Ya dancer… Portugal is courting us again and proving once more that tennis is a smash in the Algarve.
We first crossed racquets with the tennis set in Quinta do Lago when Judy Murray put me through my paces.
Of course despite her peerless coaching qualities it was clear that my tennis was as good as my dancing.
Which as many have found out around the world gives Dancing Dads a bad name.
Thing is though that tennis players, as Judy showed, are naturals on the dancefloor… all that moving from foot to foot.
Croft original
Another hotfooting it out to the Algarve is the charming Annabel Croft who also wowed us on Strictly Come Dancing.
Annabel, of course, has her own Tennis Academy at the Pine Cliffs Resort, a luxury collection resort in the Algarve.
And it hosted the 13th edition of their annual tennis competition the Winners’ Cup with Annabel dropping in to see the action.
Annabel, who came fourth on Strictly and will be dancing again with her former Strictly partner Johannes Radebe during his live tour played a few rallies.
The first day of the cup was full of free activities for competition participants and their guests, where Annabel led the Tennis Clinic.
Go for a padel
Meanwhile, Diogo Schaefer, Portuguese national padel player and professional coach, headed the Padel Clinic…
Padel was explained to me as the child that squash and tennis would bear.
The Winners’ Cup 2024 golf grand final took place on the second day with an 18-hole tournament, while the tennis semi-final and grand final took place shortly after.
Posting on her Instagram, Annabel wrote: “A wonderful weekend at my Tennis Academy at @pinecliffs Resort 🎾. It felt so amazing to be back wearing my tennis shoes and in Portugal, one of my favourite places in the world 😎.
Congratulations to all the players who competed in the Winners’ Cup – I so loved watching you all 👏🏼🥳 xxx”.
Every day is an education
The Annabel Croft Tennis Academy at Pine Cliffs has been running since 2013, and offers a huge variety of coaching activities as well as tennis camps over five days with 10 hours of coaching focusing.
There are camps for all ages, including a Junior Tennis Camp (4-13 years) and Teenage Tennis Camp (13-17 years), which start from €280/£254 per person. Meanwhile, an Adult Tennis Holiday starts from €340/£314 per person.
Private lessons can also be booked from €70/£64 per hour or shared lessons from €33/£38 per hour per person.
The resort won ‘The Best Family Resort’ in Europe by the World Luxury Hotel Awards.
And it boasts the Porto Pirata children’s club with life size pirate ships, MIMO Algarve – a cooking school with family classes.
For adults there is also a 9-hole golf course and Serenity Spa – The Art of Wellbeing with a myriad of treatments and its indoor Thermal Oasis with a herbal sauna, hydrotherapy pool, jacuzzi, steam room and a salt sauna.
The resort offers hotel accommodation as well as luxury suites, apartments, and private villas, for self-catering.
There are eight swimming pools at the resort, as well as 11 restaurants and bars, which offer a wide variety of cuisines and dishes to cater to every taste.
And all major airlines fly out to Faro.
