Badminton Court Size in Feet (Explained With Diagrams)

Badminton is played on a rectangular court in two forms, singles and doubles.

These courts vary in dimensions, and these dimensions are marked with the help of white lines to differentiate between them.

The court is usually laid on a wooden floor with synthetic mats used as the surface to play.

It provides amazing comfort and stability while performing lunges or playing powerful smashes.

If you are building a court, or your teacher gave you homework on this topic, or in case you are curious about it.

Then this comprehensive guide with diagrams will help you in all cases.

So let’s dive in:

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Size of a Badminton Court in Feet

According to BWF, the standard court size is 44 feet long and 20 feet wide for doubles.

For singles, it measures 44 feet long and 17 feet wide.

Note: These dimensions are universal whether you are playing in a domestic or an international tournament.

As per rules and regulations, the net is placed in the middle of the court, which divides it into two equal parts.

And as per singles and doubles, the court is marked with different linings.

It is 20 feet wide for doubles, a bit wider than the singles court, which must be 17 feet wide.

But the length remains constant for both, which is about 44 feet.

In doubles, it holds a different back serve line, which is slightly short compared to the singles court, and this sometimes confuses the players, especially the beginners.

And if you are also new to this sport, I have mentioned a complete beginner’s guide, which will help you learn how to play badminton step by step.

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Dimensions and Sizes

• The dimensions of a standard court are 44 feet long and 20 feet wide.
• The net line in the diagram above states where the net is placed during a match. And it divides the entire court into two equal parts.
• A short service line is a non-volley zone and is stated to be 6 feet 6 inches long from the centerline.
• The posts must be placed 5ft 1in above the surface.
• While the net must be in 2.49 ft depth and should be 6.1 m wide.

Now let me explain to you the dimensions and the size of a court with the help of a table:

Category	Length	Width	Area
Singles Court	44 ft	17 ft	748 s
Singles Service	15 ft 6 in	8 ft 6 in	131.75 inches
Doubles Court	44 ft	20 ft	880 square feet
Doubles Service	13 ft	10 ft	130 square feet
Net	2 ft 5.9 in	20 ft	89.93 square feet
Pole	5 ft 1 in	N/A	N/A
Line	N/A	1.57 inches	N/A

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Also, read my post on court size in meters. It will help you learn the dimensions in meters with the help of diagrams.

Court Size for Singles

BWF (Badminton World Federation) set up some rules and regulations for the court size.

And according to that, the singles court measures about 17 feet wide and 44 feet long,

Yes, it is smaller than the doubles court but suitable for a single player to cover the entire court easily.

As in singles, there is one player per side of the court (playing one against one), and the player has to cover the entire side of his court by himself, which requires a lot of energy, stamina, endurance, and speed.

And sometimes, it becomes quite impossible for the player to handle the situation on the court if he is not physically fit.

So to overcome such a situation, you must learn how to play good singles which will help you to play more effectively and make your opponent work hard to score a point.

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Court Size for Doubles 

According to BWF, doubles court measures about 44 feet long and 20 feet wide.

In doubles, two players are on each side of the court, which makes it easy for them to cover the entire standard court.

Doubles have different styles of play as compared to singles.

As in doubles, players must have excellent formation ability, understanding, coordination, and communication with their partner, which allows you to play more effectively on the court.

Check out this video to understand it more clearly:

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Area of a Badminton Court

The area of a court is 880 ft sq.

You can calculate it using the formula (length x breadth), where length is 44 ft, and breadth is 20 ft.

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Court Area for Singles

The overall area of a singles court is 748 sq ft.

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Court Area for Doubles 

The area of the doubles court is 880 sq ft.

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Badminton Net and Pole Height 

A net stands 5 feet 1 inch high at the end or edges and 5 feet in the middle.

It is made of various materials like nylon, polyurethane, and vinyl and is placed at the side boundaries of the court.

It even divides the court into two equal parts and allows players to hit the shuttle from one court to another without touching it.

The height of the posts attached to the net and the size of these posts is 5 ft 1 in high.

And the tape at the top of the net is 20 feet long and 3 feet wide, indulged on both sides of the net.

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Height of a Badminton Court Ceiling  

According to BWF rules and regulations, the ceiling height of a court measures about 39 feet, and the same size of the ceiling is required even for international tournaments.

But if we talk about the domestic court, a 30 ft ceiling is also sufficient.

Now let me inform you why these ceilings are too high.

It helps you play comfortably and not let the shuttle hit the ceiling while performing effective and powerful shots.

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How much Clearance Space is Required Outside a Badminton Court?

Rather than the size of the court, you also require a safe space outside the marking lines.

Even BWF didn’t mention any information about this space in its rules and regulations.

But after deep research, I found something on the Sports Scotland court space guide where you will get a detailed insight about the minimum space that should be left outside a court.

According to its details, you require this clearance space between courts, side walls, and back walls:

• Four feet between two courts.
• Five feet among the side walls of the court.
• 6 feet 6 inches between the court and back wall.

In case you require only one court for playing, then you need to keep this clearance size in your mind:

• Overall Length: 57 feet (44 feet court length + 13 feet safety length)
• Overall Width: 30 feet (20 feet court width + 10 feet safety width)

And in case you require two courts for playing, then you need to keep this clearance size in your mind:

• Overall Length: 57 feet
• Overall Width: 54 feet

And if you want to add a court in your row, you must add a width of 24 feet.

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Conclusion

The most important thing to remember about the badminton court dimensions is that they are universal.

So, stick to the measurements given above without a minute error for making a court or other purposes.

A safety area is also required for players and the audience outside the court.

What do you think about the court dimensions and spaces needed for it? Comment us below.