What lighting for an indoor tennis or padel court

On an indoor padel court, the lob is the shot that reveals layout defects: the player follows the ball upwards and ends up staring at a floodlight for a fraction of a second. The same thing happens in tennis on the smash and on a high return.

It is this constraint, and not installed power, that drives the design. A properly lit court is recognised by the fact that nobody talks about the lighting.

Tennis and padel: two courts, two layout logics

A tennis court measures 23.77 metres by 10.97 metres for doubles, plus run-back and side clearances that form part of the total playing area. A padel court measures 20 metres by 10 metres and is played inside an enclosure closed by glass walls and mesh.

This enclosure changes everything. On an indoor tennis court, luminaires are placed above the playing volume, under the roof structure. On a padel court, luminaires are most often placed around the edge, above the side glass, outside the volume crossed by the ball.

The available clear height determines feasibility. Federation rules require a minimum clear height over the whole playing surface, of the order of 6 metres for padel, a value to be confirmed with the federation concerned before finalising a layout.

Why glare is the first criterion

The EN 12193 standard covers the lighting of sports facilities and requires glare control in addition to illuminance levels. Indoors, the comfort reference remains the UGR index, supplemented by limiting the apparent luminance of luminaires seen from the floor.

Three practical rules follow. No luminaire should be in the line of sight of a player looking up at a lob. Asymmetric optics, which project the flux towards the court and not towards the opposing player, are preferable to wide symmetrical beams. Sources must remain hidden behind a sufficiently deep reflector or diffuser.

The illuminance level is then chosen according to the level of play targeted.

| Level of play | EN 12193 class | Maintained average illuminance | Uniformity U0 |

| --- | --- | --- | --- |

| Training and recreational play | Class III | 300 lux | 0.5 |

| Regional competition | Class II | 500 lux | 0.6 |

| National competition | Class I | 750 lux | 0.7 |

These values correspond to the benchmarks commonly used for indoor tennis and padel. The table for the discipline concerned, in the annex to the standard, is authoritative for an approval file.

Side lighting or ceiling lighting

On a padel court, side lighting is almost always the answer. The LED floodlights are distributed in two symmetrical rows above the glass, aimed towards the inside of the court, tilted slightly towards the floor. The playing volume remains clear and the ball meets no obstacle.

On an indoor tennis court, two families of layout coexist. A single central line, parallel to the net or to the side lines, simplifies the cable route but concentrates the sources in the line of sight. Two side lines, offset on either side of the tramlines, clear the serving axis and improve the vertical illuminance of the ball.

The number of light points is derived from the calculation, not from a catalogue. On a padel court, the usual order of magnitude is between four and eight floodlights depending on unit power and the class targeted, a prior photometric simulation making it possible to decide between the two hypotheses.

Uniformity on the playing surface and on the clearances

Uniformity U0 is the ratio of minimum illuminance to average illuminance. A low value indicates alternating light and dark areas, which the player perceives as losing track of the ball's trajectory.

Two areas concentrate the defects. The back of the court, often at the edge of the layout, receives less flux than the centre even though the ball is played there at its fastest. The corners of a padel court, where the ball bounces off two successive walls, need sufficient illuminance to remain readable.

The standard distinguishes the principal playing area and the total area, clearances included. A court that complies in the centre but is weak on the clearances does not pass the check, and plays badly.

Padel glass and mesh: reflections to anticipate

The glass walls of a padel court behave like partial mirrors. A poorly aimed floodlight appears as a reflection in the opponent's back glass, exactly in the line of play. The player then sees two sources: the real one and its image.

Three precautions limit the phenomenon:

• Aim the floodlights towards the inside of the court and downwards, never towards the opposite wall.
• Avoid luminaires placed in line with the longitudinal axis of the court.
• Treat the back of the hall behind the glass with matt, dark surfaces, to reduce the contrast of reflected images.

Mesh poses a different problem. Its weave cuts up the beam and creates a visible moiré effect when the source is very concentrated. A larger emitting surface, at moderate luminance, clearly reduces this effect.

Control by time slot and savings during off-peak hours

An indoor court operates by booking, with peak hours in the evening and long unoccupied periods. The instant start of LED sources makes control by time slot immediately usable, without warm-up time.

Three set-ups are found. A contactor controlled by a timer, simple and robust, suits clubs with a stable schedule. Control linked to the booking software switches the court on when the player arrives and off at the end of the slot. Dimming, by DALI protocol or 1-10 V, also makes it possible to drop to a training level during the week and rise to the higher class on competition days.

One point of attention: the low level must remain compatible with use. A court dimmed too low plays badly and users end up forcing the general switch-on. Control and safety devices are sized together with the luminaires, not afterwards.

Frequent errors on existing installations

On installations being taken over, the same defects recur. Site floodlights with a symmetrical beam installed as a stopgap and never replaced. Luminaires added over the years, in different shades, creating yellow patches and cool patches on the same surface.

Then come layout defects: sources placed in the line of the lob, insufficient mounting height, no treatment at all of the clearances. Finally, access for maintenance is often forgotten, which turns changing a luminaire into hiring a cherry picker.

An on-site survey quickly decides between partial rework and complete redesign. Documented projects on sports facilities provide useful points of comparison before deciding.

Floodlights and luminaires for indoor courts are grouped in the tennis and padel category.