01 / 0435.3126° N, 25.3944° EThe Courts
Royal & Imperial Belvedere
Three courts terraced into the hillside. Morning drills against bare Cretan mountains, evening sets as the heat softens.
3 courts · Mar — Nov
Hersonissos, Crete — Coaching in Paradise
Tennis,under the Cretansun.
World-class coaching in residence at the Royal & Imperial Belvedere, high above the Aegean in Hersonissos. Arrive on holiday. Leave with a better game.
No. 01 — The Idea
Most holidays make you choose — come home rested, or come home better. Breakaway refuses the choice. We place world-class coaches in residence at one extraordinary Cretan resort, so the week that empties your mind also sharpens your game.
01
One resort, scouted in person
We chose the Royal & Imperial Belvedere for its courts, its light, and how the hillside feels at seven in the morning.
02
One coach, all week
Your coach studies your game before you land in Heraklion, and builds each morning around the player you're becoming.
03
The afternoons are yours
Train until lunch. Then seven pools, the spa, the harbour tavernas down the hill. This is still a holiday.
No. 02 — The Place
One resort,
chosen deliberately.
We walked dozens of Mediterranean resorts before choosing the Royal & Imperial Belvedere, high on the hillside above Hersonissos. Four reasons it won.
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01 / 0435.3126° N, 25.3944° E
02 / 04Olympic main · Adults-onlyThe Pools
Seven, counting the quiet one
Six outdoor pools over four levels and one indoor — plus an adults-only pool where a pianist plays twice a week.
7 pools · Dawn swims
03 / 04Breakfast on the balconyThe Suites
Sea view, racquet included
Greek yoghurt and thyme honey on your balcony, the Aegean glittering past the bougainvillea.
Sea view · Half board
04 / 0415 minutes downhillThe Harbour
Hersonissos, Crete
Fishing boats, taverna lights, cold retsina. The old harbour is where match analysis becomes dinner conversation.
Old town · Every evening
One resort.
Zero compromises.
No. 03 — The Method
Seven days.
One coach.
A different player.
Your coach doesn’t change mid-week, and neither does the plan. Mark spends the whole season in residence at the Belvedere, so the person feeding you balls on Tuesday knows exactly what your forehand did on Sunday.
IDay one
Read
Your coach films your game the first morning, then reads it over espresso — grip, footwork, instincts, the shot you avoid.
IIDays two — five
Rebuild
Two hours a morning. One weakness at a time, rebuilt against the most distracting view of your life.
IIIThe final days
Play
Match play at golden hour. The new game under pressure, while the kitchen sets the long table courtside.
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Tennis courts
0
Swimming pools
0
Booking.com score
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Days of Cretan sun
Intermission — The Only Constant
The ball is the same everywhere.
Everything else, we change.
No. 04 — The Coach
One coach.
Yours all week.
No rotating staff, no handovers. Every morning at the Belvedere is built and run by one person — and he knows your game by Tuesday.
Mark Little
Head Coach & Founder — BreakAway
“The best lesson doesn’t feel like a lesson. It feels like a great morning of tennis.”
Mark founded BreakAway on a simple observation: the holidays people talk about forever are the ones they came back from better. After two decades of coaching, he now spends his summers at a single address — the Belvedere — reading games over morning espresso and rebuilding them before lunch.
- 20+ yrs
- Coaching players of every level, club to competitive
- 1,000s
- Of games rebuilt — serves a speciality
- 2026
- In residence at the Belvedere, all summer
Train with Mark
A handful of guests each week
No. 05 — The Proof
Straight from
Mark’s camera roll.
No staging, no stock, no retouching. These are real sessions, photographed by Mark between drills.
No. 06 — The Invitation
Come back
better.
Summer 2026 at the Belvedere — from $237 a night, coaching included