A Summary of Pickleball Court Dimensions
- A standard pickleball court is measured in feet and should be 44 feet long and 20 feet wide. When measured in meters, this would be precisely 13.41 meters long and 6.10 meters wide, for those of you playing outside of the United States or the United Kingdom.
- Outside of the standard court — where the centerline, sideline, baseline, non-volley line, kitchen, left service area, and right service area are located — the total play area should be a minimum of 30 by 60 feet, according to recommendations. Again, for those of you playing outside of the United States or United Kingdom, this would be a total play area of 9.14 meters by 18.28 meters.
- These are the measurements recommended for indoor play of pickleball. In addition to the parameters of the pickleball court itself, as well as the total play area allotted, when playing indoors, a total of indoor height clearance of 18 feet is the recommendation.
- Based upon these measurements, the baseline of the pickleball court should be precisely 22 total feet — or 6.71 meters — from the pickleball net.
- On either side of the pickleball net, a non-volley zone should extend exactly seven feet, or 2.13 meters, on not one, but both sides of the pickleball net itself.
- Additionally, the service areas on both sides of the pickleball net, in other words, both the left and right side service areas, should be exactly 10 feet, or 3.05 meters, wide, and should be 15 feet, or 4.57 meters, long.
- In pickleball, the posts for the net are required to extend beyond both sidelines by a recommended distance of precisely a single foot, or 12 inches.
- In pickleball, the height of the net should be three feet, or 36 total inches in height where the sidelines are on either side, while the pickleball net should measure just 34 inches at the exact center of the pickleball court.
- Importantly, all of these measurements should always be taken from the outside area of all court lines, including both the sidelines and baseline.
Pickleball Court Dimensions as Compared to Court Sizes in Other Similar Sports
In an effort to help the viewer understand the differences as well as the similarities of a pickleball court as compared to the courts of other, similar sports, let us first review the most commonly accepted dimensions of the courts used in five different and unrelated court sports. These will be presented in order from volleyball, tennis, ice hockey, indoor soccer, and basketball, respectively.
Volleyball
The dimensions for an official indoor volleyball court are as follows:
- From baseline to baseline, the indoor volleyball court is exactly 59 feet, or 18 meters, in length
- From sideline to sideline, the indoor volleyball court is exactly 29.5 feet, or nine meters, in width
- For men’s indoor volleyball, the net is seven feet and 11 and 5/8 inches, or 2.43 meters tall
- For women’s indoor volleyball, the height of the net is seven feet and four and 1/8 inches, or 2.24 meters tall
- For youth indoor volleyball (for both boys and girls) the height of the net should be exactly seven feet, or 2.13 meters tall
- For youth under 10 (regardless of gender), a volleyball net will be six feet and six inches, or 1.98 meters, tall
Tennis
The dimensions for an official indoor tennis court are as follows:
According to the standards set forth by ITF regulations, in order for an indoor tennis court to meet the most current standards as set forth as recently as 2021, an indoor tennis court must have the following dimensions and must be either fabric frame structure, rigid frame structure, or air-supported structure.
- From baseline to baseline must be 78 feet in length
- From sideline to sideline must be 36 feet in width
- The minimum overhead clearance, per ITF regulation, must be 40 feet as measured from the top of the ceiling to the top of the net in the center of the court itself
In addition to these dimensions, an indoor tennis court must also be accompanied by the correct ceiling insulation and supporting system, the correct system for lighting the actual court itself, and both the air conditioning and heating systems as well as the ventilation must meet ITF standards.
The standards for height above nets for indoor tennis as set by ITF is as follows:
- Recreational: 29.5 feet, or nine meters
- Tournament: 40 feet, or 12.2 meters
- Davis Cup: 29.5 feet, or nine meters
- Davis Cup World Group: 39.4 feet, or 12 meters
Ice Hockey
The dimensions for an official ice hockey court are as follows:
The specifications set forth by the National Hockey League (NHL) are used as the basis for nearly all hockey rinks within North America, and are as follows:
- From baseline to baseline, including the area behind both goalies, the length of the court, or rink, is 200 feet, or 60.96 meters
- From sideline to sideline, the width of the court, or hockey rink, is 85 feet, or 25.9 meters
- Both of the goal lines in hockey rinks measured as such by National Hockey League standards observe a goal line of 11 feet or 3.4 meters from the end boards
- The “blue lines” observed by the National Hockey League measure 75 feet, or 22.9 meters, from end boards
- The “blue lines” observed by the National Hockey League measure 50 feet, or 15.2 meters, apart from one another
Indoor Soccer
The dimensions for an official indoor soccer court are as follows:
Just as with the regulations set forth by the National Hockey League, an indoor soccer field, or court, for the purposes of this article, are 200 feet in length and 85 feet in width or 60.96 meters by 25.9 meters.
Basketball
The dimensions for an official basketball court are as follows:
Both the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) make use of a regulation court, which is 94 feet in length and 50 feet in width.
The dimensions within the court are as follows:
- The foul line is a distance of 15 feet from the front of the backboard on both sides of the court
- The foul line is a distance of 18 feet and 10 inches from the baseline of the court
- The key, which can also be sometimes referred to as “the lane,” is precisely 16 feet wide
- The three-point line, or arc, is exactly 22 feet from the center of the court (when the arc is accounted for) while without accounting for the arc, the distance is instead 16 feet and nine inches away from the baseline of the court
So, How Does Pickleball Stack Up, Size-Wise?
As a point of reference in terms of the size of a pickleball court, consider that:
- One pickleball court would fit inside a volleyball court
- Four pickleball courts would fit inside a tennis court
- Six pickleball courts would fit inside an ice hockey rink (court)
- Four pickleball courts would fit inside an indoor soccer court
- Three pickleball courts would fit inside a basketball court
Now that you know all about the dimensions of a pickleball court, and how they stack up to the dimensions of the courts (and rinks) of other sports, you can reasonably discern whether or not you have the space for it — and whether it’s a reasonable project for you to undertake in terms of cost. Good luck!