How Many Pickleball Courts Fit On A Tennis Court?

How Many Pickleball Courts Fit On A Tennis Court?

Transitioning or converting a tennis court into pickleball courts is easy to do since a tennis court is so much bigger than a pickleball court. You have a ton of space to work with. In fact, it’s possible to fit multiple pickleball courts onto one tennis court. But just how many pickleball courts fit on a tennis court?

It is possible to fit up to four pickleball courts on one tennis court. A pickleball court is 20ft wide by 44ft long, where a standard tennis court is 36ft wide and 78ft long. This means that you can put two pickleball courts side by side on either side of a tennis net, making a total of four courts.

Read on to learn more about how many pickleball courts you can fit on a tennis court but more importantly, how to transition a tennis court into multiple pickleball courts.

How Many Pickleball Courts Can You Fit On One Tennis Court?

You can fit a maximum of four pickleball courts on one standard tennis court. Still, there are benefits from implementing each pickleball court layout, including one or two pickleball courts per tennis court. The right one to choose depends on your needs, equipment, and whether the court has angled edges.

In this article, I’m going to take you through each lay out – from one pickleball court on a tennis court all the way to four pickleball courts on a single tennis court.

Keep reading to learn which is the easiest solution for you.

Related Content: Click here for my in-depth, beginners guide on how to properly paint pickleball lines on a tennis court. It’s actually easier than you think.

One Pickleball Court Per Tennis Court

The easiest and simplest way to convert a tennis court into a pickleball court is by using the same net, lowering it a couple of inches, and laying out the pickleball court lines right on top of the existing court.You can do this just by adding another set of lines to the court. You then have the option to use the court for either tennis or pickleball with minimal adjustments.My neighborhood tennis court has this and it’s easy to see the blue pickleball court lines compared to the white lines on the tennis court. This is an easy option and one that any public tennis court should have in my opinion.  

Two Pickleball Courts Per Tennis Court

If you need to fit at least a pair of pickleball courts on a tennis court, you can stack two pickleball courts lengthwise on either side of the tennis net. This type of set up requires two portable pickleball nets on either side of the tennis net.

In this case, the tennis net acts as a backdrop to prevent the pickleball from exiting the entire playing area and getting in the way of the other game. This layout requires two dedicated pickleball nets.

My Recommended Product: I own the PickleNet Portable Pickleball Net System and it’s the only one I recommend. It’s relatively light weight and takes under 10 min for a single person to set up.

Four Pickleball Courts Per Tennis Court

If you need the maximum number of pickleball courts per tennis court, you can fit four pickleball courts into one tennis court by lining up two on either side of the tennis net.

Like with a two-court setup, you can use the tennis net as a dividing backdrop to keep the pickleball from getting in the way of another game, and you’ll need to provide your own pickleball nets.

Visit www.usapickleball.org for more helpful diagrams on different pickleball court on a tennis court type of set ups.

The downside to having four pickleball courts on one tennis court is that it is really crowded and the lines can be very confusing. The singles lines and the doubles lines on the tennis court can make the out of bounds lines for pickleball unclear.

And if the out of bounds lines are unclear, it’s going to have a negative impact on the game.

In my opinion, four pickleball courts on one tennis court is not ideal.

How Big Is a Pickleball Court Relative to a Tennis Court?

A pickleball court is significantly smaller than a tennis court designed for singles matches. That’s why it’s so easy to fit multiple pickleball courts inside one tennis court.

How Big Is A Pickleball Court?

A pickleball court is 20 feet wide by 44 feet long. Each service area is ten feet across, and the court’s length from one corner to the other is 44 feet. The net in the center of the court is 36 inches high at the sides and 34 inches in the middle. The non-volley zone is seven feet across.

How Big Is A Tennis Court?

A regulation tennis court measures 36 feet wide by 78 feet long. The service areas are 13.5 feet wide and 21 feet long each, and the area behind the service line (“No Man’s Land”) is 18 feet long by 27 feet across. The doubles alley measures 39 feet long and 4.5 feet wide.

Comparing A Pickleball Court With A Tennis Court

A pickleball court is about half as wide as a singles tennis court, and when laid directly on top of a tennis court, extends past the service line into No Man’s Land by about two feet.

This makes it easy to fit not just one but multiple pickleball courts inside one tennis court.

How To Transition A Tennis Court Into Pickleball Courts

If you’re looking to transition a tennis court into pickleball courts, you have several options depending on whether you want a permanent conversion or a temporary one.

Some people prefer to add pickleball lines to a tennis court to use it for either, while others want to make the most of the space available by positioning pickleball courts on either side of the tennis net using smaller portable pickleball nets.

The final options some park and recreational centers opt for (when no one is using the tennis courts) is to permanently reconstruct the tennis courts into pickleball courts.

This is becoming more common where parks will downsize 6 tennis courts into 6 pickleball courts and keep three tennis courts. Some have even transitioned solely to pickleball and ditched their tennis courts completely.

How To Add Pickleball Lines To A Tennis Court

You can add pickleball lines to a tennis court with chalk, paint, or tape, depending on whether you want the lines to be more permanent or temporary.Blue contractor’s chalk is especially popular because it makes somewhat durable markings that you can easily wash off when necessary.Another option is to purchase a kit of vinyl rubber corners and sidelines to place inside the tennis court, like the yellow and red Yaegoo Pickleball Court Spot Markers.These include a silicone backing for minimal skid and are 2.9 inches in width. The package comes with four corner line markets and eight straight lines, enough for half a pickleball court.There are other court line marker products available to create your own pickleball court without laying tape or permanent paint.Quick Tip: If you choose a one pickleball court per tennis court design and plan to use the same net, you’ll need to tighten the center strap to bring the net down to 34 inches in the center. If this makes the net’s overall tension too tight, you can also loosen the net with the ratchet adjuster at the side post.

For more on why a pickleball net is not quite the same height as a tennis net – I created this helpful guide here.

You can also purchase portable pickleball nets for easy setup and teardown. Again, I recommend the PickleNet Portable Net System. This net springs up easily, with pipes that connect together and a center strap to bring the net to the proper height. It even comes with an easy carrying case for transport.

Because a tennis court is so big, it’s a good idea to set up a temporary barrier of some kind to keep the balls from traversing the entire length of the court, as this can slow down games.

Some materials you can use as a backdrop include orange plastic construction fencing, green plastic garden fencing, and PVC pipe.

Tips for Creating Pickleball Courts on a Tennis Court

As you’re making your new pickleball courts, there are several things you should consider to make sure that you end up with the best possible playing surface. These include the following:

• Ensure that you set up the pickleball courts facing north to south so that the sun is never directly in a player’s eyes. It’s generally not a good idea to set up pickleball courts perpendicular to a tennis court, which likely already follows this rule.
• Be sure the playing surface is thoroughly cleaned and free of debris before adding any kind of chalk or paint.
• Consider purchasing a tennis net adjuster like the Convert a Net Tennis Net Converter to make it easier to adapt a tennis net into a pickleball net.
• Choose a different color for your pickleball lines than the original tennis lines to avoid any confusion between the two.

How Many Pickleball Courts Fit On A Tennis Court – Conclusion

You can fit four pickleball courts into one tennis court or fewer if the tennis court has angled edges or you want to make use of the tennis net for a pickleball game.

In the case that you want to set up one pickleball court on one tennis court, you can simply adjust the strap in the middle to bring the net down a few inches to meet regulation standards.