To play pickleball, you need to use a tennis court, whether it’s at a club, your home, or a public park. But before you get started, you’ll have to make a few adjustments. With the help of this quick guide, you’ll learn how to use a tennis court to play pickleball with ease. If you’re playing on a tennis club court instead of a home court, consult the manager to ensure you’re allowed to make the following adjustments.

Adjusting Your Net

When playing pickleball, the net needs to be at a height of 36 inches on each end, with the center measuring at a height of 34 inches. This differs slightly from tennis nets, which have a middle height of 36 inches, with each end of the net reaching a height of 42 inches.

For a more convenient and temporary means of playing, you can use portable pickleball nets instead of an existing tennis net. Those portable nets will be especially useful in scenarios in which the court either lacks a net altogether or if the net can be removed but not altered.

Creating Your Boundaries

The most challenging part of learning how to use a tennis court to play pickleball is creating the boundaries because, just like with the net, pickleball court dimensions are slightly different from those of a tennis court. A pickleball court should have a width of 20 feet and a length of 40 feet, which is less than half the size of most tennis courts.

Another boundary you’ll have to see is the non-volley zone, which is the seven feet of space directly in front of the net on both sides. You can mark these boundaries with the help of tape, chalk, or even paint. Once you have the net and court ready to go, all you need is a team of excited players and the right gear to play pickleball.

Don’t worry about compromising certain dimensions if you don’t have the available space. If the tennis court you’re playing on is smaller than most, just make sure you have two service boxes beside one another on each side of the net, as well as that non-volley zone in the center, to optimize it for pickleball. Try to meet the dimensions as closely as you can, but if you can’t, you can still get in a fun and heart-pumping workout.