Pickleball

Pickleball has one court, and one document that defines it. USA Pickleball publishes the Official Rulebook, and its Court and Equipment section sets the playing surface, the lines and the net. A regulation court is 44 ft (13.41 m) long and 20 ft (6.10 m) wide, the same for singles and doubles, with a 7 ft (2.13 m) non-volley zone at each end. This hub collects what the rulebook states, what has to be calculated from it, and what it only recommends. The pickleball court diagram below shows each line in place.

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Dimensions and layouts

Rules 3.A.1 and 3.A.2 give the court as 44 ft (13.41 m) by 20 ft (6.10 m), measured to the outside edge of the lines. There are no singles sidelines and no shorter singles court, so the marked rectangle never changes between formats. Rule 3.A.4.c places the non-volley zone line parallel to the net, 7 ft (2.13 m) from it, running the full width between the sidelines; the line itself is part of the zone. Lines should be 2 in (5.08 cm) wide, all the same color, and clearly contrasting with the surface. Behind the kitchen line, a center line divides each end into two service courts. The rulebook prints no size for a service court, so the 15 ft (4.57 m) depth and 10 ft (3.05 m) width shown here are marked derived: simple arithmetic from the court and zone figures.

The rulebook handles the space around the court in two ways. Rule 3.A.3 requires a minimum playing surface of 30 ft × 60 ft (9.14 m × 18.29 m), and that part is a rule. The same rule then recommends 34 ft × 64 ft (10.36 m × 19.51 m) for new construction and tournament play, and 50 ft × 80 ft (15.24 m × 24.38 m) for a stadium court; those two are recommendations only. The rulebook sets no minimum ceiling height for indoor play, so no overhead figure is published here. The full table and the line-by-line explanation are in the pickleball court dimensions, markings and layout guide.

Equipment

The net has two fixed heights, and the rulebook states both as requirements. Rule 3.B.6 sets 36 in ± 1/4 in (91.44 cm ± 0.635 cm) where the net crosses the outer edge of each sideline, and rule 3.B.7 sets 34 in ± 1/4 in (86.36 cm ± 0.635 cm) at the center, taken over the center strap where one is fitted. The 2 in drop between them is deliberate. It is not sag.

The 36 in figure is the one most often misreported. It is the height at the outer edge of the sideline, not at the net post, which stands a further 1 ft (0.30 m) outside it; the rulebook gives no height at the post face at all. Rule 3.B.2 spaces the posts 22 ft ± 1 in (6.71 m ± 2.54 cm) apart, inside face to inside face, and caps post diameter at 3 in (7.62 cm). Rule 3.B.3 requires a net at least 21 ft 9 in (6.63 m) long and at least 30 in (76.2 cm) deep from bottom edge to top, and rule 3.B.4 binds the top edge with 2 in (5.08 cm) of white tape. Paddle and ball standards are set elsewhere and are not covered on this page.

Overhead plan

The same surface seen from straight above, drawn to scale. Nothing is foreshortened here, so every figure can be read off the drawing the way a tape measure would take it.

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Detail sheet

A rule book fixes more than the shape of the surface, and the rest of it is too small to draw at court scale: a mark a few centimeters long, a post standing a meter off the sideline, the clearance around the whole thing. Each one here has its own frame and its own scale.

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Official sources

Every pickleball figure on this site comes from the USA Pickleball Official Rulebook. Watch the section number: Court and Equipment was Section 2 through 2025 and became Section 3 in 2026, though no dimension changed with it. USA Pickleball’s Equipment Standards Manual defers to the Rulebook for court, line and net specifications, so the Rulebook is the sole authority for these figures. Playfield Atlas last checked them on September 5, 2026.

• USA Pickleball, 2026 USA Pickleball Official Rulebook, 2026 edition, Section 3, Court and Equipment.
• USA Pickleball, 2025 USA Pickleball Official Rulebook, 2025 edition, Section 2.
• USA Pickleball, 2026 Rulebook Change Document, 2026 edition.
• USA Pickleball, Equipment Standards Manual, Revision 3.0, January 2025.

The Playfield Atlas methodology describes how each figure is read, labeled official, derived or recommended, and dated. If a number here looks wrong, report it through corrections.