Atennis court is the venue where the sport oftennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play bothdoubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be used to create a tennis court, each with its own characteristics which affect the playing style of the game.
The dimensions of a tennis court are defined and regulated by theInternational Tennis Federation (ITF) governing body and are written down in the annual 'Rules of Tennis' document.[1] The court is 78 ft (23.77 m) long. Its width is 27 ft (8.23 m) for singles matches and 36 ft (10.97 m) for doubles matches.[2] Theservice line is 21 ft (6.40 m) from the net.[2] Additional clear space around the court is needed in order for players to reach overrun balls for a total of 60 ft (18 m) wide and 120 ft (37 m) long. A net is stretched across the full width of the court, parallel with thebaselines, dividing it into two equal ends. The net is 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m) high at the posts, and 3 ft (0.914 m) high in the center.[3] The net posts are 3 ft (0.914 m) outside the doubles court on each side or, for a singles net, 3 ft (0.914 m) outside the singles court on each side.
Based on the standard rules of tennis, the size of the court is measured to theoutside of the respective baselines andsidelines. The "service" lines ("T" and the "service" line) are centered. The ball must completely miss the line to be considered "out". This also means that the width of the line (except for the center service line) is irrelevant to play. The center service line is 2 in (5 cm), the other lines are between 1 and 2 in (3 and 5 cm) wide, whereas the baseline may be up to 4 in (10 cm) wide.[1]
The ITF's Play and Stay campaign promotes playing on smaller courts with slower red, orange, and green balls for younger children. This gives children more time and control so they can serve, rally, and score from the first lesson on courts that are sized to fit their bodies. The ITF has mandated that official competition for children aged 10 years and under should be played on "Orange" courts 18 m (59 ft) long by 6.4 m (21 ft) wide. Competition for children under 8 years is played on "Red" courts that are 11 m (36 ft) long and 5.5 m (18 ft) wide. The net is always 0.8 m high in the center.[4]
Tennis is played on a variety of surfaces and each surface has its own characteristics which affect the playing style of the game. There are four main types of courts depending on the materials used for the court surface:clay courts,hard courts,grass courts andcarpet courts. TheInternational Tennis Federation (ITF) lists different surfaces and properties and classifies surfaces into one of five pace settings:[5]
Of the current fourGrand Slam tournaments, theAustralian andUS Open use hard courts, theFrench Open is played on clay, andWimbledon, the only Grand Slam to have always been played on the same surface, is played on grass. The Australian Open switched from grass to hard courts in 1988 and in its early years the French championship alternated between clay and sand/rubble courts. The US Open is the only major to have been played on three surfaces; it was played on grass from its inception until 1974, green clay from 1975 until 1977 and hard courts since it moved from theWest Side Tennis Club to theNational Tennis Center in 1978.
ITF uses the following classification for tennis court surface types:[6]
| Surface code | Type | Description |
| A | Acrylic | Textured, pigmented, resin-bound coating |
| B | Artificial clay | Synthetic surface with the appearance of clay |
| C | Artificial grass | Synthetic surface with the appearance of natural grass |
| D | Asphalt | Bitumen-bound aggregate |
| E | Carpet | Textile or polymeric material supplied in rolls or sheets of finished product |
| F | Clay | Unbound mineral aggregate |
| G | Concrete | Cement-bound aggregate |
| H | Grass | Natural grass grown from seed |
| J | Other | E.g. modular systems (tiles), wood, canvas |
Clay courts are made of crushed shale, stone or brick.[7] The French Open is the only Grand Slam tournament still played on clay; the courts there are made from crushed red brick (known commonly as "European clay" orterre battue in France).[8]
Clay courts slow down the ball and produce a high bounce in comparison to grass or hard courts, taking away many of the advantages of big serves.[7] For this reason, the clay court heavily favors baseline players, as it is hard for attackingserve-and-volley players to dominate on the surface. Clay courts are cheaper to construct than other types of tennis courts, but a clay surface costs more to maintain. Clay courts need to be rolled to preserve flatness. The clay's water content must be balanced; green clay courts (see below) are generally required to be sloped to allow water run-off.
Clay courts are more common in Europe and Latin America than in North America. The clay courts that do exist in the United States tend to be made ofgreen clay, which consists of crushed basalt; they are usually known by their brand name, HarTru. A "maroon" form of clay, advertized as "American red clay", is also used at theU.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston, Texas. Clay courts with a top dressing of burnt shale – which makes the surface grittier and allows for faster play – can be found in Britain, especially in northern England and Scotland (where they are known as "blaes" courts). More esoteric clay-like surfaces, meanwhile, still exist in rural Australia ('antbed' courts, made out of compacted termite mounds and/or loam), India (animal dung) and the Philippines (crushed sea-shells).[9][10][11]
Historically for theGrand Slams clay courts have been used at theFrench Open since 1891 and theUS Open from 1975 to 1977 (on green clay).
Grass courts are the fastest type of courts in common use.[7] They consist of grass grown on very hard-packed soil, which adds additional variables: bounces depend on how healthy the grass is, how recently it has been mowed, and the wear and tear of recent play.[12]Points are usually very quick where fast, low bounces keep rallies short, and theserve plays a more important role than on other surfaces. Grass courts thus tend to favour serve-and-volley tennis players.
Grass courts were once among the most common tennis surfaces, but are now rare due to high maintenance costs, as they must be watered and mown often, and take a longer time to dry after rain than hard courts.
Historically for theGrand Slams grass courts have been used atWimbledon since 1877, theUS Open from 1881 to 1974, and theAustralian Open from 1905 to 1987.
Hard courts are made of uniform rigid material, often covered with anacrylic surface layer[7] to offer greater consistency of bounce than other outdoor surfaces.[13] Hard courts can vary in speed, though they are faster than clay but not as fast as grass courts. The quantity of sand added to the paint can greatly affect the rate at which the ball slows down.[14] As well as acrylic, asphalt and concrete are also examples of hard court surfaces.
TheUS Open is played onLaykold while theAustralian Open is played onGreenSet, both acrylic-topped hard court surfaces.
Historically for theGrand Slams hard courts have been used at the US Open since 1978 and the Australian Open since 1988.
"Carpet" in tennis means any removable court covering.[7] Indoor arenas store rolls of rubber-backed court surfacing and install it temporarily for tennis events, but they are not in use any more for professional events. A shortpiled form ofartificial turf infilled with sand is used for some outdoor courts, particularly in Asia. Carpet is generally a fast surface, faster than hardcourt, with low bounce.[7]
Notable tennis tournaments previously held on carpet courts were theWCT Finals,Paris Masters,U.S. Pro Indoor andKremlin Cup. Since 2009, their use has been discontinued on the top tier of the ATP.ATP Challenger Tour tournaments such as theTrofeo Città di Brescia still use carpet courts. The WTA Tour's last carpet court event, theInternational-levelTournoi de Québec, was discontinued after 2018.
Some tennis courts are indoors, which allows play regardless of weather conditions and is more comfortable for spectators.
Different court surfaces have been used indoors. Hard courts are most common indoors, as they are the easiest to install and maintain. If the installation is permanent, they are constructed on an asphalt or concrete base, as with outdoor courts. Temporary indoor hard courts are typically constructed using wooden floor panels topped with acrylic which are installed over the venue's standard floor. This is the system used for modern indoor professional events such as theATP Finals.
Clay courts can be installed indoors with subsurface watering systems to keep the clay from drying out, and have been used forDavis Cup matches.
Carpet courts were once the most prominent of indoor surfaces, especially in temporary venues, but have largely been replaced by removable hard courts. They were used on both theATP World Tour andWorld Championship Tennis circuits, though no events currently use them.
Historically, other surfaces have been used indoors such aswood courts at the defunctWorld Covered Court Championships andLondon Indoor Professional Championships.
The conclusion of theWimbledon Championships, in 2012, was played on the lawn ofCentre Court under the closed roof and artificial lights; theHalle Open has also seen a number of matches played on its grass court in theGerry Weber Stadion with the roof closed. These, however, are outdoor venues with retractable roofs.
Below are photographs of a number of different surfaces, each featuring their relevant ITF surface code:
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Common tennis court terms:
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