Different court dimensions

A tennis court should be rectangular, with a length of 23.77 metres, or 78 feet.

For singles matches, the court should have a width of 8.23 metres, or 27 feet. For doubles matches, however, the width of the court needs to be 36 feet, or 10.97 metres.

The tennis court is of course also divided in two because of the net, attached to two poles on the side of the court. The height of the net at the poles should be 3.5 feet (1.07 metres), and 3 feet (0.91 metres) in the middle, as indicated on the image below.

The net is pulled down in the middle by means of a band that is anchored into the ground. The net must be hung in such a way that it completely fills the space between the two net poles. The net, of course, needs to be tightly knit so that the ball cannot get through while playing.

Precise measurements

For doubles tennis matches, the centres of the net posts must be 3 feet, or 0.91 metres, outside of the doubles court on each side.

For singles tennis courts, where a singles net is used, the centres of the net posts must be 3 feet, or 0.91 metres, outside the singles court on each side.

If a doubles tennis net is used, then the net must be supported by two single sticks, at the height of 3.5 feet (1.07 metres), the centres of which must be 3 feet outside the singles court on each side.

The net posts and single sticks should not be larger than 6 inches or 3 inches respectively, and both should not be more than 1 inch above the top of the net cord.

Different lines
The line furthest back on each side of the tennis court is called the baseline or the back line. The lines on the side are, as you would expect, sidelines.

On each playing half there is a service line, which runs parallel to the net. On a singles court, these lines must be drawn 21 feet (or 6.4 metres) from each side of the net. Another line must be drawn between the service line and the net, dividing the service area into two equal parts. This line is the centre serviceline, parallel to the sidelines and equidistant to both of them (directly in the middle).

Line thickness
Each baseline must be divided in half by a centre mark, 4 inches (10 cm) in length, which is drawn inside the court and parallel to the sidelines. It must also not be any wider than 4 inches. The serviceline and centre serviceline should be 2 inches (5 cm) wide. All other lines on the court must be between 1 and 2 inches (2.5 - 5 cm).

All lines on the court must be the same colour, and the colour must be in clearly contrasted to the colour of the court.