A Five-Day Luxury Cruise From Genoa to Rome - Jannik Sinner's Pick for a Quiet Mediterranean Weekend

When the tennis player at the top of the world wants a quiet weekend - he doesn't go to a hotel, doesn't sprawl out on a yacht. He goes on Explora Journeys, a Mediterranean luxury cruise that sits somewhere between a hotel and a private yacht. It's the choice of Jannik Sinner, the current ATP world number one - a five-day route through the most beautiful ports of the Mediterranean.

The route links Genoa (his home port, with Renaissance palaces on Via Garibaldi and the harbour renovated by Renzo Piano), Marseille and the Calanques national park (white limestone cliffs falling into turquoise water - narrow inlets ideal for swimming), then Saint-Tropez (a former fishing town with pastel houses and Pampelonne beach), then a stretch from Antibes to Monaco through the medieval village of Èze (perched above the Mediterranean), and ends in Civitavecchia - the gateway to Rome.

The ship is specific. Suites with private terraces, floor-to-ceiling windows, six restaurants at the highest standard, a spa with the "In Balance" wellness programme developed with Sinner himself. This isn't a mass cruise - it's a floating boutique hotel designed to look like somebody's private yacht. The price isn't published. And that tells you everything.

But the point is the same for everyone: the Mediterranean is the quickest way to notice that five ports away from yours, the world works on different rules of time. A Balkan reader who has never travelled along the Côte d'Azur looks at it on Instagram like something far away. The reality is that the same turquoise world the ATP number one picks for a break starts a few hours' drive southwest of the Italian-Slovenian border - and doesn't ask for an ATP salary.

The lesson for the summer: you don't need a luxury suite with a terrace to feel the Mediterranean. One night in Èze or a day in the Calanques is enough. Why does it take a world champion in your neighbourhood for you to notice it?