Padel Court Dimensions and Markings (Full Spec Sheet)

Quick Answer: A padel court is 20 m long and 10 m wide inside the enclosure. The net stands 0.88 m at the center, 0.92 m at the posts, and the service lines sit 6.95 m from it. The ends are 4 m tall: 3 m of wall under 1 m of mesh. Free height above: 6 m minimum.

Every number below comes from the FIP Rules of Padel, the edition applied from 1 January 2026. The metric figures are the official ones; the imperial column is a conversion, not a separate standard. For the rules that go with the geometry, start at the padel rules guide.

The spec sheet

The court, described as a walk

Stand at the back of one side with the glass behind you.

Behind your shoulders is 3 m of wall — glass, or a solid material with the same true bounce — and above that another meter of welded metal mesh, so the wall at the ends is 4 m of enclosure in total. Look left and right and the sides are a mix: wall at the corners, mesh in the middle stretch. Walk forward and after roughly 3 m you cross the service line, 6.95 m from the net. From there to the net is the front third of the court where padel is actually won.

The net itself is low by racket-sport standards: 0.88 m in the middle, sagging deliberately, rising to 0.92 m where the cable meets the posts. That difference of 4 cm is why so many balls die in the center of the net and why cross-court volleys travel over the highest part of it.

Turn round and the numbers repeat, exactly. The rulebook requires the two halves to be "absolutely symmetrical".

The markings, and how few there are

Padel has three lines per side and no others: the service line, the center service line splitting the two service boxes, and the outer perimeter of the court. There is no baseline, because the back wall does that job. There is no tramline, because there are no singles and doubles widths on the same court.

Each line is 5 cm wide, in white or black, chosen for contrast with the floor. The center service line has one quirk worth knowing: it must run at least 20 cm beyond the service line, deeper into the court than you would expect. That stub exists to make the serving position judgeable — the server has to stand behind the service line between the imaginary extension of that center line and the side wall.

The walls: two legal layouts

Ask two clubs what a padel court looks like and you will get two answers, because the rulebook permits two side layouts.

• The stepped layout. Wall at each end of the side in two steps: 3 m high for the first 2 m, then 2 m high for the next 2 m. Mesh finishes the enclosure — 3 m tall across the middle 6 m, 4 m at the ends.
• The crystal layout. A single unstepped wall panel 3 m high and 4 m long at each end of the side, with mesh completing 4 m of height across the outer 2 m.

Both are legal, and the difference is not cosmetic. On a stepped court the ball can clear the low second step and leave the court where you did not expect it. On a crystal court the side glass runs a full 4 m in one plane, so more balls come back and rallies last longer.

The mesh is specified too: welded square holes between 5 cm and 7.08 cm across the diagonal, wire 2 to 3 mm thick, tensioned so the ball does bounce off it. That is why the fence rebound is unpredictable rather than impossible — it is a taut grid, and the ball leaves it at whatever angle the wire it struck decides. Which surface the ball touches, and when, is the whole of what counts as in or out.

Above and around the court

Height matters more than most club marketing admits. The rulebook demands at least 6 m of clear space above the whole court with nothing in it, and recommends 8 m for new facilities. Lights must sit at least 6 m up, measured to the bottom of the projector. Play indoors under a 6 m ceiling and your lobs have a lid; play under 8 m and the game opens up.

Around the court, the numbers only apply if the club wants out-of-court play. For that, each side needs two access points and a clear area beside the court at least 3 m wide — 4 m is recommended — 4 m long and 3 m high, with no obstacles. Access openings run from 1.05 m x 2.0 m up to 2.20 m x 2.20 m where there is one per side. If a floodlight pole stands inside that safety area, out-of-court play is not allowed on that court at all, which is exactly why the shot is legal at some clubs and not at others. Playtomic's court dimensions guide is a useful cross-check on the same figures from the booking side of the industry.

Singles courts, and why you rarely see one

A purpose-built singles padel court is 20 m long and 6 m wide — full length, four meters narrower. The FIP Rules of Padel contain no singles format at all: the rulebook is written for two pairs, and singles is not played on the official circuits. Clubs build the narrow courts anyway because two players fit them, and two players are easier to find than four. Whether the game is worth playing that way is can you play padel with 2 players.

What 20 by 10 does to the way you play

A doubles tennis court covers about 261 m². A padel court covers 200 m² — roughly three-quarters the area, patrolled by the same two people, with a cage that returns most of what gets past you.

That is the whole tactical story in one comparison. Less ground per player means fewer winners hit into open space, so power buys you much less than it does in tennis. The 4 m of enclosure behind the baseline means a ball traveling fast to the back is not a lost ball, it is a slower ball coming back to a player who has had time to turn. Depth stops being a weapon; height and angle become the weapons instead. And because the net is only 0.88 m high in the middle and the court is 10 m wide, two players at the net can cover it almost completely — which is why every rally is a negotiation about who gets to stand there. The rebound-heavy version of defense is set out in can the ball hit the fence.

You do not need a tape measure to play well, but knowing the numbers changes what you attempt. Then keep score of it: the online padel scoreboard runs a full 2v2 match from a phone on the bench, and there is a fuller picture of every rule in the complete padel rules reference.

FAQ

How big is a padel court?

A padel court is 20 m long and 10 m wide measured inside the enclosure, with a permitted tolerance of 0.5%. That is 200 m², about three-quarters the area of a doubles tennis court, and the space is enclosed by walls and mesh rather than open at the edges.

What is the height of a padel court wall?

At the ends the enclosure is 4 m tall: 3 m of wall — glass or another material with a true bounce — topped by 1 m of welded metal mesh. Down the sides, the rulebook allows either a stepped wall dropping from 3 m to 2 m or an unstepped 3 m panel, with mesh completing the height to 4 m at the corners.

How high is the net in padel?

0.88 m at the center, rising to 0.92 m where it meets the posts, with a tolerance of 0.005 m. The posts themselves can be no taller than 1.05 m. A padel net is noticeably lower than a tennis net, which is 0.914 m at the center under the ITF rules.

How much space does a padel court need?

The court itself is 20 m by 10 m, and the rulebook also requires at least 6 m of clear height above it — 8 m recommended for new builds. If the club wants to allow out-of-court play, it needs a clear area beside the court at least 3 m wide (4 m recommended), 4 m long and 3 m high, with two access points per side and no light poles inside it.

What size is a singles padel court?

Purpose-built singles padel courts are 20 m long and 6 m wide, keeping the full length and cutting the width. They are not covered by the FIP rulebook, which only defines the 20 m by 10 m doubles court, so singles remains a club-level format rather than an official one.