Saddlebrook Academies, located north of

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough Co ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

, United States in the Wesley Chapel community is a complex of sports schools, Saddlebrook Tennis Academy, Saddlebrook Golf Academy, and Saddlebrook Preparatory School. The academies are a part of Saddlebrook Resort.

Founding

The Tampa Tennis Academy was acquired in 1986 from

Harry Hopman Henry Christian Hopman CBE (12 August 1906 – 27 December 1985) was an Australian tennis player and coach. Early life Harry Hopman was born on 12 August 1906 in Glebe, Sydney as the third child of John Henry Hopman, a schoolteacher, and Jenni ...

, the former Australian player and coach who is the namesake for the

Hopman Cup The Hopman Cup is an international eight-team indoor hardcourt tennis tournament that played mixed-gender teams on a country-by-country basis.It was held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, before being replaced on the calen ...

. The academy uses the resort's two tennis facilities, one in the Lakeside area of the property which is adjacent to the fitness centers, and the other in the Walking Village, adjacent to the resort’s main facilities. Founded in 1993, Saddlebrook Prep was created to educate students attending the sports academies.

Programs

Tennis

Instruction and play take place on the 45 clay, grass, and hard courts located on the Saddlebrook Resort property. The tennis program follows the Harry Hopman method of coaching.

Notable Athletes Trained in the Tennis Program

Jim Courier James Spencer "Jim" Courier (born August 17, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He won four major singles titles, two at the French Open and two at the Australian Open. He was the youngest man to reach the singles finals o ...

- former

ATP ATP may refer to: Companies and organizations * Association of Tennis Professionals, men's professional tennis governing body * American Technical Publishers, employee-owned publishing company * ', a Danish pension * Armenia Tree Project, non ...

#1, four-time singles Grand Slam champion *

Pete Sampras Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...

- former ATP #1, 14-time singles Grand Slam champion, two-time

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the orga ...

champion *

John Isner John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Considered one of the best servers ...

- ATP professional, 2011 Hopman Cup champion, participated in the longest tennis match on record opposite

Nicolas Mahut Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at th ...

at Wimbledon in 2010 * James Blake - 2007 Davis Cup champion, two-time Hopman Cup champion, reached Bronze Medal match of the 2008 Olympics *

Martina Hingis Martina Hingis (, sk, Martina Hingisová; 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. Hingis is the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and attain a world No. 1 ranking. She spent a total of 209 weeks ...

- former WTA #1, five-time Grand Slam singles champion, twelve-time Grand Slam women's doubles champion, five-time Grand Slam mixed doubles champion, 2001 Hopman Cup champion, Silver Medal at the 2016 Olympics in women's doubles *

Justine Henin Justine Henin (; born 1 June 1982) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She spent a total of 117 weeks as the world No. 1 and was the year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007. Henin, coming from a country with limited success in tenn ...

- former WTA #1, seven-time Grand Slam singles champion *

Caroline Wozniacki Caroline Wozniacki (; born 11 July 1990) is a Danish former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 1 in singles for a total of 71 weeks, including at the end of 2010 and 2011. She achieved the top ranking for the first time on 11 ...

- former WTA #1, Australian Open singles champion Saddlebrook Golf 1

The Bryan Brothers The Bryan brothers, identical twin brothers Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, are retired American professional doubles tennis players and the most successful duo of all time. They were born on April 29, 1978, with Mike being the elder by two minutes. ...

- former ATP #1 team in men's doubles, 16-time Grand Slam doubles champions, Gold Medalists at the 2012 Olympics, combined for 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles *

Belinda Bencic Belinda Bencic ( sk, Belinda Benčičová, ; born 10 March 1997) is a Swiss professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of No. 4 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) which she achieved in February 2020. Bencic has won six singl ...

- has reached the top ten in the WTA, coached by Martina Hingis. She was the Gold Medalist at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. *

Jack Sock Jack Sock (born September 24, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. He has won four career ATP singles titles and 17 doubles titles, and has career-high rankings of world No. 8 in singles (on 20 November 2017) and world No. 2 in doub ...

- 2011 US Open mixed doubles champion, 2014 Wimbledon doubles champion, Gold Medalist in mixed doubles at the 2016 Olympics * Saddlebrook Prep 1

Alexander Zverev Alexander "Sascha" Zverev (; born 20 April 1997) is a German professional tennis player. He has been ranked by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) as high as world No. 2, and was continuously ranked in the top 10 from July 2017 to ...

- ATP top 25

Golf

The golf academy sits on a 16-acre parcel of Saddlebrook Resort and includes a training center, driving range, and chipping and putting greens. The Saddlebrook Resort also has two courses, the par-71 Palmer Course and the par-70 Saddlebrook Course.

Prep School

Saddlebrook Preparatory School was founded in 1993 as a part of the Pasco County School System (now an independent private school). The school is accredited through the

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is an educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. This agency accredits over 13,000 public and priv ...

Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS-CASI), and the Florida Council of Independent Schools (FCIS). Saddlebrook Prep offers instruction for grades 3 through 12. The student population is a mix of boarding and non-boarding students, representing six continents and more than 25 countries.

Alumni and Former Students

Jennifer Capriati Jennifer Maria Capriati (born March 29, 1976) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. A member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, she won three singles Grand Slam titles and was the gold medalist at the 1992 Summer Olympics. ...

- former WTA #1, Gold Medalist at the

1992 Olympics 1992 Olympics may refer to: *1992 Summer Olympics, which were held in Barcelona, Spain *1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 ...

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal ...

and

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and v ...

champion *

Andy Roddick Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals ( Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Open ...

- former ATP #1, US Open champion *

Stephanie Nickitas Stephanie Nickitas (born 1977) is a former professional and college tennis player from the United States. Biography Nickitas trained as a junior at the Saddlebrook Academy near Tampa, Florida. She played Junior Fed Cup tennis for the United Stat ...

- two-time NCAA Women's Tennis Team champion and two-time NCAA Women's Doubles champion at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, former head coach of the UCF women's tennis team *

Mardy Fish Mardy Simpson Fish (born December 9, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. He was a hardcourt specialist. He is one of several American tennis players who rose to prominence in the early 2000s.Fish won six tournaments on the m ...

- ATP professional, Silver Medalist at the

2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, 2008 Hopman Cup Champion * Prim Siripipat - anchor, correspondent, and radio host for ESPN *

Keegan Bradley Keegan Hansen Bradley (born June 7, 1986) is an American professional golfer who competes on the PGA Tour. He has won five tour events, most notably the 2011 PGA Championship. He is one of six golfers to win in his major debut, along with Ben Cu ...

- 2011 PGA Championship champion, 2011 PGA Rookie of the Year * Young-A Yang - LPGA professional *

Paula Marti Paula or PAULA may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Paula, in video game ''EarthBound'' * Paula, in ''The Larry Sanders Show'' * Paula Campbell (''EastEnders''), in 2003 Film and television * ''Paula'' (1915 film), a si ...

- LPGA professional * Alex Domijan - four-time ITA All-American and the ITA National Freshman of the Year at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with College admission ...

* Ashnaa Rao - 2015 ITA Small College National Champion at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consiste ...

Luisa Stefani Luisa Veras Stefani (born 9 August 1997) is a Brazilian professional tennis player. She is the first Brazilian woman to crack the WTA top 10. She made the milestone on 1 November 2021 when she rose two places to world No. 9 in doubles. On 20 M ...

Olympic medalist This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad. Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports Winter Olympic sports A. Including military patrol e ...

, 2016 ITA Rookie of the Year at

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and ...

Gabriela Dabrowski Gabriela "Gaby" Dabrowski (; pl, Dąbrowska, ; born April 1, 1992) is a Canadian professional tennis player. She reached her best singles ranking of world No. 164 by the WTA on November 3, 2014 and her highest doubles ranking of world No. 4 on ...

- WTA top 5 in doubles, two-time Grand Slam mixed doubles champion

References

{{Reflist, 30em Tennis academies Golf instruction