Tennis Court Planning Preparation Checklist

Write down who would play here and roughly at what standard, from beginners and juniors learning to rally through to players in organised competition.

Standard of play drives almost every question a specialist asks, because a surface that suits gentle social tennis may frustrate players used to a faster game.

Note whether the court is mostly for singles, doubles, coaching or ball-machine practice, and whether more than one of those would happen in the same session.

How the court is used changes the space needed around play and the wear pattern on the surface, both of which a specialist will want described.

Consider whether children learning the game would use the court, and record whether smaller-court junior formats are expected to be played on it as well.

Junior formats affect line marking and equipment questions, and raising them now avoids a second set of markings being added awkwardly later.

Record whether the court would ever host affiliated matches, county fixtures or coaching that has to satisfy an external body.

What is expected of a court used for affiliated tennis is for the relevant governing body to state, and it varies by country and by level of play.

Decide and note whether one court is the whole project or whether a second might follow, since a court positioned alone often blocks the ground a second one would need.

Leaving room for a possible second court asks nothing of you on paper and is impossible to recover once the first is built in the middle of the area.

Write down how heavily the court would be used across the playing season, from occasional family hitting through to daily club and coaching sessions.

Intensity of use is one of the main things a specialist weighs when discussing surfaces, because heavy use narrows the sensible options considerably.

Note every tree and large shrub whose leaves, needles, blossom, sap or fruit would fall onto the playing area, including ones standing on neighbouring land.

Leaf fall is the single most common cause of a slippery, mossy tennis surface, and the trees responsible are often on the boundary rather than on your land.

Record any tree close enough that its roots may run beneath the proposed court, and treat what that means as a question rather than a conclusion.

Work near trees may be subject to local protections, so confirm with your local authority and take advice from a qualified arboricultural professional.

Write down the direction the wind usually comes from and whether the area is exposed or sheltered, noting any hedge, wall or building that shelters it now.

Wind spoils tennis more than most sports, and existing shelter is worth recording before it is cleared to make room for the court.

Mark which parts of the area sit in shade for much of the day, and note whether those parts stay damp long after the rest has dried out.

Shaded corners of a tennis court grow moss and stay slippery, so knowing where they are changes both the position and the upkeep conversation.

Photograph the site from every window, garden and footpath that overlooks it, so you can see what a court and its enclosure would look like from outside.

The view from outside is what neighbours and the local authority respond to, and photographs make that discussion far calmer than a description does.

If a court already exists here, photograph its cracking, ponding, moss, sunken areas and worn baselines before anything is stripped or resurfaced.

An old court is evidence about the ground and the water beneath it, and once it has been taken up that evidence has gone for good.

List the tennis surfaces you have played on or seen locally, note what you liked about each, and carry them forward as questions rather than as a decision.

Which surface suits your ground, climate and standard of play is for a specialist tennis court contractor to advise on, not for an owner to select.

Write down whether the players here prefer a faster or slower ball and a higher or lower bounce, and note that different players in the group may disagree.

Playing character is a legitimate owner preference and is one of the few surface topics you can usefully state, provided it is offered as a preference and not a specification.

Ask each specialist how their surface behaves through wet spells, frost and hot weather, and how soon after rain play could reasonably resume.

Availability after rain is what decides whether a court is used all year, and it varies widely between surface families in ways owners rarely anticipate.

Ask what routine attention each surface expects, including brushing, moss treatment, topping up any infill and any seasonal work, and write the answers down.

Ask the installer to set out the maintenance regime in writing, and follow what the manufacturer says for the surface you actually end up with.

Record what footwear players would arrive in and whether the court would also be walked on in ordinary shoes by people crossing it.

Unsuitable footwear damages some tennis surfaces quickly, and knowing whether that can be controlled affects which options are realistic here.

Ask what happens to each surface as it ages, how it is repaired locally and whether a repair would be visible against the rest of the court.

Every court surface eventually needs attention, and how gracefully it wears matters more over time than how it looks on the day it is finished.

Note where the sun sits low in the sky at the times of day tennis would most often be played, and mark that direction on your sketch of the area.

A server looking straight into low sun is the classic orientation fault, and it is entirely avoidable if somebody records the sun path before positioning begins.

Put the direction of play to a specialist contractor and the relevant governing body as an open question, and record what each says about ground shaped like this.

Which way a court should face is guidance held by the relevant governing body and by specialist designers, and it is not the same everywhere.

Record which buildings, walls and trees cast shadows across the area and at what times, since a moving shadow line across a court is distracting during play.

Shadow patterns are easy to observe over a few sunny days and are almost never described by owners, yet they influence where a court sits.

Consider what a player would see behind the far baseline, including sky, hedge, fence, wall or a busy view, and note how easily a ball would show against it.

A plain, dark background makes the ball easier to follow, which is why backdrop is worth raising early rather than solved with screening afterwards.

Note any large window, glasshouse, parked vehicle or pale wall near the area that could throw reflected light across the court at certain hours.

Reflected glare is intermittent and therefore easy to miss on a single site visit, so an owner who has watched the area over time adds real value here.

Write down that court position and direction are to be settled with the specialist before any other detail, and record any site constraint that limits them.

Owners often start with surface and finish with position, which is the wrong way round, because position governs what is possible for everything else.

Note where a ball leaving the court would land: a road, a pond, a neighbouring garden, dense planting, a car park or open ground.

Where balls escape decides how much containment matters and is the most persuasive thing an owner can describe to a specialist about enclosure.

Treat fence height, mesh type, posts and foundations as questions for a specialist contractor rather than as choices to be made from photographs.

Fence design, post foundations and wind loading on a court enclosure are matters for a specialist contractor and, where needed, a qualified engineer.

Write down where players would enter the court from, whether they arrive with bags and equipment, and whether a gate needs to be lockable.

Gate position is often placed for construction convenience rather than for how people actually arrive, and it is awkward to move afterwards.

Consider how the enclosure would look from the house, the garden and from beyond the boundary, and photograph the sightlines that concern you most.

A tall enclosure can attract local rules of its own; put the question to your local authority rather than assuming a fence is exempt.

Note whether planting is wanted against the enclosure and raise with the specialist what that would mean for the fence, the surface and leaf fall.

Screening planting is often added later without discussion, and it is the quickest way to introduce shade, leaves and root problems to a new court.

Record whether anyone using the court finds steps, uneven ground or narrow gates difficult, and ask a qualified professional what that means for the approach.

Access arrangements for people with limited mobility should be advised on by a qualified professional against the relevant local requirements.

Ask how net posts are fixed and whether they are intended to stay in place all year, and record what the specialist says about their foundations.

Post foundations and fixings into a court surface are for the specialist contractor to design and install, never for an owner or volunteer to alter.

Decide who would put up, tension, lower and store the net, and where it would be kept when the court is not in use.

A net left up all year weathers faster, and a net nobody is responsible for tends to sag until it stops being playable at all.

Consider whether a practice wall or rebound board is wanted, and raise where it could sit without interfering with play or with the neighbours.

A rebound wall is a popular late addition and a common noise complaint, so it belongs in the first conversation rather than the second season.

Note where players would leave bags, sit between games and find shade, and whether anything placed there would sit inside or outside the enclosure.

Items placed inside the fence often end up on the playing surface, which affects both play and the surface itself in ways owners do not anticipate.

Write down whether anything else would be fixed to the enclosure, such as a scoreboard, a windbreak, a sign or a bench, and treat fixings as a question.

Anything fixed to a fence changes how wind acts on it, so any addition should be agreed with the specialist contractor who designed the enclosure.

Record where balls, a ball machine, a brush or a court roller would be stored, and how far that is from the court gate.

Equipment stored far from the court is used less and maintained less, which quietly determines whether the upkeep routine actually happens.

Decide and record whether floodlighting is part of this project, might follow later, or is ruled out, and note who in the group holds each view.

Whether lighting is wanted changes what has to be confirmed locally, so the group should agree its position before a specialist is briefed.

Write floodlighting into your notes as a separate conversation with a qualified electrical engineer and a lighting installer, not as something a court contractor simply adds.

A floodlighting scheme is drawn up and installed only by people qualified to do so, and what is permitted here comes from your local authority.

After dark, look back at the site from the road, the footpath and any neighbouring garden you can reach, and note what is already visible from each.

Knowing exactly who would see a lit court lets you talk to those people directly rather than meeting them for the first time through an objection.

Note how close the nearest homes are and consider that tennis carries the sound of ball strike, calling and gates rather than continuous noise.

Whether noise from a court raises any local issue is for your local authority and a qualified adviser to consider, not for an owner to conclude.

Decide what hours you would be willing to commit to as the latest play, and record it, since offering limits early is easier than negotiating them later.

Voluntary limits on playing hours are often what turns a neighbour objection into an accepted arrangement, and stating them takes nothing away from the project.

Consider speaking to immediate neighbours before any application or design is finalised, and write down what each of them raised.

Neighbours who hear about a court first from a formal notice tend to object to the process as much as to the project itself.

Record by name who would sweep leaves, treat moss, check the net and report damage, and confirm they know that is what is being agreed.

Court upkeep collapses when it belongs to everybody in general and nobody in particular, so one name written down now is worth more than any later reminder.

Ask the specialist what causes growth on their surface here, what may be applied to it and how often, and keep that answer with your records.

What may be applied to a court surface is for the manufacturer and installer to state, and some treatments are restricted locally.

Ask whether pressure washing or mechanical cleaning is acceptable on the proposed surface, because methods that look effective can damage some finishes.

Cleaning methods should follow the manufacturer instructions, and any surface already lifting or cracked should be looked at by the installer.

Ask how the lines are formed on each surface option and what happens to them as they wear, since remarking is a different job on every surface family.

Faded or lifting lines make a court feel neglected long before the surface itself is worn, and the remedy differs completely between surface types.

Ask what the surface manufacturer says about frost, standing water and anything spread nearby in cold conditions that could reach the court.

Follow the manufacturer instructions on cold weather treatment and ask the installing contractor before applying anything you are unsure about.

Decide now where the court file lives, and who inherits it when the person who ran this project moves on or leaves the committee.

The people who commission a court rarely oversee its first major repair, and the paperwork is usually lost by then unless somebody planned otherwise.