For the casual sports fan, pickleball and paddle tennis may seem like the very same sport. So if you were to ask them if they can play pickleball on a paddle tennis court, the average person would probably answer yes.
But really, paddle tennis and pickleball are two different sports. They are very similar, however. So are they so similar that you can play pickleball and paddle tennis on the same court?
Officially, according to the rules of USA pickleball, you can’t play pickleball on a paddle tennis court. But unofficially, for casual Pickleballers who just want to play for fun, you can play pickleball on a Paddle tennis court with just a few adjustments.
Here we will explain why this is a bit of a tough question to answer, and how you can play Pickleball on a paddle tennis court if you really wanted to.
What is the difference between Pickleball and Paddle Tennis?
Pickleball and Paddle Tennis look like very similar sports. And they are very similar. But they are not the same sport. There are key differences such as the shape/size of the paddles, a few key rule differences, and the type of ball each sport is played with.
But more importantly, the court is different for each sport. A paddle tennis court is 6 feet longer than a Pickleball court. The 3 feet on each side come from a rectangular box behind the service line. In addition, the net on a Pickleball court is 36 inches high as opposed to 31 inches high in Paddle Tennis.
For both of these reasons, you can’t officially play Pickleball on a Paddle Tennis court. But don’t lose hope Pickleball enthusiasts! There is a way to play casual Pickleball on a Paddle tennis court.
How to make a paddle tennis court into a Pickleball court
The good news is that you can transform a paddle tennis court into a Pickleball court by doing 2 things
1) Draw in the kitchen – using either tape or chalk, you’ll need to draw in the line for a Pickleball court’s no-volley zone, also known as “the Kitchen”. This will just be a line 7 feet from the net that runs parallel to the net to make a 7′ x 20′ box on each side of the net to create the Kitchen.
2) Play in between where the service line starts – To play Pickleball on a Paddle Tennis court, you’ll just have to ignore the service line box along the baseline of each side of the court. This extra space is not needed, and actually if ignored, creates a perfectly sized Pickleball court length that measures 44 feet long.
Do these two things, and voila! you have yourself a Pickleball court made from a Paddle Tennis court. If you can just live with the fact that the net is 5 inches lower than that of an official Pickleball court, then you are all set to play.
You can officially play Pickleball on a Paddle Tennis Court if you do this…
Whenever you play Pickleball on a Paddle Tennis court, the two steps above are a must. So let’s say you did those two things and you still want to play by official Pickleball rules. What can you do?
Well, the last thing you’ll need to do is raise the net to a height of 36″. This is tough to do on a public paddle tennis court and we wouldn’t recommend doing this irreversibly. But if you can do this easily, then that is all you’ll need to do in order to temporarily transform the Paddle Tennis court you are on into a Pickleball court.
Conclusion
If you are wondering if you can play Pickleball on a Paddle Tennis court, then there is a way to do it. Under the official rules of the game of Pickleball, you won’t be able to officially play Pickleball on a Paddle Tennis court. However, if you are just a casual Pickleball enthusiast who is looking to play a few games with your friends for fun then there is a way to do it. All you have to do is make the adjustments described above, bring your paddles and a Pickleball and you’ll be good to go.