LESSON 1 OF 8 • BEGINNER • 5 MIN
How a Tennis Court Works
The short answer
A tennis court is a 78-foot-long rectangle split by a net. It is 27 feet wide for singles and 36 feet wide for doubles. The ball must land inside the lines on the other side, and a ball that touches a line counts as in.
Why the lines matter
New players tend to stare at the ball and ignore the floor. Fair enough. But the lines are the entire rulebook for where a shot is good, and once you know their names, every coach and every video starts to make sense.
The lines, from back to front
The baseline is the line at the back. You stand behind it to serve and near it during most rallies. The two long lines down the sides come in pairs. The inner pair are the singles sidelines. The outer pair are the doubles sidelines, and the thin strip between them is the doubles alley. In singles, a ball in the alley is out. In doubles, it's in.
Closer to the net you'll see the service line, 21 feet from the net. It makes a box with the net and the sidelines, and a line down the middle (the center service line) splits that box in two. Those are the two service boxes. Your serve has to land in the one diagonally across from you.
The net
The net is 3 feet high in the middle and a little taller, 3.5 feet, at the posts. That small dip in the center is why a ball hit straight down the middle is easier to clear than a ball hit near the edge.
Deuce side and ad side
You'll hear these two names constantly. Stand behind the baseline facing the net. The right half is the deuce side. The left half is the ad side. You'll learn why in the scoring lesson. For now, just know that you serve from the right side at the start of a game and swap sides after each point.
Common beginner mistakes
- Calling a ball out when it touched the line. If any part of the ball touches the line, it's in.
- Forgetting that the doubles alley is out during singles.
- Serving into the wrong box. It's always the diagonal one.
Try this at the court
- Walk the whole court once and say each line's name out loud. It sounds silly and it works.
- Stand on the baseline and point to the service box you'd serve into from the right side.
Questions people ask
How long is a tennis court?
A full tennis court is 78 feet (23.77 meters) from baseline to baseline.
Is a ball that hits the line in or out?
It's in. If any part of the ball touches the line, the shot is good.
What is the doubles alley?
It's the 4.5-foot strip along each side of the court. It counts as in during doubles and out during singles.