With the Shanghai Rolex Masters swinging back into town, our passion for
the sport of tennis is also surging. Whether you're hoping to become
the next Roger Federer (aka cute daddy dancer as we know him now) or
simply fancy swinging a racket, here are the four best tennis classes
you can find in Shanghai.Children tennis in Shanghai
CETA Tennis
The
China Elite Tennis Academy (CETA Tennis) is run by Conrad Singh and his
team of fully-qualified Australian Tennis Professional Coaches
Association (ATPCA) international tennis professionals. Many coaches are
former ATP and WTA professional players, as well as sparring partners
for superstars like Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic (CETA Tennis is the
official academy of the Shanghai Rolex Masters). CETA has also guided
many of China’s current national tennis team to success – Singh himself
has worked with the Chinese Women’s A Team as well as recent winners at
major international events.
CETA offers a comprehensive list of
services for young and adult amateurs as well as professional players,
including biomechanical video assessments and mental conditioning
courses aimed at honing technical, tactical and physical skills. If you
have a child who would like an assessment, you can also sign him or her
up for the CETA Futures Programme where talented players under 12 years
of age are invited to undergo a special high-performance developmental
training session.
With six locations spanning from Minhang and
Xuhui to Nanxiang and Pudong, CETA runs regular age-group tournaments as
well as annual summer camps.
A high performance session for
aspiring pros lasts between five to six hours and, though we only take a
condensed version, it’s remarkably intense with a series of short work
outs and aerobic exercises. These are followed by court-based lessons on
stroke style and situational awareness, with two physical conditioning
sessions in between. The coaches are firm but professional – they don’t
cut you any slack. We couldn’t help but pity the young girl at our
session who sneaked out to take a break, only to be ordered back onto
the court to resume training.
Helmed by head coach Luis Zabaleta from
Colombia, who has been coaching for eight years since 2009 and is a
certified tennis instructor of PTR, RPT, LTA and ITF, Best Tennis
Academy Shanghai has been coaching and teaching in many locations in
both Puxi and Pudong. In fact, you can choose the one of your
convenience. For Puxi, BTA tennis programmes take place at more than ten
venues including the Xianxia Tennis Center, the Xijiao Sports Center
and the Shanghai Stadium. In Pudong, BTA operates primarily at Kerry
Hotel Pudong and Regency Park. Booking in advance is therefore essential
as coaches will need to travel to your venue of choice.
The
academy offers group as well as private lessons for children and adult
on week days and weekends. Children's tennis sessions are designed based
on the player's age and proficiency. Each session includes a warm-up,
some tennis drills and match play to put the learned skills to use. A
private tennis lesson for children is 300RMB per hour, and 250RMB for
each in a two people group session (200RMB for three, 150RMB for four
and so on). The adult programme is similarly customised to accommodate
players at different levels. Price per private lesson is at 350RMB per
hour and group a session is the same as children's. Note that the number
of people attending group sessions cannot exceed four.
For
advanced players, there is also the option to join the high performance
programme developed by head coach Zabaleta. The programme is designed
for those looking for intensive training to polish their skills in a
relatively short amount of time. The four-hours-per-day session includes
techniques, tactical, and physical training sessions which take place
on court, gym or park, and the training does not exceed five days. For
more details, add them on WeChat using the ID 'luisluchin'.
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