The Tennis Court

“Nick Pachelli takes us on court in every corner of the world with a sharp eye for what makes our game and the people who champion it so special.”
—Billie Jean King, sports icon and equality advocate

Every one of the world’s half a million tennis courts is, at its most basic, an identical blank canvas: a 78-foot by 36-foot rectangle, divided by a 3-foot-high net in its center, and marked with eleven straight lines. But add in the elements of surface, space, wind, acoustics, crowds, shadows, humidity, and even air density, and every tennis court is unique—a work of art. And some are masterpieces.