Tennis Court Size: Measurements, Dimensions Guide with Net Height

Lawn tennis is one of the most popular sports in the world and according to the statistics, it has over 1 billion followers globally. It was first played in the 19th century, and since then, the popularity graph only went Northway. Unlike most other sports, Tennis is equally popular for women. For both men and women, the same Tennis court dimension, net height and tennis ball are used.

This detailed guide categorically illustrated standard lawn tennis court dimensions and how they should be marked as per The ITF (International Tennis Federation) rules.

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A Guide to Understanding Tennis Court Dimensions

The Tennis court has a standard size. It only comes to the matter of difference when the singles and doubles games are played. The same Court is used for both the game format, but the different court dimensions are used. The playing area of a tennis court is definite, and during the double matches, the full Court is utilized, whereas when the singles are being played, the same Court is contracted in size. During the singles, the inner markings of the Court are followed, which is, of course, different from the one followed by the doubles.

What’s the Standard Tennis Court Size in Meter ?

The standard size of a Tennis Court is 23.77m (78ft) in length and 8.23m (27ft) in width when played by singles. But when the double comes to the field, the width of the tennis court increases to 10.97m (36ft), the length remains the same.

When played professionally, the singles and doubles share the same standard tennis court. Therefore, both the markings for the singles and doubles are done on the same field.

The standard tennis court is sized as per the double’s game, and an inner marking is done for the singles on the same Court. When their time comes, they follow the inner marking and not the outer one.

Tennis Court Measurements & Dimensions Guide with Net Height Illustration

Key Tennis Court Dimensions & Playing Areas

During the tennis court construction there are some certain dimension you should carefully mark as bellow:

• Overall Length: 78 ft / 23.77 m
• Length of Service Box: 21 ft / 6.4 m
• Overall Width: 27 ft / 8.23 m (Singles), 36 ft / 10.97 m (Doubles)
• Width of Service Box: 13.5 ft / 4.1m
• Area of Each Service Box: 283.5 sq ft / 26.3 sq m
• Doubles Alley: 39 ft / 11.9 m x 4.5 ft / 1.4 m (175.5 sq ft / 16.3 sq m)
• Overall Surface Area: 2,106 sq ft / 195.7 sq m (Singles), 2,808 sq ft / 260.9 sq m (Doubles)
• Backcourt (No Man’s Land space): 18 ft / 5.5 m x 27 ft / 8.2 m (486 sq ft / 45.2 sq m)
• Center Line (center service line): 4″ / 0.1 m long
• Net: 3ft / 0.9m high in the center, 3.5ft / 1.1 m high at the net posts
• Indoor Tennis Court size: The Indoor court is 78 feet (23.77 meters) long and width is 27 feet (8.23 meters) for singles matches and for doubles matches it stands at 36 feet (10.97 meters) (Only Width changes)

Are all tennis courts the same size?

Every tennis court isn’t of the same size. When individuals create the Tennis courts in their personal space for friends and families, it is built in any convenient size. But when a Tennis Court is made for a professional game where doubles and singles would play, it is made of standard size.

Sometimes, tennis courts are built for touch tennis, but they do not necessarily follow the standardized court size.

What Makes a Tennis Court Fast or Slow?

Tennis Net Posts Height

The height of the Tennis net is 1.07 m tall at the post side and in the middle, it is 0.91m. It is the standard height of every tennis net. The Tennis net is situated 1 yard away from the sidelines.

Baseline

The back boundaries of a tennis court are the baseline of tennis. It is the line of boundary used for serving purposes. During the play, the players serve the ball from outside the baseline. While serving the ball, if the server touches the baseline, it results in a foot fault. And whenever a tennis ball is hit outside the baseline, it is considered out. However, the players can step out of the baseline of their respective court.

It is a 36 feet long rectangular sheet baseline of a full-size tennis court. The baseline of a Tennis Court generally meets the sideline and it forms a rectangle of 78 feet in length.

The baselines of the Tennis Court differ when played by singles and doubles. The baseline is calculated in thickness. At a minimum, the baseline should be 2 inches, but it would extend up to 4 inches.

What is the Size of service box/ Service Area?

• According to the standard ITF (International Tennis Federation) guideline, Service line location should be: 21 feet (6.4 meters) from the net.
• And the dimensions of the service area is: (4.1 meters wide x 6.4 meters long which translates to 13.5 feet wide x 21 feet long

Types of tennis courts

We have learned that all the Tennis courts are sized the same, but is every tennis court the same in all aspects? No, the major difference lies in the surface of the Tennis Court. Tennis Court surfaces are one of the main reasons courts are either fast or slow. From the time of the British, when be started lawn tennis, it was played on grass. It was the conventional surface of a Tennis Court but with time it has got revised and got into forms of clay, acrylic, carpet, and many others.

To understand the sport you must understand the tennis court and its surfaces. So here we have explained each of the types and how it impacts the fast and slow ball.

a. Grass court.

It has a literal meaning and through this, you might understand that the grass court is a court with grass. It is actually grown on hard-packed soil. It is a traditional tennis court. The Britishers used to play Tennis on their gardens and lawns, from which lawn tennis came as a term.

The grass-court are considered the fastest type of court. You can see an unanticipated bounce on the grass surfaces. The ball skids in the ground while maintaining its speed. But the bounce is not the same for every tennis court of grass. It depends on some variable factors like the condition of the grass, whether it is healthy, is it new, and many such aspects.

Previously, the grass tennis court was a conventional style of surface for the tennis court. Players like Margaret Court, Roger Federer, Serena Williams have excelled in the court. But now due to its high maintenance cost, it has been replaced with a clay court or carpet court.

b. Hard Court.

If the hard courts are metered in terms of slow or fast, then we would say that it is faster than clay court but slower than grass court. It lies somewhere in the middle of the meter. But its acrylic layers or asphalt foundation cover offer uniform bounce of balls. In hard courts, the ball hops more. A certain sort of sand is added on the hardcourt that impacts the speed. It usually depends on the amount of sand added to the surface layer of the Court.

This kind of tennis court is better than the clay court as it adds bounce and is usually faster than the clay court, but it can not be an absolute substitute for a grass court.

However, players like Novak Djokovic have played well on hard courts. The Australian Open and the US Open Grand Slam tournaments have also been played on Green set, hard Court surfaces.

c. Clay Court.

The clay tennis court is a court constructed with clay forms. It provides a high bounce compared to the hard and grass court. Although it is not as fast as them in terms of bounce, it is definitely better. These kinds of courts tend to slow down the ball. The servers find it challenging to play on the clay court as they fail to dominate the field. However, defeating the opponents using perfect tennis craft becomes easy on clay court. The bounce and topspin help in overpowering the opposition team.

The clay courts are usually made of stone, brick, or crushed shale stone. Another kind of clay which is red clay is often used on clay courts. It is nothing but crushed bricks topped with some loose materials. The red clay court has witnessed the French Open Grand Slam, which makes it not too bad for Tennis.

It is constructed by layering the clay or the crushed bricks and stones. And then it is rolled to flatten the surface. Even if the production cost of the clay court seems economical, the cost of maintenance is quite high. One needs to see if the water content in the clay is balanced whether it has the slope to allow the water to pass out.

Players like Chris Evert, Bjorn Borg, Justine Enin, and Rafael Nadal have excelled on clay courts. Among them, Rafael Nadal broke a record of 13 French Open Titles and was given the name “King of Clay“.

d. Carpet Court.

All above discussed courts are used specifically for professional use, unlike carpet court. It is mostly used as indoor courts where one can play regardless of environmental conditions. The professional houses have discontinued using carpet court since it provides less bounce. However, it is faster than hard Court; therefore, it has a good impact on skidding of a ball.

But it’s the removable covering of the carpet that makes the carpet court suitable for professional games. Having said that, tournaments like Trofeo Citta di Brescia by ATP Challenger tour, regardless of any aspect, use the carpet Court to date. After the 2018 gameTournoi de Quebec has discontinued the use of carpet Court.

Well, regardless of whatever court surface you play, lawn tennis never fails to provide thrill and excitement. So grab your tennis kit and enjoy this beautiful game.