In 1971, Robert Ong Hing, a lawyer and avid tennis player, built the Scottsdale Racquet Club 
using as its nucleus his and his wife's tennis-playing friends and acquaintances. Almost thirty years later, he replaced it with a spiffy two-story Scottsdale Athletic Club, incorporating not only a restaurant and bar but also a handsome fitness center, a 50-meter lap pool, and a Jacuzzi. For a time it remained essentially a private facility, open only to members and their guests and competitors who showed up for the annual Fiesta Bowl Scottsdale Senior Open in December and the USTA National Men's 35 Hard Court Championships in April, both of which are held at the Athletic Club. That changed in May 2003 when Hing added a boutique hotel dubbed the Scottsdale Resort Club adjacent to the courts and conferred full privileges on all its guests.
At 11 courts, the SRC is among the larger resort tennis complexes in the greater Phoenix area, but its hotel, at 85 rooms, is among the smallest. A stable of some 1,000+ local members, ranging from 3.0s to north of 5.0s, support an active calendar of weekly activities and if my experience is typical welcome the new blood represented by guests of the hotel. It's an exciting addition to the local tennis landscape.
Pro Shop: 480-991-1571
The hand of an avid tennis player shows in the generous layout and superb lighting of the 11 tennis courts, one of which is a sunken clubhouse court with terraced seating, now resurfaced in U.S. Open blue and green. The friendly staff at the full-service pro shop has 1,000 members to draw on if you're looking for opponents, including Hing's son Greg, who was captain of the Stanford University team and in now a partner in Hing's law firm.
Tennis Staff. In the summer of 2009, former ATP touring pro David Critchley took over as tennis director, bringing in his own stable of pros with an eye to re-energizing 
the programs and greatly increasing activity, both for members and guests. He brings an impressive resume to the task. Growing up at a tennis club where his mother was the teaching professional and his father ran the shop, he went on to play for West Virginia University and Arizona State University and to compete in ITF Futures and ATP Challengers events. He also played in the Pan American Games for Canada. After retiring from the tour in 2000, he founded a high-performance junior academy—which has now moved to the Athletic Club—and became head tennis coach at Scottsdale Community College, interspersing all of that with stints at several Scottsdale resorts.
Tennis Programs. The weekly calendar at the club has a lengthy roster of activities, including a monthly wine and cheese tennis social. That includes Cardio tennis, clinics variously focused on doubles, skills, or strategy, and Quickstart for young children. That last program when supplemented by coupled with his his high-performance academy means that they can accommodate juniors at any level. He's sensitive to dividing players by level, even when that means using an additional pro.
The resort has also made a big push to lure groups and teams by offering Custom Adult Tennis Retreats that bundle on-court group instruction, private lessons, and take-home DVDs with villa accommodations, daily breakfast, lunch, and fruit and juice breaks, and other amenities. "We provide a lot of personal attention," Critchley says of these retreats. "You're either going to get me or Dan Kilen, the other pro. You can choose your own topic."
Courts & Fees. Immediately behind the Scottsdale Athletic Club there is a broad patio accented by white oleander and magenta bougainvillea overlooking a sunken clubhouse court. The other 10, all with high-quality lighting, fan out from there. Most have courtside viewing areas furnished with plastic chairs or metal bleachers with shade provided by tented awnings or circular metal umbrellas. There is a fully equipped pro shop inside the entrance to the Athletic Club. Court fees: $15/hour.
Caveat: The club's location right along busy Indian Bend Road means you'll have some road noise on the northernmost bank courts.
Golf Courses. The resort has no golf course of its own but Hing did develop the adjacent Silverado Golf Course and thus guests get preferred tee times there.
Spa & Fitness Center. The large and well thought out fitness center spans both stories on one side of the Athletic Club. The locker rooms are upstairs, a location that allows them to have skylights, and contains saunas and steam showers. The cardiovascular machines and workout stations—Cybex, LifeFitness, Magnum—are arrayed to face the windows the the first and second floors, which gives you views of the swimming pool or Camelback Mountain. There are also studios for Pilates, spinning, yoga, and a variety of other classes, all offered to guests at a nominal fee. Water aerobics are available outside in one of the two swimming pools.
The athletic center is complemented by the Eurasia Spa. Designed by daughter Rebecca, this intimate retreat bears a Chinese symbol that means "beauty" with treatment rooms named for Chinese flowers—peony, wisteria, lotus, orchid" and paintings by Rebecca's aunt. It offers European- and Asian-themed body and facial treatments among other amenities.
The hotel itself consists of 85 guest rooms, suites, and one-to-three bedroom condos (which they call "villas") with contemporary furnishings, high-speed internet access full kitchens or at a minimum kitchenettes, fireplaces, and washer dryers and TV/DVD players. Room service is available until 9 p.m.
Dining is as close the OC SEVEN located in the Athletic Club just off an indoor patio called the Courtyard Café (where breakfast is available). This restaurant features family comfort food like Asian short ribs, hazelnut halibut, baked three-cheese "Mac", and peach and apple brown Betty cobbler. Al fresco dining on the outdoor terrace is also an option.
If you're looking for condominium-style hotels attached to an active tennis club, also check out:
Lodging options range from a basic guest room with kitchette up to three-bedroom villas with full kitchenettes, washer-dryers, and fireplaces. All have free high-speed Internet access and complimentary use of the fitness center and pools.
Jan. 1-Apr. 15, 2012
Room, $159. Suite: $199. 1-bdrm villa, $249-$259. 2/3-bdrm villa, $389-$619
Apr. 16-May 31, 2012
Room, $139. Suite: $179. 1-bdrm villa, $219-$229. 2/3-bdrm villa, $289-$589
June 1-Sept. 15, 2012
Room, $89. Suite: $109. 1-bdrm villa, $159-$169. 2/3-bdrm villa, $189-$259
Sept. 16-Dec. 26, 2012
Room, $139. Suite: $169. 1-bdrm villa, $209-$219. 2/3-bdrm villa, $279-$579
Seasons. Year-round, though most comfortable from October to May.
Travel Instructions. The Scottsdale Resort Club is a little over 16 miles from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) and can be easily reached via 202 East and 101 North.
General Tourist Information. Visit the Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau website or contact them toll-free at 877-CALLPHX or email visitors@visitphoenix.com.