thumb|right|Indoor tennis courts at the [[TeamBath|University of Bath, England]]

A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles 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.

Dimensions

thumb|The dimensions of a tennis court.

The dimensions of a tennis court are defined and regulated by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) governing body and are written down in the annual 'Rules of Tennis' document. The court is long. Its width is for singles matches and for doubles matches. The service line is from the net. The net posts are outside the doubles court on each side or, for a singles net, outside the singles court on each side.

Based on the standard rules of tennis, the size of the court is measured to the outside of the respective baselines and sidelines. 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 , the other lines are between wide, whereas the baseline may be up to wide.

Surfaces

thumb|Tennis court in [[Petäjävesi, Finland]]

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 and carpet courts. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) lists different surfaces and properties and classifies surfaces into one of five pace settings:

  • Category 1 (slow)
  • Category 2 (medium-slow)
  • Category 3 (medium)
  • Category 4 (medium-fast)
  • Category 5 (fast)

Of the current four Grand Slam tournaments, the Australian and US Open use hard courts, the French Open is played on clay, and Wimbledon, 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 the West Side Tennis Club to the National Tennis Center in 1978.

ITF uses the following classification for tennis court surface types:

{|class="sortable wikitable"

|-bgcolor=

|width="60"|Surface code

|width="100"|Type

|width="450"|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

thumbnail|The [[French Open is played on clay courts.]]

Clay courts are made of crushed shale, stone or brick.

right|thumb|Clay courts can come in many colors. Clockwise from top-left: red, green ([[Clay court#Green clay|HarTru), blue, gray]]

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.

Historically for the Grand Slams clay courts have been used at the French Open since 1891 and the US Open from 1975 to 1977 (on green clay).

Grass courts

thumb|right|Grass court maintenance at [[The Championships, Wimbledon|Wimbledon]]

Grass courts are the fastest type of courts in common use. Points are usually very quick where fast, low bounces keep rallies short, and the serve 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 the Grand Slams grass courts have been used at Wimbledon since 1877, the US Open from 1881 to 1974, and the Australian Open from 1905 to 1987.

Hard courts

thumb|right|Rooftop tennis hardcourts in Downtown [[Singapore]]

Hardcourts are made of uniform rigid material, often covered with an acrylic surface layer Hardcourts 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. As well as acrylic, asphalt and concrete are also examples of hardcourt surfaces.

The US Open is played on Laykold while the Australian Open is played on GreenSet, both acrylic-topped hardcourt surfaces.

Historically for the Grand Slams hardcourts have been used at the US Open since 1978 and the Australian Open since 1988.

Carpet courts

thumb|Artificial turf tennis courts in [[Nicosia, Cyprus]]

"Carpet" in tennis means any removable court covering. 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 short piled form of artificial 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. The lanes on each side of the singles court. These are only used when playing doubles.

  • Back court: The area between the baseline and the service line.
  • Baseline: The rearmost line of the court, furthest from and parallel to the net.
  • Center service line: The line dividing the two service boxes on each side.
  • Center mark: The 4-inch mark at the halfway point of the baseline used to distinguish the two halves (and service boxes) of a tennis court.
  • Deuce service box or deuce court: The receiver's right side service box, or the opponent's left for the server, significant as the receiving side for a deuce point.
  • Service box: The area on each side bounded by the singles sideline, the service line, and the net. There are left and right service boxes, separated by the center service line.
  • Service line: The line that is parallel to the net and is located between the baseline and the net. It marks the end of the service boxes.
  • Side T: The T shape formed by the service line and the singles sideline. There are four such side Ts, two on each side of the net.
  • T or Middle T: The T shape formed by the service line and the center service line.

See also

  • List of tennis stadiums by capacity
  • No-line court

References

  • International Tennis Federation (ITF) – Tennis court construction guidelines