How to Make a Mini Tennis Court (A Step-by-Step Guide)

Imagine walking to your own tennis court a few steps from your bed. How cool would that be!? For the average Joe or Jane (or anybody that’s not crazy rich) this might sound very surreal. What if I tell you that for a few dollars you can have your own tennis court? (Ok! mini tennis court!). These size of courts are used for the USTA 10&U programs, as well as, for Touch Tennis.

Making Your Mini Tennis Court:

First, you’ll need to find enough space at home for the mini tennis court. Then, you’ll need to make the net with two chairs and caution tape, and, finally, you’ll need to do the lines with some masking tape or chalk by using the appropriate measurements

Keep reading to find out step by step on how you can make your own mini tennis court at home!

1st step: Find a location

Space Needed

Before you decide on whether you can build your own mini tennis court at home, you’ll need to figure out if you have enough space in your house to make the court.

Ideally, the court should be 36 feet long by 18 feet wide. Also, you’ll need around 3 feet long by 3 feet wide of extra space to be able to move to the sides and back. So, the total amount of space you should have is 39 feet long and 21 feet wide.

These are some ideas on where you can build the mini court: garage, driveway, parking lot, front or back porch, an empty room, deck, patio, and backyard. Any place that has a sort of flat surface with enough space will do.

I understand that for most of us that’s much more space than we can find in our houses. So, if you need to make the court smaller, try to keep the dimensions of the court proportionate.

2nd step: Get the materials

Once you decided that you have enough space to build the mini tennis court, you’ll need to get the proper materials.

In the following list, you’ll find the materials that you’ll need:

Two chairs
Caution tape
Measuring tape
Scissors
Masking tape(or any kind of tape) or chalk.

The two chairs and the caution tape are to make the net. The caution tapes are those yellow tapes with a warning sign. For the net, you can use a rope, as well. Then, we’ll use the masking tape or chalk to make the lines of the court.

3rd step: Measure the court dimensions

The next step is to measure and mark the boundaries of the court to do the lines.

Net

With the measuring tape, start with the middle of the court, which is where the net will be. Measure 18 feet in the middle and make marks for reference.

Sidelines

Measure the four sidelines of the court. Use the measuring tape, to measure 18 feet from the middle for each sideline. In overall, you’ll need to do four sidelines. The total length of the court should be 36 feet. Again make sure to make marks as a reference for later.

Baselines

For the baselines, you’ll have to measure 18 feet that connect both ends of the sidelines; in total, you’ll need two baselines.

Service lines

Next, measure, on the sidelines, 4.5 feet from the baseline. On each sideline make a mark to do the lines later. These lines that will connect both sidelines is called the service line.

Center service lines

These lines will connect the net with the service line in the middle. So, measure on both service lines and net 9 feet from the sidelines.

4th step: Do the lines

Now that you have the proper measurements for the court, it’s time to make the actual lines. For the lines, you can use masking tape, chalk, or any type of tape you think is appropriate. If you plan to use the court many times, I recommend using masking tape. It will last longer; otherwise, chalk will work.

If you go with masking tape, keep the roll on your hand while doing the line, and when done, cut it with the scissors.

Start by …

doing the four sidelines; the sidelines should be 18 feet long.
Then, do both baselines on each side of the court; they should be 18 feet long.
Next, do both services lines on each side of the court; the service lines should be 18 feet long.
Finally, make the center service line on each side of the court; the center service line should be 13.5 feet long.

5th step: Do the net

So, you’re almost done making your own mini tennis court. For the net, you’ll need two chairs and caution tape. The net should be around 3 feet tall, so make sure the chairs are tall enough so that you can connect the caution tape with the chairs at the height of approximately 3’.

Start by placing both chairs in the middle of the court on each sideline. Then, cut around 20 feet of caution tape, and tie both ends to each chair so that the tape is hanging 3 feet tall from the ground. It doesn’t have to be exactly 3 feet tall, but try to stay around that height to keep it more realistic.

If you want to take your mini tennis court to the next level, instead of using chairs and caution tape, you can get a portable net. I found this multi-sport height adjustable net for around $50 on Amazon.

What to do you if you don’t have enough space?

I understand that many of you might not have enough space at home to do a full-size mini tennis court. So if you decide to make the court, you can make it smaller but making sure to keep the same court proportions. In the picture below, you can see how to keep the right measurements. Once, you know how long your court is going to be, you can figure out how long do the other lines have to be.

For example: If the total length of your court is 24 inches (X= 24), the other lines should be as follow:

Sideline: 24/2= 12 feet
Baseline: 24/2 = 12 feet
Service line: 24/2 = 12 feet
Centre service line: 24/2.66 = 9 feet

The appropriate balls and racquets to use

To play on your mini tennis court, you’ll need the proper balls and tennis racquets.

Balls

For the balls, you have two options: the Zsig or Qst 36 foam balls. Both of them are made of foam. The main differences are that the Qst 36 ball is bigger, bounce higher and moves faster than the Zsig foam ball.
So, if your court is smaller than the recommended size in this article, I’ll strongly suggest using the Zsig foam ball. This ball will allow you to practice in a smaller space, while at the same time, do full swings when hitting the ball back and forth.

Racquets

For the racquets, the recommended size is around 23 or 22 inches; it can be a little less or a little more. Although, you can use your regular racquet size, using a smaller size racquet will generate less power, making the ball bounce lower and travel slower. This will allow you to play as if you were on a regular court and still manage to hit the ball inside the court.

So, there you have it! Hopefully, you’ll find this guide on how to make your own mini tennis court at home helpful. If you have any questions or ideas, please let us know in the comments below.