Tennis Court Layout

Tennis Court Layout - Below is a picture of a tennis court that is color coded and labeled with a simple explanation of the terms. I have used common words and not always official terms. Trying to define the feel of the game.




During play if the ball bounce on the green area it is out and the point ends for both singles and doubles. In singles if the ball bounces in the yellow area it is also out and the point is over.

Lines are consider good and the point should continue. On most court surfaces the ball will bounce different if it hits a line. With it being easy to hit a ball that bounces on the line on a hard or concrete court. To impossible to hit at times on a clay court, but the ball is still in play.

The ball bounces very different on a clay court because the lines are usually made of a vinyl and nailed into the clay, the lines on a clay court are very different material than a clay court.

Color Coded Areas

Dark Blue - is the deuce service box.
Light Blue - is the ad service box.

The service boxes are labeled based on the tennis scoring system. When the score is deuce you always serve to the deuce service box. When the score is ad in or ad out you service to the ad service box. You start serving to the deuce service box.

If the total number of points played for that game is even you serve to the deuce service box, if the total is odd you service to the ad service box.


Red - is no man's land.

This is not an official term. You do not want to play from no man's land. The ball tends to bounce in no man's land and it is hard to hit a bouncing ball. So you should play tennis by standing either just behind the baseline or just behind the net.


Yellow - are the doubles alleys.

They are only used for doubles or when four people are playing. If you are playing singles with one other person the doubles alleys our out.

Lines

The tennis court layout starts on the sides and working towards the middles of the court.

Doubles Lines the very outside lines and used for doubles play or 4 players.

Singles Lines are separated from the Doubles Lines by the Yellow doubles alleys These lines are used only for singles or 2 players.

Center Service Line divides the court in half and used to determine where to serve.

Lines going across the court headed towards the net.

Baseline marks the end of the court, a ball hit past this line is called long.

Center Mark is little tab usually only 3 to 6 inches long marking the center of the court. The center tab is to help easily tell which side of the court to serve from.

Service Line serves have to bounce before the service line or they are called long, just like the baseline during a point.






4/21/2009

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