Vilnius Tennis Academy

A modern academy built around a big idea

In 2008, a small group of coaches and organizers in Vilnius set out to build something that Lithuania had not yet seen: a purpose-built home for junior tennis that could operate at scale and still feel personal. That vision became Vilnius Tennis Academy, now widely recognized as the country’s largest tennis school, with more than 650 children training from the age of four and up. From the first red ball rally to national teams and professional events, the academy’s mission is to offer a complete pathway under one roof, guided by one coherent philosophy.

That roof is not metaphorical. The academy operates inside SEB Arena, Central Europe’s largest indoor racket sports complex, which transforms an ambitious program into a daily routine. Courts, gym, physiotherapy, and support staff sit a short walk apart. Because everything is in one place, the academy can promise continuity in winter, smart scheduling year-round, and a training culture where players see elite behaviors modeled every day.

Why Vilnius works for tennis

Vilnius is a four-season city. Winters are cold and long. Summers are bright and mild. For an academy, this climate presents a challenge and an opportunity. Indoors, the work never pauses. From late autumn through spring, players train on SEB Arena’s hard courts with the same session frequency and structure week after week. When summer arrives, the academy shifts many groups outside to Bernardine Garden in the UNESCO-listed Old Town. There, classic red clay teaches patience, movement, and the art of building points.

The setting matters for families as much as it does for players. SEB Arena is close to central districts at Ąžuolyno g. 7, with straightforward public transport and on-site services. Parents can watch from balconies, coordinate school pickups with practice times, and speak to administrators in the same building where their children train. The summer base is equally convenient: ten outdoor clay courts in the middle of the city, plus mini spaces where the youngest players can learn safe movement before they step onto full courts.

Facilities: scale with purpose

Facilities determine what a program can ask of its players. SEB Arena gives Vilnius Tennis Academy unusual flexibility and volume:

• 28 indoor tennis courts and 10 mini courts dedicated to red, orange, and green stage work. That scale allows ability-based placement, smaller groups during intense blocks, and predictable progressions that do not get disrupted by weather.
• A city-center clay base in Bernardine Garden each summer with 10 outdoor courts, plus additional mini and synthetic spaces. Groups rotate through tactical themes, matchplay, and specific clay-movement drills to deepen competitive resilience.
• An on-site strength and conditioning club, integrated into the weekly plan. Coaches can schedule age-appropriate physical sessions immediately before or after court time, keeping the whole day efficient and coherent.
• Access to physiotherapy and recovery services within the arena complex. A niggle can be assessed quickly, training loads can be adjusted, and players return to the court with minimal downtime.
• Practical lodging adjacent to the arena for visiting families. The academy is not a boarding school, but the on-site hotel solution makes short camps and multi-day visits realistic for those traveling in from other regions.

The sum is a campus-style environment, but without the isolation of a far-flung sports complex. Players train in a high-performance setting while remaining connected to city life, schools, and community.

Coaching staff and a shared philosophy

Leadership is visible. The academy’s director, Ramūnas Grušas, and head coach, former national team captain Edita Liachovičiūtė, are well known in Lithuanian tennis circles. Around them stands a deep bench of coaches, including strength and conditioning specialist Jonas Simoneit, who contributes to youth national teams as well as the academy’s performance groups. That blend of national-team experience and daily academy coaching creates a high standard for the work, from warm-up to match analysis.

The training model follows the International Tennis Federation’s player-development framework and relies on ability-based grouping. Beginners learn fundamental movement and contact skills together, in stages that match court size and ball compression. As results and readiness change, players move into sport-development and performance environments where the work becomes more individual. That shift matters. It allows coaches to adjust technical cues, tactical templates, and competition schedules without pulling younger groups off their own progression track.

Crucially, the staff invests in its own development. Internal workshops and continuing education keep methodologies current. Video is used for feedback rather than for show. Drills are task-based rather than rote. The goal is not to chase the drill of the week, but to apply consistent principles that can be executed under pressure.

Programs you will actually find on the calendar

• Mini Tennis School, ages 4 to 7. The entry point. Sessions blend games-based learning with clear progressions in coordination, balance, and contact. Mini courts and lower-compression balls help players experience success early while building proper mechanics.

• Development Groups, roughly ages 8 to 12. Players build full-stroke mechanics, point constructions, serve patterns, and the footwork habits that create balanced hitting. The training load increases, with physical sessions centered on movement quality and injury-prevention basics rather than volume for its own sake.

• Performance Track, under 10 to under 18. Selection is based on readiness, not just age. Training blocks combine on-court themes with scheduled strength and conditioning. Coaches provide tournament planning and match support. The academy’s partnership in Spain opens periodic camps in Alicante, adding outdoor hard and clay exposure within a different tennis culture.

• High Performance Individual Plans. For elite juniors and transition players, the academy creates individualized schedules that bundle one-to-one coaching, physical training, and tournament support. The aim is to build a weekly rhythm that can scale to international competition.

• Summer Day Camps, ages 6 to 12. The “Vasarok su tenisu” program runs in weekly themes at SEB Arena with fundamental skills, supervised matchplay for experienced kids, and structured off-court activities. Recent published pricing has been 350 euros per session, and families should expect seasonal updates.

• Family Tennis sessions. Parent-child blocks appear during the year, which is a gentle intake route for very young players and a useful community builder for parents who want to understand the training language.

If you are comparing year-round northern programs, the Good to Great model in Stockholm offers a helpful reference for how consistent indoor access can accelerate development through winter. For clay-focused immersion, the Emilio Sánchez Barcelona program illustrates how a summer emphasis on red clay can sharpen tactics and movement for the rest of the season. And for a pro-track Spanish benchmark, the Ferrero Equelite tournament pathway is a useful comparison when planning international blocks.

How Vilnius Tennis Academy develops a player

• Technical. The staff emphasizes repeatable contact, compact swing paths under pressure, and serve fundamentals that hold up when legs get heavy. Footwork training avoids reach-and-slap mechanics. Video and task-based progressions are used to build understanding rather than to catch out errors. Court sizes and ball types are adjusted by stage, so players learn the correct movement patterns at the correct speeds. The indoor setting makes technique work more consistent, because the session frequency does not drop off in winter.

• Tactical. From the development stage onward, weekly lesson plans include point constructions, serve plus one sequences, and return plus one responses. On hard courts, players learn to win the first two shots. During clay blocks in Bernardine Garden, training zooms in on neutral and defense-to-offense patterns. The goal is for juniors to recognize when to build, when to change direction, and when to close.

• Physical. Strength and conditioning is integrated, not bolted on after long practices. Younger groups work on coordination, posture, deceleration control, and movement quality. As players enter the performance track, they add strength blocks, agility, and energy-system work under specialist supervision. Coaches track growth spurts and adjust loads accordingly, which reduces injury risk across a long season.

• Mental. Sports psychology support is part of the pathway rather than a last-resort fix. Sessions cover routines, match focus, emotional regulation, between-point behaviors, and preparation for tournament travel. Juniors learn to respond to momentum swings, not just to talk about them.

• Educational. The academy communicates with parents to align expectations and balance school commitments with training blocks. Extended arena hours make it easier to schedule sessions around class schedules. Players are guided to set realistic milestones, understand the meaning of rating shifts, and connect daily habits to long-term goals.

Results, stories, and role models

Recent seasons have brought national championship medals for academy athletes and steady international results at junior and professional levels. One visible role model is Patricija Paukštytė, a long-time academy product who has earned selection to the Lithuanian Billie Jean King Cup team while building results on the ITF World Tennis Tour in both singles and doubles. Other juniors have collected trophies on the Tennis Europe circuit and produced deep runs at national championships.

Hosting also matters. SEB Arena regularly welcomes national championships and international ties, which gives juniors the chance to see the next level up close. Sometimes, they compete in the same building where they train every week. That proximity normalizes high standards. Match courts no longer feel mysterious, and the routines for warm-up, cool-down, and recovery become second nature.

Culture and daily life inside the academy

Culture is visible when sessions begin. Groups are ability-based, and coaches are comfortable moving an athlete up or down when the learning environment calls for it. That fluid placement is explained clearly to parents so players understand that movement is part of growth, not a label of success or failure. On-court time is paired with scheduled physical blocks, which cuts down on extra commuting and sends a consistent message about the importance of preparation.

Because the academy sits inside a large multi-sport complex, young players see elite behavior from tennis and other racket sports every day. They watch how older athletes warm up, how they lift, and how they handle recovery. The shared language across tennis coaches, fitness staff, and physios gives the place its academy feel. All roads lead to the same habits: move well, hit balanced, recover properly, make good decisions.

Community has space for beginners and for future professionals. The calendar includes intake points for new families, family sessions that bring parents onto the court, and summer camps that welcome both newcomers and returning players. That structure grows the base without diluting standards at the top. Players see a pathway ahead of them and younger athletes behind them. It is motivating in both directions.

Costs, accessibility, and support

Tuition varies by program and weekly frequency, and it is set season by season. The academy publishes specific pricing for camps and communicates training fees during registration. As a recent indicator, the summer day camp has been advertised at 350 euros per session, which families should treat as subject to change. For talented juniors on the rise, the academy states that it provides financial support, which can include covering part of competition or training costs. That commitment is more than a gesture. It enables the tournament travel and draw entries that often make the difference for maturing players.

From a logistics standpoint, accessibility is a strength. Central location, public transport options, and an adjacent hotel simplify life for visiting families. For locals, extended hours create flexibility around school and work. For regional players considering seasonal blocks, the ability to train at high volume indoors in winter, then switch to clay outdoors in summer, is a compelling proposition.

What sets it apart

• Infrastructure at scale. Few European junior academies can claim 28 indoor courts in a single venue plus a dedicated summer clay base in the city center. This is decisive for training continuity and matchplay volume.
• Integrated performance support. Strength and conditioning, physiotherapy, and sports psychology are part of the weekly workflow, not occasional add-ons. The message to players is consistent across departments.
• A real pathway. Clear movement from mini tennis to development and performance groups, with a route into individualized high-performance plans for elite juniors and transition players.
• International exposure. A formal partnership in Spain provides camps and visiting coach exchanges, adding variety in court surfaces and tennis culture.
• Leadership with national team pedigree. Coaches who have captained or worked with Lithuanian national teams bring competitive standards into daily training and match preparation.

Where it is heading

SEB Arena continues to grow its event calendar, which keeps Vilnius on the tennis map. On the academy side, expect continued investment in coach education, more sophisticated monitoring of training loads, and a stronger bridge between performance groups and international tournament travel. Camps in Spain are likely to be a recurring part of that plan, offering sustained outdoor exposure and cross-pollination of ideas. The academy’s willingness to fund promising athletes suggests that more juniors will get the travel days and match experience they need to turn potential into performance.

Is it for you

Choose Vilnius Tennis Academy if you want a structured, year-round pathway inside a serious indoor complex, with clay exposure every summer and a clear step-up route into performance groups. Families who value integrated strength and conditioning, timely physiotherapy access, and regular communication with coaches will find those boxes ticked. If you require full boarding, this is not a residential academy. However, the on-site hotel and city location make short camps and seasonal blocks easy to arrange. For a junior who thrives in a busy, professional arena and wants both volume and variety in training, Vilnius offers a practical and ambitious base in the Baltics.

In a region where winter can derail momentum, Vilnius Tennis Academy has turned climate into a competitive advantage. By anchoring itself inside SEB Arena and adding a city-center clay program in summer, it delivers the continuity, structure, and support that development demands. The result is a pathway that feels personal at scale, with clear steps from first rally to international play, and the daily standards to make each step stick.