Shared courts: tennis, pickleball and the neighbours.

This page reports what bodies and one city have published. It is not construction, planning or acoustic advice; court building and local rules are matters for the facility owner, qualified professionals and the local authority.

Pickleball lines on tennis courts

The USTA's order of preference

The USTA's statement of guidance on tennis and pickleball, as summarised by Sports Destination Management on 5 March 2023, ranks the options for adding pickleball:

1. Separate, sport-specific sites.
2. Converting non-traditional hard surfaces, such as slabs, multi-sport courts and vacant lots.
3. Only as a last resort, "blended lines": more than one sport's lines on one surface. The guidance treats this as suited to sites with one or two tennis courts; sites with three or more tennis courts should use the first two options.

One version of the USTA guidance, seen only in a search summary because the page would not load, allows up to two blended pickleball courts on a 78-foot tennis court, one each side of the net, with the pickleball lines in textured paint a shade lighter.

One USTA section's rule: USTA Southern

USTA Southern's tennis lines policy says courts marked with both tennis and pickleball lines are not eligible to host USTA Southern sanctioned play, including junior and adult tournaments and leagues. Eligible courts must carry only the lines set by the ITF Rules of Tennis. The page gives no effective date. This is one USTA section's policy; other sections may differ.

USA Pickleball's line-marking guidance

USA Pickleball's guide to lining a court, as summarised in search results (the PDF itself returned an error), says two pickleball courts fit on a standard tennis court without greatly disrupting the tennis lines, that four are possible but cramped, and that the facility owner's permission should be obtained first.

How much space each rule book asks for

Each sport's figures come from its own document and are not interchangeable.

Safety requirements for walls, glass, doors and the space around padel and squash courts are on the court and facility safety page.

Noise: the City of Centennial, Colorado

The City of Centennial's pickleball page, read in October 2026, sets these rules for outdoor pickleball courts:

• Permanent courts: prohibited within 250 feet of property zoned or used as residential.
• Between 250 and 600 feet: an Outdoor Pickleball Court Permit is needed, with mitigation following a Noise Impact Assessment.
• Temporary courts (lines removed daily): prohibited within 350 feet.
• Hours: all outdoor courts are limited to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Sound: no more than 47 decibels at the nearest residential property line.
• Older courts: courts shown to have existed before 21 March 2023 are exempt from the distance rules but not from the hours or the decibel limit.

Search extracts of local business press say the city council adopted these rules on 19 September 2023 as Ordinance No. 2023-O-10, lifting a six-month moratorium imposed in March 2023. The ordinance itself was not read, so those dates are unconfirmed. Other towns' pickleball rules appeared only in search summaries or local press and are not given here.

What else has been published

• The American Planning Association's Planning magazine (14 November 2025) describes a three-tier zoning approach used by some communities: a prohibited zone nearest homes, a conditional zone needing mitigation and notice to neighbours, and a zone beyond that where courts are allowed by right. The author's sound figures are not attributed to a measured study and are not repeated here.
• USA Pickleball announced on 13 November 2024 an AI-driven acoustic tool to help pickleball developers with early site feasibility studies. The announcement gave no noise standard and no decibel figures.