A regulation pickleball court is 20 feet by 44 feet. The same size is used for both singles and doubles. Below: every measurement that matters, plus how it compares to a tennis court.
A regulation pickleball court measures 20 feet wide by 44 feet long. That’s the playing surface inside the lines. Both singles and doubles use the same court, unlike tennis where the singles court is narrower than the doubles court.
The total area of the court itself is 880 square feet. USA Pickleball recommends a total playing area of at least 30 by 60 feet (1,800 sq ft) to give players room to chase wide balls and follow through behind the baseline.
Each half of the court has a non-volley zone that extends 7 feet back from the net. This is universally called the kitchen. The zone runs the full 20-foot width of the court.
The kitchen exists to prevent players from camping at the net and slamming volleys. You can step into the kitchen, but you cannot volley the ball (hit it before it bounces) while any part of your body is touching the kitchen line or the zone behind it.
The kitchen line itself is part of the kitchen. Touching it during a volley is a fault.
Behind each kitchen is the service area, which runs from the kitchen line back to the baseline (the line at the back of the court). The service area is divided down the middle by a centerline, creating two service boxes on each side: a right service box and a left service box.
Each service box measures 15 feet long by 10 feet wide (half of the 20-foot width).
When serving, the server must stand behind the baseline and inside the imaginary extensions of the centerline and sideline. The serve must land in the diagonal service box on the receiver’s side.
The net spans the full 20-foot width of the court at the middle of the court (22 feet from each baseline). It is:
The two-inch dip in the middle is standard. Most permanent court installations use a fixed net post system; portable nets for outdoor public courts often have a tensioning mechanism to maintain the 34-inch center height.
A pickleball court is roughly one-quarter the size of a tennis court.
| Surface | Dimensions | Area |
|---|---|---|
| Pickleball court | 20 × 44 ft | 880 sq ft |
| Tennis court (doubles) | 36 × 78 ft | 2,808 sq ft |
| Tennis court (singles) | 27 × 78 ft | 2,106 sq ft |
That’s why a single tennis court can typically accommodate up to four pickleball courts marked with overlay lines, or two dedicated pickleball courts side-by-side with full safety run-off space. See our reference on how many pickleball courts fit on a tennis court for the layout details.
The dimensions are the same regardless of surface. See our reference on pickleball court surfaces for the materials commonly used.
For orientation, USA Pickleball recommends a north-south alignment when possible, so the sun crosses the court sideways rather than blinding either player at the start and end of the day. This is the same orientation convention used for tennis.
Standard pickleball court lines are 2 inches wide and painted in a contrasting color to the surface. Common combinations: white on green, yellow on blue, blue on green, depending on the surface coating. On shared tennis-court overlays, pickleball lines are usually drawn in a distinct color (often blue or red) so players can quickly distinguish pickleball boundaries from tennis ones.