Perfect Lighting

Tennis is one of the most popular sports in North America and it requires a large amount of physical and mental energy. From courts of grass to concrete to clay, LuxLogic can assist you with professional, energy efficient lighting designs and products.

Tennis balls travel at high velocity, so to play effectively as dusk turns into night, Visibility, Glare, and Uniformity are all important lighting considerations.

If you are designing a new field or if you need to change your old halogen or metal halide lighting to LED lighting, our expert team is ready to assist.

Please reach out and we will connect you with our trained sales agents and design team to get you started.

Tennis at Night

Two or four people play a tennis match on a rectangular field 23.77 m long and 8.23 m wide for singles and 10.97 m for doubles (78 feet and 27 feet wide for singles and 36 feet for double matches). However, the surface to be considered is more because the ball should be playable well beyond the limits of the field. Usually, the total area of the tennis court is 18.3 x 36.6 m (60 x 120 ft), with an area of 669 m2 (7,200 ft2). It is divided in half by a net stretched between two poles. The net has a height of 0.914m in the center and 1.07m on the sides. The paving can be with either grass, concrete, or clay.

There are different types of courts: outdoor and indoor; small, medium, and large. Whatever the type of court, players need adequate lighting. They need to have a perfect view to control the opponent’s movement and shots and the consequent trajectory of the ball that usually arrives at high speed.

For all those reasons, it is necessary to invest in quality and correct lighting. First of all, we need to think of lighting the play area without wasting energy and increasing visual comfort for players and spectators, by providing good lighting levels. The light beam must be distributed uniformly.

The lighting and optical specifications should allow athletes to maintain high performance levels during matches or training without disturbances or distractions due to artificial lighting. Just think that in tennis the ball often shoots up and can easily exceed 200 km per hour. For this reason, adequate lighting, suitable for avoiding shadow areas throughout the entire game is necessary.

Lighting Requirements

Illuminance

The most important lighting requirement to take into consideration is certainly the Illuminance. It is the level of light on a surface. It is measured in Lux (Lx). A Lux is one lumen per square meter. Lumen is the SI unit of the incident luminous flux, which is the light emitted by a lamp.

As previously mentioned, people can play tennis on different surfaces. The required illuminance depends on this factor, i.e. the type of playing field, but also the level of competition. There are four levels, or classes, for reference.

For the America National Standard for sports lighting, the illuminance can be measured in foot candles, i.e. the number of candles that a square meter lights up, with the following values:

Lighting Requirements

These recommended values of illuminance for tennis courts apply to the entire primary playing area (PPA). Illuminance for the secondary playing areas (SPA) may be gradually reduced, but not below 70 percent of the average illuminance of the primary playing area. In the following image, we see the PPA in green and the SPA in red.

Uniformity

Uniformity in lighting is another significant value. It should be considered in both horizontal and vertical planes. It is an essential factor that avoids adaptation problems on the part of athletes and spectators. In the presence of television footage, if the uniformity is not adequate, there is a risk of not being able to distinguish the athletes in some areas of the field. It helps to correct most camera issues according to the shooting directions.

Uniformity is the ratio between the minimum and maximum illuminance (Emin / Emax) or between the minimum and average (Emin / Emed).

Some sports, such as tennis, are also based on another uniformity value called the Uniformity Gradient (UG). This is expressed as the ratio of the illuminance levels at two adjacent measurement points. For the American National Standards, it must not exceed 1.2.

Luminous Efficacy

The luminous efficacy is particularly significant in lighting a tennis court. Also, it is linked to the luminous flux produced. This time, however, it must be divided by the absorbed power expressed in Watts. The Efficiency value helps us in choosing the best product to use. LED lamps are the most suitable as they have a luminous efficacy that varies between 120 and 150 lm/W.

Quantity of Lights & Poles

The value of Luminous Efficacy will help the designers of the court to determine the number of lights needed. Usually, they used 8 or 12 lamps. This number depends on the configuration of the poles. The most common configurations require 4 poles (fig. 1) or 6 poles (fig.2) with two lamps in each pole. The poles must be installed outside the playing area and, the lamps, most of the time floodlights, should be mounted at a minimum height of 5.5 m (18 feet) above the surface of the playing area and at this height, the angle should not exceed 65°

Lighting fixtures should be slightly angled to avoid temporarily blinding players on the court.

Glare

Glare in lighting is certainly an element to keep under control when designing lighting for tennis courts. It is that condition in which, due to very bright surfaces within the visual field, there is a visual disturbance for both athletes and spectators. When glare is excessive, it can cause discomfort, reduced vision and even momentary vision loss.

Glare can be caused directly by luminaires or indirectly by reflections from the surrounding environment.

How can we reduce glare on a tennis court?

We can limit it by paying close attention to the choice, the installation and orientation of the lighting fixtures.

The International Commission on Illumination introduced Glare Rating (GR).

GR is used to evaluate the level of glare at a point for a single line of sight.

GR has a range of 10 to 90, where 10 is considered “unnoticeable,” and 90 is considered “unbearable.”

The best value is in the middle GR 50. In fact it is rated for professional levels.

GR can be easily calculated by Dialux:

Recommendations

Characteristics of Good Lighting

To achieve a “perfect” lighting the interplay between daylight and artificial light, colours and materials, should be accurately understood, and infused to the overall design of lighting systems.

For an accurate illumination design, the following should be put into consideration:

• Luminaire quantity: The number of lights needed to properly illuminate the tennis court and minimize shadows
• Pole Quantity and placement: This maximizes luminaire efficiency
• Brightness: This refers to the light reflecting from an object. This controls contrast which affects seeing. High contrasts prevent the ball from being seen properly.
• Glare: The light should be well spread over the field. Good lighting shouldn’t cast direct glare on any surface.
• Uniformity: Fixture aiming and beam spreads determine uniform coverage over the entire tennis court. Attention should be paid during design and placement, to avoid casting shadows and or creating hot or dark spots.

Our Services

• Free design assist services: We are glad to direct you on the best way to use our products and design your facility. Feel free to contact us for assistance
• Retrofitting: Through our easy-to-use customer contact services, you can tell us your existing lighting specifications. Let us know if you desire a “one for one” replacement with same specifications or require a new more efficient upgrade
• Energy Management: We can assist you in lowering your total overall energy and maintenance costs by switching to longer lasting more energy efficient LED Lighting
• Spare part services: With our extensive range of products and customer satisfaction at heart, we provide spare parts for our lighting systems

Our Solutions

Champion 2

Wattage

300w / 400w / 500w / 600w / 750w / 1000w / 1200w

CCT

3000K/4000k/5000k/5700K

Voltage

100-277v (UNV) / 277-480v (HV)

Mounting

Yoke (std) / Slip Fitter

130 - 160Lm/w

The Champion 2 LED Sports Flood Light is the ideal stadium light. This sports light packs a punch providing 150L/W. It is available in multiple beam angles and color temperatures. This fixture is waterproof, (IP 66 rated), dustproof, and provides superior thermal venting. Operating temperature –30° to 40°C (-22F to 113F). Standard dimming of 0-10V.

• LED Type: Philips
• LED Driver: Inventronics/Meanwell
• Lumen Maintenance @L70: 50,000 hours
• CRI: >70
• THD : <15%
• Power Factor: >0.95
• Power Efficiency: 0.95
• Operating Temperature: -30°C to 45°C / -22°F to 113°F

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Superior Area Light Gen 2

Wattage

60w/100w/150w/200w/240w/300w

CCT

3000K/4000k/5000k

Voltage

100-277v (UNV) / 277-480v (HV)

Mounting

ARM/WALL/SLIPFITTER/TRUNION

140 Lm/w

The Superior Area Light Gen 2 series is an exceptional mixture of value and performance. is the ideal stadium light. This product range has been upgraded to reach very high efficacy, up to 140lm/W. The SAL Gen 2 fixture is waterproof, (IP 66 rated), and includes a 3 pin socket for photocell complete with shorting cap. Operating temperature –30° to 55°C (-22F to 131F). Standard 6kV surge protection.

• LED Type: Lumileds
• LED Driver: Tomcarline
• Lumen Maintenance @L70: 120,000 hours
• CRI: >80
• THD : <15%
• Power Factor: >0.95
• Power Efficiency: 0.95
• Operating Temperature: -30°C to 55°C / -22°F to 131°F

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FAQ

Reach out to us to have your TENNIS related questions answered - we’re always happy to respond to you!

Can high power LED lights be a good substitute for metal halide?

The answer is an absolute yes! We have many high-powered LED floodlights and sports luminaires designed specifically for use in tennis courts. They can easily replace 1000 watt, 1500 watt, 2000 watt, even 3500 watt metal halides, and have high quality, durable and energy saving lighting effects.

What’s the most suitable CCT (Colour Temperature) for tennis lighting?

Most of our clients choose 5000k/5700k for their tennis court lighting.