17 awesome tennis clubs that all serious players should visit

Location: Miami, Florida

Facilities: 14 Har-Tru courts, 2 grass courts, and 2 hard courts.

Bonus tip: According to the Wall Street Journal, an equity membership costs $250,000 to join and another $18,000 in annual fees. The WSJ also reported that Fisher Island Club recently underwent a $60 million renovation.

Location: Sea Island, Georgia

Facilities: 16 Har-Tru clay courts.

Bonus tip: Professional tennis players Murphy and Luke Jensen provide year-round instruction at The Cloister's tennis program.

Location: San Francisco, California

Facilities: 8 tennis courts, two of them clay courts.

Bonus tip: There's a 1.5 year waitlist for membership, according to the WSJ. Although that's not as long as in the 1980s, when the wait was 5 years.

Location: Bridgehampton, New York

Facilities: 14 Har-Tru tennis courts.

Bonus tip: According to Forbes, a summer membership for a family with children and a nanny will run you about $22,500. If you dish out another $4,5o0, you can get the ground level cabana too.

Location: Houston, Texas

Facilities: 14 courts and a large red clay court stadium

Bonus tip: According to the Houston Chronicle, River Oaks has the longest-running same-site tennis tournament in the country, having run for at least 78 years.

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Facilities: 21 grass courts, 9 fast-dry courts, 2 indoor courts, and 4 platform tennis courts with a pavilion & hut that was featured in Platform and Town & Country magazines for its architectural design.

Bonus tip: The club hosts the Junior International ITF and USTA Grass Court Championship.

Location: Briar Cliff, New York

Facilities: 4 Har-Tru courts and two USPTA tennis pros on hand.

Bonus tip: Trump National is known for its super spacious courts, which are surrounded by cobblestone.

Location: La Jolla, California

Facilities: 12 championship hard courts.

Bonus tip: The club's convenient location makes it easy to hit the private beach right after a hearty game of tennis.

Location: Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

Facilities: 25 grass courts and 19 Har-Tru clay courts.

Bonus tip: Longwood has hosted a ton of prestigious tournaments, including the National Doubles, the U.S. Pro, the Davis Cup (including the first ever Davis Cup), and the Federation Cup (which is the women’s equivalent of the Davis Cup).

Location: New Orleans, Louisiana

Facilities: 12 clay courts.

Bonus tip: The New Orleans club and Longwood take turns hosting an exclusive tournament between the two clubs every year and a half.

Location: Austin, Texas

Facilities: 13 lighted hard courts and 6 lighted clay courts. Five USPTA certified tennis pros on site.

Bonus tip: Westwood's hard courts feature a special surface known as plexiplave, which is unique to only a few clubs in America.

Location: Southampton, New York

Facilities: 36 grass tennis courts.

Bonus tip: According to the Hamptons local paper, the exclusive club has become "a historical marker for surrounding homes, providing a prime example of a classic, shingle-style Hamptons structure."

Location: Pacific Palisades, California

Facilities: 22 hard courts, 2 clay courts and 2 ball machine courts. Riviera is home to ten USPTA tennis professionals, plus three hitting professionals and a mental coach.

Bonus tip: The club houses both West Side Leagues and USTA Leagues, plus an intraclub program known as the Notebook League, plus a handful of championships and tournaments and club events.

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Facilities: 16 tennis courts.

Bonus tip: The Cherokee Club collects art at both the Country Club location and the Town Club location, where the tennis facilities are located. It opens for public viewing for one hour every second Monday of the month.

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Facilities: 23 grass courts, 11 Har-tru courts, 5 mini-tennis courts, and 4 indoor courts.

Bonus tip: With some 2,500 members, the Merion Cricket Club turns 150 this year, according to Mainline Today.

Location: Los Angeles, California

Facilities: 2 Har-Tru courts and 14 hard courts.

Bonus tip: LA Tennis Club was the first private equity tennis club in Los Angeles, and today has 360 equity members. Those seeking a private equity membership must be sponsored by two current members in good standing and undergo a 90-day application process.

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