Each July the world’s tennis elite, both past and present, decamp to SW19 for the Wimbledon Championships. But have you ever wondered where they all drift back to at the end of the tournament? Here we highlight two destinations in the USA where tennis legends are partial to owning a house or two…

Los Angeles, California
Successful tennis players aren’t short of a bob or two, so it’s hardly surprising many of them are attracted to ‘the City of Flowers and Sunshine’, one of the most fashionable and star-studded places to live anywhere in the USA, arguably the world. Especially glamorous areas are Beverly Hills and Bel Air and beach resort Malibu, where there’s every chance the occupant in the mansion next door to yours is a global celebrity or member of the world’s super-rich.

Every need is catered for in LA, with its laid-back Californian lifestyle, fantastic balmy climate and cool beaches and coastline. Just be prepared, spending $10million-plus on a home in a private gated community is run of the mill there.

The legendary John McEnroe is particularly fond of Malibu, where he is said to have three properties, one of which he made available to rent this year at a reported price of $140,000/month during the peak summer season! Other tennis stars who own – or have at some point owned – in the LA area include Pete Sampras, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams and Andy Roddick. Elsewhere in California, other legendary homeowners over the years have included Rod Laver, Jimmy Connors and Lindsay Davenport, while Billie Jean King hails from Long Beach in Los Angeles.

Miami, Florida
Over on the USA’s Atlantic coast, Miami has also amassed a respectable crowd of homeowners from the tennis hall of fame, including Martina Navratilova who currently lives in the Mid-Beach area. Last summer Andy Murray sold his Miami flat for $2.4 million (making a profit of $825,000 over the nine years he owned it). So winning Wimbledon wasn’t the only way that he emulated Fred Perry, who made a new life in Miami after falling out with the stuffy British tennis authorities in the 1930s.

While Murray was moving out last year, Novak Djokovic was forking out $8.9million for a luxury apartment on Miami Beach. Meanwhile Anna Kournikova and pop star partner Enrique Iglesias are raising a family there – the couple marked the birth of twins last year by building a wall around their Miami pad for extra privacy!

Some of the most exclusive Miami homes are on one of the islets floating in and around Biscayne Bay, either on individual plots or within fully serviced luxury communities. Both Boris Becker and Andre Agassi have at some point been homeowners on Fisher Island, where the sports club includes 18 Grand Slam tennis courts. Today, Indian Creek Island, located off North Beach and dubbed ‘Billionaire Bunker’, is regarded as one the most exclusive addresses in the USA.

North of Miami, Serena Williams owns a couple of properties (one jointly with sister Venus) in Palm Beach Gardens, while Chris Evert has a home in Boca Raton. Meanwhile, on Florida’s west coast Monica Seles and Maria Sharapova have both owned property in the Sarasota area – the latter still lives at ther home in upmarket Longboat Key. They discovered the area while being coached at the world famous Bollettieri tennis academy in Bradenton. Still on the Gulf coast, Martina Hingis has a holiday home in Tampa, to complement her ski pad in St Moritz!