With the popularity of pickleball on the rise, there is a shortage of dedicated pickleball courts in communities across the country. The cost of building new pickleball courts might be beyond the budgets of some community parks and recreation departments so they are now tasked with finding a cost-effective way to meet the demand for more pickleball courts. Lets take a look at the court dimensions considerations these departments are faced with when solving the pickleball court vs tennis court dilemma.
What Are the Dimensions of a Pickleball Court vs a Tennis Court?
Before deciding how to maximize one’s space when considering laying out pickleball courts on top of tennis courts to ensure maximum use for community members, it helps to have a good idea of the dimensions of each type of court. Here are the regulation dimensions for both a pickleball court and a tennis court.
Pickleball Court Dimensions
Tennis Court Dimensions
At first glance, pickleball courts and tennis courts look almost exactly alike, but there are key differences that make each court unique and different.
Court size: Pickleball courts are 20’ wide by 44’ long while tennis courts are 60’ wide by 120’ long.
More about Pickleball Court Dimensions
Net height: a tennis court net is 36” high at the center point of the court while a pickleball net is 34” high at the center point of the court.
Non-Volley zone: this is one of the main court differences that makes a pickleball court different from a tennis court. The non-volley zone extends from the net seven feet wide and is commonly referred to as the “kitchen”.
Doubles alleys: this is a unique feature of a tennis court and these areas border each of the long sides of the tennis court. The middle area of a tennis court is only for singles play while the extra space of the “doubles alleys” are used when players are playing doubles. Pickleball courts are the same for both singles and doubles play.
How Many Pickleball Courts Fit on a Tennis Court?
A tennis court is wide enough and long enough to provide ample space for multiple pickleball courts to be overlayed on to the court. But some layouts are more practical than others for some of the reasons we will share with you.
The easiest solution for those without local pickleball courts in their area would normally be to walk over to the park and use the tennis court that might be empty a good portion of the day. The only problem with this solution is the tennis net ideally should be lowered two inches to 34” to accommodate the net height on a standard pickleball court.
This is sometimes easier said than done, many casual players don’t know how to properly lower a tennis net and the parks and recreation departments don’t often want the nets adjusted up and down by those that might not be familiar with the court equipment.
So adding one temporary pickleball court per tennis court is not often the ideal solution.
Two Pickleball Courts Per Tennis Court
This is the most common layout to add temporary or shared pickleball courts to a tennis court. While a pickleball court measures 20’ wide by 44’ long, the recommended surface area to allow for players to hit balls outside of the sidelines and baseline is 30’ wide by 60’ long.
Those dimensions allow for what is the most common layout at shared pickleball and tennis facilities and that is two pickleball courts per tennis court.
Each pickleball court fits perfectly on each side of the tennis net, a portable pickleball net can be used on each pickleball court for play. And the tennis net can remain in place and serve as a backstop for any ball that is hit long in that direction.
Four Pickleball Courts Per Tennis Court
When pickleball court space is limited and demand for playing time is high, a four pickleball courts per tennis court layout can serve as a temporary solution but doesn’t allow much room for the players between each court.
But the four pickleball courts per tennis court set up can maximize limited court space even if it isn’t the optimum playing surface area with four pickleball courts operating simultaneously on one tennis court.
Final Thoughts
Now that you have an idea of how to maximize space for more pickleball courts in your community, feel free to share this information with those in your community that can benefit from knowing the actual dimensions and configurations of pickleball courts and tennis courts.