I fidgeted on the sideline of the tennis court. All I had to do was grab a racquet and take a few steps forward to join the line. But across the net, the opponent’s swings grew more intimidating by the stroke. Remembering I had been cut from my high school team, I succumbed to anxiety about my less-than-amateur skills, and instead stood watching as seven-time Grand Slam singles champion John McEnroe hit balls with my fellow guests at the Nemacolin resort’s Summer Solstice Celebration tennis clinic last year.

I didn’t rally with McEnroe on the court, but I did get to lob a few questions to the tennis legend during a Q&A session, about his favorite Grand Slam to play (Wimbledon, and the US Open since he grew up near Flushing Meadows) and the young player he’s most excited about (Carlos Alcaraz, hands down). I left without hitting that day, but a few months later at the Bahamas’ Baha Mar resort, I took the leap and actually knocked the fuzzy yellow balls around during a class at the resort’s John McEnroe Tennis Center.

While my skills are better suited for watching than playing, my double dose of McEnroe court experiences are part of the rising trend of sports tourism, one of the fastest growing travel sectors. Sports travel is estimated to grow 17.5 percent between 2023 and 2030, according to United Nations Tourism, and the sector is on track to reach $1.3 trillion by 2032, per Expedia Group’s latest data. And tennis is acing the field, with the US Open welcoming a record-breaking 1,048,669 fans last summer.

“Tennis travel blends sport, culture, and luxury,” Expedia travel expert Melanie Fish tells Thrillist. “Whether it’s sipping champagne at Wimbledon or playing on clay courts in Mallorca, it’s about more than the match—it’s the moment. And travelers are leaning into that.”

In each of the four Grand Slam cities, search traffic for lodging during the tournaments spiked this year compared to 2024, up 30 percent for both the Australian and French Opens, 10 percent for the US Open, and 5 percent for Wimbledon, Fish shared. Only 5 percent of global sports travelers have booked tennis-driven trips, but 20 percent of Australians have done so, and 7 percent of women worldwide, nearly twice as many as men.

What makes tennis tournaments unique among sports is the ability for fans to spread out their visits over multiple days, as well as across a dozen courts or more, as opposed to everyone clamoring for one game at a set time, says Juliana Barbieri, senior vice president of content & partnerships at the International Tennis Hall of Fame. With a full day of activities like live music, upscale dining, and cocktail bars around the tournament grounds, there are plenty of ways to take part.

“Tennis tournaments are festival-like, unlike a football stadium, where you are facing the field at all times,” Barbieri says. “Tennis events cater to the die-hard fan and the casual one at the same time, keeping it approachable and engaging for fans of all levels.”

While the game has been around since at least the 1870s, the racquet sport’s recent surge is somewhat of a relief to insiders. As the decades-plus reign of superstars like Serena Williams, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal started to wane, the tennis community worried about a nosedive in ticket prices, sponsorships, and attendance.

But there was no lull, as a new generation grabbed the baton, with players like Coco Gauff, Carlos Alcaraz, and Jannik Sinner. “The past was bright. The present is bright. And the future is bright,” Kyle Ross of Grand Slam Tennis Tours says, adding that tennis is returning to the mainstream. “The American talent happening right now is helpful in the media…but also in a popular culture and awareness sense.”

Even the players are feeling the love, according to the number four-ranked Jessica Pegula: “Over the last few years, I’ve definitely noticed when I meet people at tournaments or events, or even in the airport, they’re all traveling to come watch tennis,” she says. “I think people like planning their trip around something like a sporting event, and I’ve definitely noticed an increase.”

Here are just a few of the many trending ways to take a swing at tennis travel, on or off the court.

My first taste of Grand Slam travel was when my dad won the Wimbledon lottery, called the public ballot, in 2015, giving us the opportunity to buy last-row seats at Centre Court in London. We enjoyed the experience so much that we went back a few days later for the queue, getting in line before 6 a.m. and finally getting in after noon, an iconic tennis experience in and of itself. The oldest tournament, which typically starts in late June, is the most challenging ticket to get, especially for overseas fans—although Americans can head to the Hill in New York, a set of screens in Brooklyn Bridge Park designed to imitate Wimbledon’s legendary Henman Hill.

The other Grand Slam tennis tournaments all have tickets available for purchase online, including the Australian Open in Melbourne in mid-January, Roland Garros (or French Open) in Paris in late May, and the US Open in New York City’s Flushing Meadows, from August 24 to September 7 this year. That doesn’t mean they’re easy tickets to get, but tournament officials are finding new ways to give more people the chance to be part of the action. The US Open, for example, added an extra day of official play this year, starting on Sunday instead of Monday.

If your heart is set on making it to the Grand Slams, there are tour operators that offer specific travel packages to watch the headline tournaments. Grand Slam Tennis Tours is chief among them, as they also offer travelers the chance to play on the respective surfaces—grass in London, clay in Paris, and hardcourts in Melbourne and New York City. “When you’re spending your days watching pros play the sport you love, it’s great, and often humbling, to get out there yourself,” Ross says.

However you get to the Grand Slams, Pegula suggests you go earlier in the week. There are more matches in the first few rounds, often with bigger names playing on smaller courts with fewer spectators. “You get so much more exposure to different types of players,” she says. She also notes that all the Grand Slams now give fans access to practice sessions. “That’s always fun because you get to see two players in a more friendly position.”

While the big four may have the prestige, other tournaments on tour invite a more intimate atomosphere—and generally more affordable prices. Pegula says one of the best for tennisgoers is the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, in March. “The site is really walkable, there are a ton of really good players, and there’s really good stadium courts,” she says. “Plus you’re in the Palm Springs and Palm Desert area, so it’s easy.”

Ross echoes the pro’s sentiment about the California desert tournament, but also says that the Cincinnati Open in August is a hidden gem, often called the “Fifth Slam,” with a just-completed $260 million renovation project intended to benefit both players and fans.

Other big-time domestic tournaments include the Dallas Open in February, Miami Open in March, and Mubadala Citi DC Open in July. International highlights include Monte Carlo Masters and Madrid Open in April, the Italian Open in Rome in May, and Shanghai Masters in October.

If you can’t make it to a tournament, there are still ways to take in the game year-round. My closest brush with Grand Slam glory was joining a tour at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum in its offseason back in 2012. Not only did I learn how the staff meticulously care for the grass, but I also got to sit in the player’s seat in the press room for a photo opp. The Stade Roland-Garros offers guided tours, including visits to the locker room and Court Philippe-Chatrier, and the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, where the US Open is held, also hosts tours. While there isn’t an equivalent offering Down Under, I was able to roam around the Australian Open’s Melbourne Park, and even stepped onto a side court in the shadow of Rod Laver Arena.

There is also the prestigious International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island. The seven-acre site is a National Historic Landmark that started as The Newport Casino social club in 1880, and now includes a tennis facility with 13 grass courts, six hard courts, and a clay court. The museum is the main attraction, with 2,000 artifacts on display, as well as the actual hall of fame, with plaques celebrating all 270 inductees. There’s even a talking hologram of Federer, as well as a virtual reality experience featuring the moment Arthur Ashe became the first Black man to win the US Open in 1968.

The annual highlight is the ITHOF Induction Ceremony, this year running from August 21 to 23. Maria Sharapova and American doubles legends Bob and Mike Bryan will be inducted into the hall, and there will be appearances from tennis greats Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters, James Blake, Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario, and McEnroe and celebrity guests Angela Kinsey, Uzo Aduba, and Fitz and the Tatrums.

Hotels and resorts are serving creative tennis collaborations, like my two sets of McEnroe experiences. McEnroe himself will return to Baha Mar in the Bahamas December 11 to 14 for the sixth annual Baha Mar Cup, which features a celebrity pro-am tournament. Iconic coach Patrick Mouratoglou, who’s worked with Coco Gauff, Serena Williams, Holger Rune, and more, has opened locations of his academy all over the world, including several Mouratoglou Tennis Centers located within resorts in Florida, Texas, Italy, Dubai, and beyond. As a World of Hyatt ambassador, Pegula will host two clinics through World of Hyatt FIND experiences. “Our sport’s unique in that we can actually play tennis together—it’s a cool way to connect, and fun for me,” she says. But it’s not always about actually hitting the courts. Expedia has also seen spikes in searches for tennis-adjacent hotels, like Cromlix in Scotland, which is owned and run by British tennis star Andy Murray.

Hotels in host cities pull out all the stops for a Grand Slam, and this upcoming US Open is no exception. Park Hyatt has teed up its Match Point Suite Experience hotel package with transportation to the tournament and a tennis theme. The Manner, part of The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, offers Game. Set. SoHo. with the tournament’s signature Honey Deuce cocktail, and Park South Hotel, part of JdV by Hyatt, has a Gram Slam Package with a swag bag, plus rooftop screenings at its Players Club rooftop. Guests of Equinox Hotel New York can even fly to the venue with a private Blade helicopter transfer via LaGuardia August 31 through September 7.

Several hotel experiences also include the chance to get closer to the players. Park Terrace Hotel’s US Open Experience hosts programming throughout the tournament, including a panel with Belinda Bencic, Arthur Fils, Jordan Thompson, and Victoria Mboko on August 21 at its membership club Branch, while Park Lane New York will run a rooftop Q&A with Nick Kyrgios, Félix Auger-Aliassime, and Alex De Minaur on August 22. Hyatt Regency Times Square invites fans to play pickleball with Taylor Townsend, while The Shelbourne Sonesta‘s Vintage Green will host a Tennis Pros Rooftop Meet and Greet with Karen Khachanov and other pros on August 20, open to the public for $40 a person. Over at Aman New York, the two-night Season of Champions package can be paired with its Detox Program curated by Novak Djokovic and the Strength and Recovery treatment by Maria Sharapova.

But the most dazzling among them is the Lotte New York Palace’s Game, Set, Sparkle package offered August 19 through 25, with VIP tickets to the Palace Invitational with Carlos Alcaraz, Madison Keys, Taylor Fritz, and Sloane Stephens, hosted by Today‘s Craig Melvin, on August 21, plus a Laurenti diamond tennis bracelet (seriously!) for a cool $3,395 a night.

“For over a century tennis has set global lifestyle trends,” Ross says. “Tennis events don’t shy away from amazing global locations, and tennis venues… have an aspect of intimacy that other sports can’t always deliver.”

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