Pickleball Court Lines and Dimensions Explained

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Courts all look similar once the paint is down, but every line has a name and a rule behind it. Here's the whole layout, what it's called, and why it matters when you're playing.

Overall dimensions

A regulation pickleball court is 20 feet wide and 44 feet long, measured outside the lines, and it's the same for singles and doubles. That's the footprint of a doubles badminton court, which is why so many tennis and basketball facilities convert existing courts to pickleball. Net height is 36 inches at the sidelines and 34 inches in the middle (the net sags slightly at center).

Standard conversion: one tennis court fits up to four pickleball courts, which is how many parks scale quickly.

The lines, one by one

• Baselines. The end lines, 44 feet apart. Serves must land beyond the non-volley zone and inside the baseline and sideline of the diagonal service court.
• Sidelines. The 44-foot side boundaries. Balls landing outside them (in boundaries play) are out.
• Non-volley zone ("the kitchen") lines. Two parallel lines 7 feet from the net on both sides, spanning the full 20-foot width. Everything between these lines and the net is the kitchen.
• Centerlines. Running from each baseline to the kitchen line, splitting the service area into left (even) and right (odd) service courts.

The kitchen, briefly

The non-volley zone exists to kill the "smash everything at the net" strategy and keep rallies alive. You may step into the kitchen to play a ball that has bounced, but you cannot hit a volley (a ball out of the air) while any part of you or your paddle touches the zone, including its lines. The rule carries into momentum too: if you volley and your momentum carries you into the kitchen, it's a fault, even if your feet never land out of the air.

Reading a converted court

Converted tennis and basketball courts often have extra paint. The reliable identifiers are the 7-foot kitchen lines so close to the net, nothing else in other racket sports sits like that. If lines look ambiguous (shared blends especially), ask the venue or check posted court rules before playing a scored game on them.

Why this matters for players

Knowing the geometry up front means fewer "was that in?" arguments, and it matters when you move between venues: public park conversions vary, indoor facilities vary, and lines are where most disagreement lives.