The best tennis academies in Florida

1. Saviano High Performance Tennis — Davie

The boutique, coach-led model. Saviano HPT is built around one thing the big campuses cannot offer: the founder on court. Nick Saviano — nine years on the ATP Tour, fifteen years as a USTA Director of Coaching, author of Maximum Tennis, and the primary developmental coach Sloane Stephens started with at age 10 — designs every player's program personally and is typically on court daily. Training runs at a maximum 4:1 player-to-coach ratio on lighted hard and Har-Tru clay courts.

It is a day academy, not a boarding school: full-time players pair morning or afternoon training with accredited online school (Laurel Springs or ICL Academy), and families from abroad relocate or use the academy's network of vetted host families in Davie. Every college-track player the academy has developed has been placed on a university team — alumni include Yale, Harvard, Duke, Stanford and Columbia — which is the record behind its college placement program. Best for: families who want elite, individualized development without handing their child to a campus of hundreds.

2. IMG Academy — Bradenton

The famous one. IMG is the academy that Nick Bollettieri's original Bradenton campus became: a full multi-sport boarding school, with tennis one program among many. The scale is unmatched — on-campus school, dorms, sports science, and a college-recruiting operation. It suits players who want the total-immersion campus experience and families comfortable with big-institution coaching, where the coach your child sees most will not be the name on the gate. If the scale gives you pause, see IMG Academy alternatives.

3. Evert Tennis Academy — Boca Raton

The boarding boutique. Founded by the Evert family, Evert is far smaller than IMG but still a true boarding academy, with academics through a partnership with Grandview Preparatory School. A strong choice for families who specifically want boarding at a smaller scale than IMG.

4. Mouratoglou Academy — Florida campus

The European brand, newly arrived. Patrick Mouratoglou's academy — best known for its Côte d'Azur campus and its role in Serena Williams's later career — has extended to Florida, bringing its tennis-and-school program to the US market. Families weighing the two continents are usually really weighing models — see tennis boarding school vs day academy.

5. Rick Macci Tennis Academy — Boca Raton

The technician. Rick Macci coached Venus and Serena Williams as juniors — the story told in King Richard — and remains one of the most sought-after technical coaches in the sport. His academy is a strong fit for players who want concentrated technical work with a legendary teacher rather than a full developmental ecosystem.

6. Saddlebrook Tennis — Wesley Chapel

The resort academy. Saddlebrook pairs its tennis program with a golf and spa resort north of Tampa and has hosted tour professionals for decades. Its junior academy offers boarding and schooling on a resort campus — a different atmosphere from a pure training environment, which some families love and some find distracting.

7. Celsius Tennis Academy — Sarasota

The Gulf Coast option. Celsius runs high performance junior programs in Sarasota and draws players from the Gulf side of the state. Families on Florida's west coast who want serious training without relocating across the state should have it on their visit list.

How to actually choose between them

• Who is on court with your child, and how often? Ask each academy who will run your child's sessions day to day, and what the real player-to-coach ratio is at peak hours — not in the brochure.
• Day academy or boarding school? Boarding suits some families; others want their child home for dinner. Florida offers both models — decide this first, because it cuts the list in half.
• How does school work? On-campus school, partner school, or accredited online academics — each fits a different kind of student. Our guide to tennis and academic programs in Florida walks through the models.
• What does the pathway produce? Ask for the last three years of college placements or pro results — specifics, not percentages on a poster.
• Visit and train before you commit. Every academy on this list will let a prospective player train. A week on court tells you more than every website combined.