Let’s paint a picture in your mind. There are more and more pickleball players in the world all of the time. You are in a new place, and you start feeling the itch to play Pickleball. Google maps is hurriedly opened to search for the nearest Pickleball courts and………there are no courts. You feel deflated. All you wanted to do was play some Pickleball and now your dream is dead.
Bottom line, pickleball enthusiasts want more dedicated pickleball courts. In some areas, it’s hard to find a single pickleball court. However, that is changing as pickleball has become one of the fasting growing sports!
Don’t despair. Fortunately, you are not the only one in this predicament. One of the common Google search results for Pickleball is “How do I play Pickleball on a tennis court?” While it may seem like a barrier between you and a good time, with just a little extra creativity we can get you back on the Pickleball lifestyle in no time. Let’s talk a bit about how to play pickleball on a tennis court and some other unique options for pickleball courts.
Let’s Play Pickleball on a Tennis Court
Our first choice would be playing pickleball on a permanent pickleball court made just for the sport of pickleball. including the proper pickleball lines rather than tennis court lines. Because tennis is a worldwide and much older sport, tennis courts are quite easy to find in many parts of the world.
While there may not be any Pickleball courts near you, there is an almost certain chance that there is a tennis court nearby and it’s usually easy to find local tennis courts. You may very well be able to use an existing tennis court for playing pickleball even if there isn’t an option for permanently painting pickleball lines on a tennis court.
But, can you play pickleball on a tennis court? The diagram below will show a tennis court with drawn-on Pickleball lines in red, so you can see how a Pickleball court can fit into a Tennis court.
As this shows it is very easy to fit a Pickleball court inside an existing tennis court. Since this is a hand drawing here are the exact dimensions.
-A Tennis court is 60 feet wide and 120 feet long
-A Pickleball court is 20 feet wide and 44 feet long
Pickleball courts fit well inside a tennis court if we can mark the lines with tape or even sidewalk chalk is a possibility.
Since this is a Tennis court, there are several key differences between it and a standard Pickleball court. One key difference is the net height. The net height in the center of the Tennis Court is 36 inches, while in Pickleball the center of the net is 34 inches.
You can decrease the net height on the Tennis court by lowering the edges a tiny bit.
Note: The edges on the Tennis court are 42 inches, while on a Pickleball court they are 36 inches. This would make a big difference, but if you are playing on a Tennis court, the edge will spread out far off the court, so the edge height shouldn’t be a huge problem.
OTHER DIFFICULTIES IN ORDER TO PLAY PICKLEBALL ON A TENNIS COURT
Referring to our diagram you’ll see the edge of the Pickleball court comes before the “Singles line” The distance inside the singles line is about 3.5 feet.
The white line these point to is the “singles line.”
One way to get the lines where they need to be is by using cones. This method is easier to make happen but can really lead to a lot of confusion and arguments about whether the ball is in or out, so we wouldn’t suggest it. The right way to approach this method would be with the attitude of giving your opponent the benefit of the doubt if you can’t tell whether the ball landed in bounds or not.
Well, it would be great to permanently paint pickleball lines on the tennis court, but unless it’s your court or one that a friend owns you may not get permission from the court owner to for permanent pickleball lines. However, even if you can get even one pickleball court with the appropriate lines on one tennis court, that’s a good start.
One other way people mark off the lines is with Painters Tape. Painter tape will guarantee defined boundaries, and best of all it’s easy to remove without the worry of damaging the Tennis Court.
There are ways to set up pickleball court lines. If you went with the cones, you could tie a string to the cones and that would get you the defined lines, or any other method you can think of, the point of all this is to get your creative juices flowing.
That way, you don’t have to be limited if there may not be a Pickleball court around you. Always have a good measuring tape when you’re adding pickleball lines and make sure that the pickleball baseline, service line, center line, and kitchen line are marked off correctly.
So, if you take some time and have the correct materials, you can have the pickleball court lines that you need you can have great fun and play pickleball on a tennis court.
Portable Pickleball Nets
You can have all the materials of portable pickleball nets available at any time and the net is a foundational part of a regulation pickleball court.
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BASKETBALL COURTS
All right, you begin your search for that Tennis court, but to your chagrin, there are no Tennis courts. “It shouldn’t be this hard to play Pickleball,” you think to yourself.
Once again, a dash of creativity will see us through this temporary setback. The next court we will look at is a Basketball court.
Is it too late to mention my lack of a Graphic Design degree? While the lines are not perfect, the point I’m attempting to demonstrate is that 3 Pickleball courts can fit inside 1 basketball court. Two pickleball courts fit very easily inside the dimensions of a basketball court. With these courts, pickleball players can mark out the lines and make multiple pickleball courts with tape or paint as well.
The one thing missing from the Basketball courts is the Pickleball nets, how can we play without Pickleball nets? This is not the most convenient problem to solve, and you will probably need to invest in a portable Pickleball net off the internet, or if you are big into DIY then you can DIY a net using PVCs or just do it the best way that you can think of.
Once again, using a basketball court for playing Pickleball comes down to your creativity. It involves some extra effort, but that effort is worth it to play the game you love.
YOUR HOME
What if, to your dismay, there are no available courts to play Pickleball in your city? In this case, you could make a DIY court by your home, or on any available slab of concrete. That’s the beautiful part about creativity you are not limited to an official court to play Pickleball. Grab some cones, or some tape, and make the court yourself by your home.
You can take the design of the standard pickleball court and apply it to these locations. Plus, you can use the portable or DIY Pickleball net you have, and since this is your home, you can make the lines in any way you want.
You can use paint (for a permanent court) chalk (for temporary), or some kind of tape that is temporary.
You could also attach some lights to your court so you could play at any time of the day from the comfort of your own home.
GRASS
I can already see the confusion on your face. Why on earth would I play on grass the ball wouldn’t even bounce? This is a fantastic question. Grass is an unusual medium for playing Pickleball and will need some adjustment. Check out the US Lawn Pickleball Association.
Let’s start with the ball. A standard wiffle ball weighs about .8 ounces and has about 40 few holes in them. One solution has been to use a rubber ball instead, this will allow for easier play on grass. If you decide to use the rubber ball, please, please, please do not hit the rubber ball directly at your opponent, this may cause injury.
The setup for using grass is like the setup using your home. You’ll have to find a good spot; preferably one that is smooth and without many bumps or hidden holes where you could hurt your legs. Other obstacles to watch out for would be hidden rocks or anything that could hurt someone if they fell or ran into it.
For marking the lines you’ll want to use grass-friendly paint. One that I have found is the “Seymour 20-644 Stripe Athletic Field Marker, White” You can get it on Amazon for around 20 dollars. If you don’t want to use the paint, bring out the cones to use, or any other method you have that works for your style.
Playing Pickleball on grass is certainly not the ideal terrain for the game, and is more suited for casual play, but it is useful in a pinch if no other playing field is available to you at the time.
WHAT TO DO WITH THIS INFO
Remember what I said earlier, this article is designed to help get your creative ideas moving around in your head. What we have here are options that you can take in the scenario that you can’t play Pickleball at a typical Pickleball court.
We want this game to be as available to play for anyone at any time in any place. This list is not a fully comprehensive list of every available option out there. You may well be in a situation where nothing I’ve listed here is a place where you can play. The best news of all is that you can take bits and pieces of something you liked in this article and apply them to other possible playing spots.
- Outdoor concrete Hockey Rinks
- Turf fields
- Campgrounds
- Any place you can think of
Pickleball is meant to be enjoyed by everyone. It is our wish that what you have read here will help you enjoy this game with anyone in any location. Now get out and play some Pickleball.
OFFICIAL GUIDELINES
For the official pickleball court dimensions, check out this free resource provided by USA Pickleball. https://usapickleball.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/court-layout-print-version.pdf
Remember that the size of a pickleball court is the size of a doubles badminton court.
OTHER RESOURCES
The field paint https://amzn.to/3VvoJNy
Portable net https://amzn.to/3VvoJNy
Painter’s tape https://amzn.to/3Tdw2Yq
Pickleball balls https://amzn.to/3D88orf
Rubber ball https://amzn.to/3S4usqC
Pickleball and tennis shoes https://allpointspickleball.com/best-shoes-for-pickleball/
