Obviously, we’re only discussing hard courts in this post as clay courts will be red or green and grass courts, well, will be grass.
In the Northeast, United States, tennis court color selection for a court usually comes down to three criteria.
- Classic colors– The homeowner wants the court to blend-in or have a classic look.
- Colors that visually pop– They want their court to visually pop in which case they will perhaps mimic a famous court or their college or favorite sport’s team’s colors.
- Rust spots– The third option is if they have rust spots due to iron deposits in the asphalt. In this case, they don’t really have a choice and have to go with a red or maroon to mask the rust spots.
1.Classic colors– Green, Forest Green, Blue, Red etc…
This is the predominant color in the Northeast. Because their property, and the value associated with it, is so important to the homeowner, they tend to be conservative and go with colors that make the court blend-in and not negatively impact the potential resale value of their home.
2. Colors that visually pop– Blue, gray, purple
I know the above picture isn’t a tennis court but it gives you a good idea of some different colors. (All my tennis court customers go with classic colors. I do a great deal of other colors but usually only with basketball courts.)
Here is an example of another basketball court to show you some different colors.
Although orange is a color that’s available, it’s usually reserved for basketball courts and homeowners that are trying to mimic the colors of their favorite team. Using orange as an example, it would be popular for teams such as the Knicks, Syracuse, Tennessee etc…
Here are a few examples of piggybacking off of major brands:
- Blue and gray- Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Mavericks,
- Maroon and Gold- U of Minnesota, Redskins (ish),
- Purple and Yellow- Lakers, Minnesota Vikings
- Orange- Syracuse U, Knicks, U of Tennessee, U of Texas
Another common theme is to copy what one of the professional courts have done. The court most commonly copied in the US is the US Open. When people go with the Royal Blue on Forest Green, I like to call it the Flushing Meadows colors.
Colors of Tennis Courts for the Four Majors:
- Dark Blue on Blue- Australian Open (I love the blue-on-blue color combo.)
- Red Clay- French Open
- Green- Wimbledon
- Royal Blue on Forest Green- US Open
3. Covering Rust Spots–
The final option, discussed in the beginning, is what to do when you have rust spots on your court. Unfortunately, some courts end up with iron deposits in their asphalt’s aggregate. You can’t really tell when it goes down or when you first paint it. Over time, however, when the iron rusts, the rust spots show through the paint.
As you can see, the above court needed to be refinished as it was but it also had a ton of rust spots that needed to be covered. So we drilled out the bad rust spots, patched them and then went with a dark green and maroon to cover future spots.
One final item of note-
As I like to tell customers, when it comes to painting your tennis or basketball court, you don’t have as many options as you would to paint a room in your home. There are not color swatches out there with hundreds of choices. You have roughly 16 color choices. You also cannot get picky with hues and shades and expect the finished color to look like a picture you saw on the internet. There are 16 colors that come in 55-gallon drums made in a factory in the Midwest. You have options but they are not infinite.
You can, however, make these work and it will look beautiful. In addition to the above tips on tennis court colors, you can also play around with the court designer link below. There are several court designers on the market but this one from SportMaster is pretty good.
As always, please let me know if I can help by contacting me below.
Looking for a blue that is not that bright more of a blue gray
Hi Denise,
If you go to the link below, there’s a file with a Color Fusion chart that will show you some different options. If you have any questions on how to mix it, let me know.
Mike
https://www.sportmaster.net/colorplusfusion/