Most padel court projects in India run into the same planning problem. The site owner is told the court is 10m x 20m, buys or leases land that fits 10m x 20m, and then discovers the court cannot actually be built. Not because the court won't fit, but because nobody accounted for the buffer zones, the access clearance, the run-off space, or the drainage fall.
A padel court is 10m x 20m. The land requirement is not.
If you are planning a padel facility, one court or four, this guide gives you the actual numbers you need before you go further.
The Official Padel Court Dimensions
A regulation padel court is 10 metres wide by 20 metres long. These dimensions are fixed by the International Padel Federation (FIP) and are not negotiable for any serious club or competitive facility.
The court is fully enclosed. The enclosure structure, the frame, glass panels, and wire mesh, sits at the edge of the playing area, not outside it. So the 10m x 20m is the interior playing dimension, not the footprint of the structure.
Here is the full breakdown of court components and dimensions:
| Component | Dimension |
|---|
| Playing area (interior) | 10m x 20m |
| Total enclosed area with structure | Approximately 10.8m x 20.8m |
| Back wall height (glass) | 3m |
| Side wall height (glass to wire) | 3m glass + 1m wire = 4m total |
| Net height (centre) | 0.88m |
| Net height (sides) | 0.92m |
| Service boxes | 6.95m deep from net |
The total enclosed structure footprint is roughly 11m x 21m once the frame and panels are included.
How Much Land You Actually Need
Here is where most Indian padel projects miscalculate.
A single court requires more than just the 11m x 21m footprint of the structure. You need:
- Side buffer zones: Minimum 1.5m on each side for maintenance access and player safety. This adds 3m to the width.
- End buffer zones: Minimum 2m on each end for player movement behind the back wall. This adds 4m to the length.
- Drainage fall: The concrete slab needs a cross-fall for drainage. On sloped sites this affects the levelling requirement.
Minimum land required for one court: approximately 14m x 25m (350 sqm)
In practice, most experienced contractors plan for 15m x 26m to allow comfortable access without compromising structure or drainage.
| Courts | Minimum land (side by side) | Recommended |
|---|
| 1 court | 14m x 25m | 15m x 26m |
| 2 courts | 25m x 25m | 27m x 26m |
| 4 courts | 47m x 25m | 50m x 26m |
These are side-by-side configurations. Courts can also be arranged end-to-end, which changes the width requirement but not the area.
The Setback and Buffer Rules That Catch People Out
Amit runs a sports complex in Lucknow. In 2024, he bought a plot that measured 12m x 22m specifically to build a padel court. The 10m x 20m court would fit, he reasoned; there would even be a metre to spare on each side. His contractor stopped him at the planning stage. The 1m gaps on each side were insufficient for the structural frame installation, and the back-wall clearance meant there was no room for the drainage channel on one end. The plot was too small. He had to reconfigure the site and lose one court from his original two-court plan.
The buffers are not optional. They exist for three reasons:
1. Structural installation: The frame and glass require physical access during construction and for future panel replacement. A court jammed against a boundary wall cannot be maintained properly.
2. Player safety: Players regularly run into the back wall during play. Standard FIP guidelines recommend a minimum 2m clear zone behind the glass, not from the edge of the structure, but from any fixed obstacle.
3. Drainage: The concrete slab needs perimeter drainage channels on all four sides. Those channels need to be accessible and need space for the fall to function correctly.
Ignore any contractor who tells you 0.5m clearance on each side is fine. It is not, and you will discover why the first time you need to replace a glass panel.
Court Orientation: Which Direction Should It Face?
Orientation matters more than most clients realise. A badly oriented court creates a glare problem that makes the game unplayable for large parts of the day.
The standard recommendation for outdoor padel courts is a north-south orientation, meaning the length of the court runs north to south. This keeps the low morning and evening sun from shining directly along the court's axis, which would put it directly into one player's eyes for half the match.
In India, this is complicated by regional variation:
- Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur: North-south orientation is effective. Summer sun is nearly overhead and glare is manageable. Winter morning sun is the main issue; courts oriented east-west will have glare problems from November to February.
- Mumbai, Pune: Similar guidance applies but afternoon monsoon cloud cover reduces glare risk considerably.
- Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru: Strong southern sun angle year-round. A slight 10-15 degree rotation from true north-south (toward northeast-southwest) can reduce afternoon glare in these locations.
For indoor courts, orientation is irrelevant. Lighting design takes over entirely.
If your site constraints force a non-ideal orientation, LED lighting design and anti-glare glass coatings become more important, not less.
Height Clearance for Indoor Courts
Indoor padel is growing rapidly in India, particularly in cities where the summer heat makes outdoor play difficult for half the year. If you are planning an indoor facility, the height requirement is the most critical dimension.
Minimum internal clear height: 6 metres above the playing surface.
This is not 6 metres to the underside of the roof structure, it is 6 metres of clear, unobstructed space above the court. Purlins, lighting fixtures, HVAC ducts, and structural members cannot intrude into that space.
In practice, this means:
- The building structure needs to be approximately 7m to 8m to the eaves to achieve 6m clear playing height.
- Steel portal frame construction is the most common solution in India.
- Pre-engineered buildings (PEB) can achieve this cost-effectively and are the most common solution for new indoor padel facilities in India.
Courts built with less than 6m clearance will have balls hitting the roof regularly. It ruins the game and damages the structure. This is not a dimension you can compromise.
Multi-Court Layouts: What Changes at Scale
Planning two or four courts changes the layout logic considerably. The buffers between courts are different from the buffers at the perimeter.
Between adjacent courts: A minimum of 1m between court structures is required. This allows maintenance access to the side panels of each court. Most experienced operators prefer 1.5m between courts so staff can move equipment through the gap and spectators can view from between courts.
Spectator zones: For a commercial padel facility, you need to plan spectator access before the courts are positioned. Trying to retrofit spectator viewing areas after courts are laid out is expensive and often results in poor sightlines.
Reception and player flow: Players need to move from changing facilities to the courts without crossing active playing areas. In four-court facilities, a central reception with courts arranged around it works significantly better than a linear layout.
Priya developed a four-court padel facility in Noida in early 2024. She planned the courts first and the reception last. The result was that players entering courts 3 and 4 had to walk past courts 1 and 2's back walls, directly behind the glass during active play, a safety problem. Reconfiguring cost Rs 4 lakh and a four-week delay. Plan the flow before you plan the court positions.
Base and Surface Dimensions for Indian Conditions
The padel court dimensions assume a specific base construction underneath. The concrete slab must extend beyond the structural footprint on all sides to give the anchor points structural purchase.
- Slab overhang beyond structure: Minimum 300mm on all sides
- Slab thickness: Minimum 100mm for standard soil conditions; 150mm for black cotton soil in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh; 125mm for expansive clay soils in Telangana and parts of Karnataka
- Sub-base depth: Minimum 150mm compacted aggregate
- Cross-fall for drainage: 1% to 1.5% fall across the slab to perimeter channels
These numbers are not conservative guesses; they are the minimums required for a court to remain stable through five or more monsoon cycles. Courts built on thinner slabs without proper sub-base preparation develop cracks within two to three years in Indian conditions. The ITF Sports Science technical guidelines for court base construction confirm 100mm as the global minimum slab thickness — and India's soil variation and monsoon loads push that baseline higher in many locations.
Key Dimensions Summary
What to Get Right From the Start
- Site area before anything else. The court is 10m x 20m. The land requirement is 14m x 25m minimum. Verify your site meets this before any other planning.
- Orientation for your region. North-south is the standard. Adjust by 10-15 degrees for southern India locations. Indoor courts are exempt, lighting design takes over.
- Indoor height is non-negotiable. 6 metres clear above the playing surface. Not to the roof, to the surface. Measure your structure accordingly.
- Buffer zones are not optional. 1.5m sides, 2m ends. Any contractor who tells you less is giving you a court you cannot properly maintain.
- Slab specification to match your soil. Get a soil test before setting the slab specification. Black cotton soil and expansive clays need thicker slabs than standard ground conditions.
Get these right before breaking ground and you will not find yourself in Amit's position in Lucknow, sitting on a plot that is 2 metres too narrow to build what you actually planned.
Once your site dimensions are confirmed, the next step is base construction — the slab, drainage, and sub-base work that determines how long the court lasts. For full project costs, see our padel court construction cost guide, or visit our padel court construction page to discuss your site with our team.
