Each year, at the end of the calendar year (aka when the Asia swing begins and tennis is all that happens during our REM sleep), Charlie and I buckle down and start planning our tennis trips for the year ahead. You’d think planning to go see tennis across 11 countries and 16 cities would be like scheduling any other vacation, but a few factors make it an acquired skill. If you’re curious, here’s how it goes.
Planning the 10-Year Calendar
Given Best of Ten’s ambitious goal to visit every ATP and WTA 1000 level tournament and all four Grand Slams, our planning really began two years ago, when we took every tournament on the calendar and broke them out by year. We grouped more approachable travel within the same year, like the Madrid Open and an American tournament such as Indian Wells, and gave harder travel, like Australia, a year of its own. That became the basis for how we plan year over year and decide where we’re going.
ATP Calendar Release
As soon as the ATP releases its calendar for the year we’re traveling (usually about a year and a half in advance), we start looking at dates for the tournament we’re slotted to attend. We normally keep US holidays and major weekends in mind. The goal is to maximize our PTO around when tournaments fall and when we want to attend (i.e., before the quarterfinals).
Building a Budget
Next up is one of the more boring but critical parts of planning: building a budget and deciding how much we’re comfortable spending. The question is whether this can be a bigger trip that includes neighboring cities or countries, or just a tournament-and-back excursion. There are many ways to build a budget, and the right one is the one that works for your lifestyle, but here’s how we tackle ours:
Build the budget for the trip you want first (click here for the Best of Ten template)
Assess the budget you actually have
Work backwards. What has to go, and what are the true must-haves?
Build the Bones of Your Trip
By now you probably have a rough idea of what dates you’ll be traveling and when you might attend the tournament. Now it’s time to dig into the location. What city are you in, and what’s around it?
Since Best of Ten began, we’ve kept a master list of what we want to do in each place we visit. Australia has a rather long one. These can be things you’ve accumulated over the years, spots you spotted through players or other influencers on tour, or whatever your algorithms and networks are feeding you that’s working.
Then decide what you want to tack on. Another stop? A big attraction? This is where you build the bones of your trip around the tournament itself. The fun part, if you will.
**Pro tip: We love to build our trips in the Notes app. This may seem odd since so many of us live in Word docs and Excel sheets, but when you’re traveling internationally and suddenly lose service, you’ll be glad to be able to access your itinerary and confirmation codes without needing WiFI. The best part is there is truly an emoji for everything, if that’s your jam.
Order of Booking
Once you’ve settled your route and firmed up your itinerary, here’s our order of operations:
Book Lodging. It’s usually the only flexible purchase (pay later, or refundable by a certain date), so you might as well grab it first. It also gives you a starting point if you’re still patching gaps in your itinerary.
Buy tournament tickets. Do this before you buy flights, so your travel is built around matches you know you can attend.
Book Flights. The day you buy shouldn’t be the first time you’ve looked at flights. Start watching prices 6-8 months out to get the best fare.
Lock in reservations, tours, and ancillary transit tickets (like trains). You’d think can wait, but the restaurant you’re dying to try or the tour you can’t wait to take may need to be booked 1-2 months ahead. Don’t leave this to the last minute.
Fill in the Rest
Once your can’t-miss tentpoles are set, you can fill in the rest of your schedule. Be smart about how your days fit together. If you have day session tickets one day, book a later dinner reservation so you have somewhere to eat after a long day at the tournament. If you only have night session tickets another day, that’s your day for tours and sightseeing.
Then you’ve got a trip, and a reason to start planning the next one.