Rules & Regulations
Net, Enclosures & Court Structure
This section explains the court structures that shape play: the net, posts, walls, glass, metal mesh, ends, and side enclosures.
At a Glance
What This Section Covers
- Net specification
- Glass, wall, and mesh enclosures
- Ends and sides of the court
- Wall, glass, and metallic fence requirements
Official Rule Breakdown
Net Standards
The net runs across the full width of the court and should measure 10 metres long. It is lower in the centre and rises slightly at the ends.
The centre height is 0.88 metres, rising to 0.92 metres at the ends, with a maximum tolerance of 0.005 metres. The net should be correctly suspended and tensioned without creating a player safety risk.
Posts, Cable and Net Finish
The net is suspended by a metal cable with a maximum diameter of 0.01 metres and fixed either to lateral posts with a maximum height of 1.05 metres or an approved court structure that can hold the net correctly.
The top of the net is finished with a white strip measuring between 5.0 and 6.3 centimetres once in place. Any advertising strip must not interfere with play and cannot make the strip higher than 11.0 centimetres.
The net should fill the space between posts and court surface without leaving gaps at the sides. The mesh must be synthetic fibre and narrow enough that the ball cannot pass through.
Court Enclosures
The court must be fully enclosed. The ends are 10 metres wide from the inside, while the side length is 20 metres from the inside.
End enclosures reach a total height of 4 metres. The lower 3 metres are wall or glass, while the upper 1 metre is metallic fence.
The side enclosures may use the stepped wall arrangement or the glass variation described by FIP, with all dimensions taken from the inside of the court.
Walls, Glass and Metallic Fence
Wall and glass areas must allow a consistent ball bounce. Surfaces should be hard, smooth, uniform, and safe for body contact or sliding balls.
The metallic fence should follow the FIP mesh requirements, with diagonal openings not less than 5 centimetres and not greater than 7.08 centimetres.
Recommended wire thickness is between 2 and 3 millimetres, with a maximum of 4 millimetres. Solder points must be protected, and where soldered mesh is not interlaced it must use square openings rather than rhomboids.
In Practice
- A court can look visually complete but still fail the playing standard if there are gaps beside the net or unsafe edges in the mesh or wall joins.
- For player experience, the most important practical point is consistency: the walls and glass should produce a predictable bounce, while the mesh should not create dangerous contact points.
- For a quick structure check, compare the net height, end-wall build-up, and side enclosure variations with the official PDF before treating a court as competition-ready.