a big hit thanks to leisure travel numbers soaring past projections at the end of 2022. Playing tennis in Mallorca, Spain offers players; weather, off-court activity and fair travel prices. Their freedom is their tag line. And while you may set sail solo, the friendships made along the way mean never being alone. Unless YOU decide.

Pro Tip:🌅

97% of our adult players travel solo. You can find our Summer 2024 adult tennis camps in detail here.

Solo Travel: Your schedule’s your own

Leisure travel’s back in droves. International tourism returned to normal in the 1st half of 2022 recovering 60% of pre-pandemic travel. Business travel’s down since companies found out video conferencing’s an economical way to do business rather than sending managers to meet in person.

Solo travel’s increased in the UK alone by 761.15%. The increase of solo travel in Mallorca continues to be sought out by women. Humans in general want their sense of freedom and adventure back. They’re not waiting for someone to go with them or tell them when they can go. That’s the point of solo travel. Your schedule’s your own. Tennis players are known to be a highly independent group. Playing a sport like tennis requires it. The focus of their morning may be tennis. The rest of the day is your own. Either exploring with other players or tracking remote work projects.

Adult players are curious, active & culturally aware. They know they’re part of a global game. Tennis is one of the most popular international sports in the world. The benefits traveling for tennis is a unique experience training with other international players. Seeing your skillset against someone your level from another country can be eye opening.

Juniors who train abroad quickly learn to size up the competition & how they rank among international juniors vs. their home club. They travel to another part of the world to train alongside other international players who share a common language of tennis. It’s naturally an instant friendship.

Tennis: A game that conditions you to go it alone

After living through the pandemic, with the continuing uncertainty on a global scale, tennis players who travel for a tennis holiday, just GO! Tennis conditions you to go it alone. It’s the nature of the sport. Taking decisions on your own on court. You have only one ball at any given moment. What will you do with that one ball? The decision is yours and yours alone.

This particular holiday week threatened rain each day. No rain came but 1 but not enough to halt the days training. The sun rained down nicely on those gorgeous red clay courts each morning as their focus became set on improving their tennis. True to form, afternoons were filled with beach calas, hiking trails, and Palma. Those with remote work use the quiet hotel spaces or cafes in Deia & Valldemossa for it’s sublime and tranquil creative energy. Together we took an afternoon to player watch at the Rafa Nadal Academy. The academy is always a treat for tennis lovers. Watching the high performance juniors train & spar against one another is very inspiring.

Thinking of trying the Rafa Nadal Adult programs? Use our promo code (IndieTENIS) to save yourself some bucks!

Tennis improvement + a hotel santuary with everything you need makes off-court in Mallorca an easy tennis holiday for solo travelers. An ideal place to train using the pace of the red clay, the sun and being close to the sea is one iconic place. All while never feeling alone around other players.

Crushing the 2 Hander backhand by weeks end.

The Tennis Program: A hybrid approach

This particular adult tennis camp / holiday in Port de Soller was a great week with a small group. I adore 3 or 4 to a court because I get a lot of improvement from players. Mission accomplished as the group of 4 beginner-intermediate players matched level wise - all of them from the USA. I mention the US because of its size. Making the level of play around the country vary a lot from one beginner - intermediate to the next.

I’ll coach a hybrid approach for newer players even if they want only modern tennis and Djokovic’s backhand. Their higher goal is always to be able to actually play tennis fast! But even modern tennis is now taking yet another leap forwards marketing its latest forehand as NEXTGEN. It let’s the player draw the racket back in a specific path to generate a low racket, lag & a powerful execution. It doesn’t mean it’s necessary or meant for new players. Players I had that week ranged in age from 41- 60. All eager to hit like the pros on TV. For those who gravitate to this style naturally, great. For others there may be more classic - easier ways to get it done.

Their main goal was to return home able to play friendly competitions & rally with others without feeling embarrased. They wanted to enter social events, play league and be able to serve ok. They all wanted to increase consistency on their forehands. An easy tweak when you show them their best, most balanced point of contact. And also show them on camera where they’re currently contacting their forehand contact points. It’s always good for players to see themselves to believe it. The improved contact point not only feels freer to them - the feel more powerful, more confident.

Taking a hybrid approach with adults means giving the player a path to be able to play right away. When a player can’t easily coordinate a tennis stroke or a 2-handed backhand with any depth you make a small tweak to break a bad habit and seal the new one in quickly. Quickly means working on something they feel comfortable with & love the effect of the new shot for the entire week to make sure it sticks. Like you see in the video above. My leftie lacked deep balls on her 2-handed backhand. She’d pull the racket straight back but only half way, never generating a full swing. So she lacked depth and didn’t trust her backhand playing points.

A modern approach would have her loop her backhand to get it easily below the ball, taking the racket back fully behind her and finishing around her body. She was comfortable pulling the racket straight back without the loop. The right verbal cue helped her focus on the new adjustment. One micro shift after another and she left with a backhand she was proud of. She’d adjusted the stroke 3/4 + using a straight racket take back (classic approach). She quickly realized how that worked for her at this point in her game. With this she’d feel confident to head home with a backhand she can control, keep inside the court & generate power using a full swing or close to a full swing from back to front. She felt great about it. And that’s the point.

She finally took the pressure off of not hitting it “modern”. By using the classic approach (her choice not mine) she can get out and feel confident playing on a 3.0 ladies team in LA and that’s perfect. You don’t have to feel pressure because you see in Youtube videos coaches talk only modern tennis. So much of the classic game is terrific and is still highly used. It’s just not as cool sounding now as NEXTGEN. As you’re starting out you won’t be able to do things the pros are showing you in videos. You’ll need to start slower. Grown into these things. And you must start by learning the appropriate grips if you want to be able to do most of it. And so many newer players are using only 1 grip for all shots.

Learning the correct contact points for newer players is the goal! Learning to generate power using good technique from your body (not your arm & racket) to drive deep balls into the court is another great goal. Learning to control your balance by using both footwork stances (neutral, and semi) is also great! You dont’t need to hit every shot in an open stance if you’re struggling with it yet the coach in the youtube video says it’s modern and the only way to hit a ball. You have sooo much room for growth over time. it’s a lifetime game because it takes a lifetime to learn and master.

Ironically this group were all singles players. They wanted to hit hard & get a great workout on court while being admired for their technique. So we focused on individual techniques based on what came natural from each of them. We worked on singles court positioning, staying injury free & creating points using consistency to withstand longer points when necessary. It’s so natural to want to end a point early using a forehand you blast by your opponent. But it’s not very realistic to think it’s possible to do each point. Usually that’s just nerves anyway, trying to finish points the moment they begin.

Mission accomplished. Each solo traveler learned simple tennis strategies they could easily apply in singles as well as how to cover the net & the importance of deep balls in singles. Last but never least, they increased the % on their serve. Pinpointing the contact point on their forehands gave them a real bump in consistency as well.

The Goal? To play with confidence

Starting out, they all wanted the hot topics they see in coaching videos on Youtube. Coaching videos about the NetGen forehand or modern game. But time and reality sets in and they realized there was an easier way to get playing with confidence. To actually rally balls by taking the racket straight back worked for her 3 out of 4 of them. Another player was able to hit the modern forehand easier with a loop instead of a straight racket take back. As an adult player who wants to get out and play with confidence NOW, do what works best for YOU. Do that well. Then build from there. Whether it’s a straight take back (classic) a modern forehand (small loop) or a the newest nextgen forehand. Do what works best for you and get playing. THAT will inspire you continue learning and improving your level while feeling part of the game and actually being able to play.

Remember!💥

The pros and top players you’d like to emulate started decades ago. At an early age & time. When Nextgen forehands weren’t a thing & modern forehands were new on the scene.

Solo Tennis Travel

The Best Itinerary for a Smart Game Plan

Tennis does a great job mirroring life. It’s an independent game which automatically challenges your inner strength and curiosity. Playing tennis, like solo travel instills confidence in your decision making. Whether it’s match play or where to travel to improve your tennis game. It’ll always be be a mixed bag of gifts & challenges. Achieving mastery on a particular stroke is like naviagting a new area or culture. It’s entirely yours to decide where & how far you want to reach.

Solo travel will exercise your courage muscle & test you. So will tennis.

To make your own independent game more confident and be able to play with others, the best way to increase your confidence is to get your own technique as good as possible. That’s your ticket to more tennis and more people to play with.

Understand & put into practice shot selection, as best as you can. When you know what to do with a ball this increases a players confidence a lot. At the same time focus on ball recognition. When you know what’s coming at you in each moment you know how to handle it. Understanding shot selection on a high/low/short or deep ball let’s you know how to react. Your confidence will take a natural boost!

I can’t think of a better game plan than that. Honestly, I can’t think of a better game plan.

If you want to know when we launch new adult tennis holidays on Mallorca or any place else (Portugal) on the horizon for Winter … drop your email below with your level. I’ll write you with playing opportunities at your level.

If you’re a newer player feeling your way through the movements, coordinating strokes and serious about learning the game, try our how to play tennis online course when you have questiions (it’s free).

With love from Mallorca!