Bree, Belgium
Kim Clijsters, a famous resident of Bree, has an 18-court tennis academy with state-of-the-art equipment and a team of tennis and wider health professionals. When Clijsters opened the Academy in 2014 it was her vision to bring together all the needs of tennis players under one roof.
For aspiring pros there is the opportunity to join the college program, aimed at players who are still studying at university, college or those wanting to do home studies. Players receive 10-15 hours of tennis coaching per week (including at least two hours of private lessons), in addition to five or six hours of fitness training (of which at least one hour will be one-on-one).
The programme also includes HawkEye testing, medical screening and an injury prevention programme, as well as a KCA trainer at four international tournaments a year. There is also a Pro Tour/Practice Programme for players with professional ambitions. The pro Tour programme is a holistic programme where a player can tap into many services like a Snapshot test –analysis of a specific stroke with the use of Hawkeye cameras, a fitness performance test, a Dexa Body scan as well as osteopathic screening, mental mindflow screening and massage.
There are currently between 25 and 30 aspiring pros training at the academy and around 300 players aged 3 to 70 plus playing one or more times a week.