Tennis Court Construction Basics

To ensure a winning installation, your backyard tennis court project should adhere to the playbook of good slab construction. ASBA offers detailed construction guidelines for both reinforced concrete and post-tensioned sport court surfaces, including recommendations for site preparation, subsurface and surface drainage, and concrete proportioning and mixing.

Munson Inc.
After the concrete is placed, the cables are tensioned in both directions and
held permanently under stress by anchoring them in a perimeter beam. Munson Inc. in Glendale, WI

Kolkmann stresses the importance of taking no shortcuts during the preparation phases. "For our courts, we require at least a 10-inch stone base over a geotextile fabric. We use 6 to 8 inches of clear stone [screened and washed limestone used as a drainage medium] and then a 2- to 4-inch lift of 3/4-inch minus stone. The entire court is surrounded by 4-inch drain tile to reduce the amount of surface and subsurface water that gets under a court. The lift of clear stone also allows the water to drain under the court much faster, should any get underneath. All the stone is laser-graded to the correct slope."

The concrete that goes into your court should have a compressive strength of at least 3,000 psi and a slump no more than 4 inches, according to ASBA guidelines. Munson specifies a 4,000-psi mix with a 6% air content, a 4-inch slump, and a water reducer to improve workability and keep the water-to-cement ratio low (no more than 0.40).

The concrete slab should be placed at a thickness of at least 4 inches, or 5 inches if subject to repeated freeze/thaw cycles. Munson's post-tensioned slabs are a minimum of 5 inches thick, with the post-tensioning cables spaced 3 feet apart. Before installing the slab, Munson lays down two layers of 10-mil polyethylene sheeting to reduce drag as the slab shrinks upon curing and to serve as a moisture-vapor barrier.

ASBA advises placing the concrete by pump to avoid disturbance of the installed tensioning cables or reinforcing steel, but Munson often uses a belt conveyor because it does not result in a reduction in air entrainment—a potential side effect when delivering concrete by pump.

Because of the compression provided by the grid of tensioned cables, post-tensioned slabs do not require joints for control of structural cracking, as do standard concrete slabs. This means the entire court can be placed in a single pour. However, a metal keyway joint or tooled control joint can be placed at the net line to minimize shrinkage cracking. (Read more about preventing cracks in concrete slabs.)

Munson Inc.
A dropped edge around this post-tensioned court supports a decorative poured
concrete perimeter wall, eliminating the need to install a separate foundation wall.
The stone veneer is actually lightweight concrete formed in molds to mimic natural split granite.
The product is manufactured by Dutch Quality Stone. Photo by Munson Inc. in Glendale, WI

For good water runoff, ASBA recommends a minimum slope for hard court surfaces of 1 inch in 10 feet. The court should slope as one true plane (rather than being crowned like a road), with the water running in only one direction, such as from side to side (net post to net post), end to end (baseline to baseline), or corner to corner. The finished surface of the court should not vary more than 1/8 inch in 10 feet when measured in any direction.

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