Pickleball court dimensions

The playing area is compact, which explains why so many people squeeze one into a backyard or onto an old tennis court. The entire court spans 880 square feet, with each line marked 2 inches wide.

Behind the kitchen you will find the service areas. Each one extends 15 feet between the kitchen line and the baseline, which sits at the far end of the playing area. A center line then splits every service area into two halves of 10 feet wide each.

More than the markings alone suggest, since players chase balls past the baseline and off to the sides. USA Pickleball calls for a hard surface of at least 30 by 60 feet, which comes to roughly 1,800 square feet of space per court.

People often refer to that 30 by 60 foot area as the pad, meaning the level slab the court surface sits on, and Productive Parks points out it must be at least that big to allow for overruns. If you are planning a backyard court, the flat ground you begin with should measure at least 30 feet wide.

The 30 by 60 foot pad leaves 8 feet behind each baseline. Where you have room, Net World Sports recommends 10 feet of clearance there, because players sprint hardest in that direction.

The net hangs lower at its center than at its ends. It rises 36 inches where it reaches the sidelines and 34 inches at the middle, so the top dips slightly toward the center by design.

The middle of the net rests 10 feet from each sideline, right at the halfway point of the 20 foot court. Measured post to post, the net should be at least 21 feet 9 inches, letting it extend beyond the sidelines at both ends.

If you would rather buy a net than set permanent posts, portable commercial-grade models cost between a few hundred dollars and over a thousand dollars. Within a full build, the net and posts make up a modest share of the cost, roughly $300 to $1,500 per court at typical US rates.

Pickleball can be played on many bases, such as concrete, asphalt, clay, wood, or grass, but outdoor courts are nearly always concrete or asphalt with a painted top. One more choice is an interlocking tile system placed over a slab, where tiles click together, shed water fast and cushion impact, taking some strain off your joints.

A pickleball is roughly 3 inches across, which means chain-link fencing needs gaps of 2 inches or smaller to keep balls from slipping out. Backstops behind the baselines need to stand at least 10 feet tall. If noise is a concern for the neighbors, an outdoor acoustical barrier can reduce it by up to 50 percent.