What Are The Best Seats For a Tennis Match?
For fans, there is nothing like seeing a sporting event live. Those lucky enough to attend in person get to experience the game with all of their senses and get to feel a part of the magic of sports. If you’re heading to a live tennis match, seat selection is an important decision.
What are the best seats for a tennis match? The best seats in general to watch a tennis game are seats behind either of the baselines or at the corners. This allows you to see both players and helps ensure that you aren’t tempted to just follow the ball back and forth.
Buying Tickets and Picking Seats
There are many ways to watch tennis, whether you’re going to a local tournament, seeing high school or college players compete, or looking to see the pros at any of the tournaments throughout the year.
In a lot of these cases, there are many options and price points, so fans may feel some analysis paralysis when it comes to choosing their seats. This guide is designed to alleviate some of that stress.
The best way to ensure that your tickets are valid is to purchase them through the official website of the event. These websites will usually walk you through their unique process for choosing seating and what is included with your ticket so that you can make the most of whichever options you purchase.
These are the 4 most common seats to choose from:
| Seats | Cost | Value For Money |
|---|---|---|
| Courtside Seats | Very Expensive | 2/5 |
| Corner Seats | Affordable | 4/5 |
| Midcourt Seats | Expensive | 3/5 |
| Behind The Baseline | Expensive | 5/5 |
Outside Courts
While not all tennis matches are played in sports complexes, many professional-level tournaments do take place in areas with a variety of courts. This is just a practical consideration, allowing multiple matches to go on at the same time.
Fans know and love the iconic photography from the center courts, but there are lots of benefits to exploring the matches happening on the outside courts, as well. These courts generally allow fans to get incredibly close to the action and the players.
Some outside courts offer limited bleacher seating that doesn’t provide the option for fans to be at the baseline. At that point, we would suggest finding a seat as close to one of the corners as possible. It may seem logical to want to sit in the middle of the action, but that would place you behind the umpire.
If it is possible to head to one of the baselines, you’ll be more or less on the same level as the players on the outside courts. This unique vantage point is one that all tennis fans should experience, and the players on the outside courts will appreciate the fans who stop by to support them.
Center Court
Of course, fans know that the most dramatic matches tend to happen on center court, and those seats are coveted by tennis fans the world over. Depending on the design of the stadium and how big it is, fans could be quite far away from the action, so try to choose lower rows if they’re available.
In big stadiums, baseline and corner seats offer some of the best perspectives for the game. Also, seats near the scoreboard mean that you will likely be shown on the television quite a bit, which could be great fun for your friends and family back home, or it may be something you want to avoid.
Other Considerations
Folks that fork out their cash for tickets to see live tennis definitely want to get their money’s worth, but it is critical to keep in mind the weather conditions where you are. Trying to strategically find spots in the shade may provide a more enjoyable experience than sitting in the blazing sun.
Although tennis is generally considered an outdoor sport, many stadiums have installed retractable roofing systems to provide shelter to fans and the courts. This allows matches to continue on when they previously would have had to be postponed, but they can also help fans watch the match in comfort.
Of course, there are some tennis fans with more financial means than others, and if it’s possible for you to splurge on-court seating or box seats, these unique and high-quality experiences are some of the best that sports have to offer.
Best Seats at Australian Open
The Rod Laver Arena is the center court at the Australian Open, and it offers 14,820 seats.
Given the unpredictability of the weather Down Under, this stadium was built as the first tennis venue in the world to have a retractable roof installed. It was also the first arena of any kind in Australia to feature such a roof.
The Margaret Court Arena and show courts do not have retractable roofs or coverings at all, so finding a seat in the shade may be preferable in this case.
Australian Open Ticket Prices:
| Australian Open | Ticket Price |
|---|---|
| Day Session (First Week) | Starting From $62 |
| Evening Session (First Week) | Starting From $62 |
| Semi-Finals | Starting From $215 |
| Final | Starting From $305 |
Best Seats at French Open
For center court experience, try and snag tickets at Philippe Chatrier Court, where you can sit with 14,840 other French Open fans.
In the Philippe Chatrier Court, the Stade Suzanne Lenglen, and the Simonne-Matthieu Court, tickets are sold in various categories that more or less correlate to how far up the seats are in the stadiums, with category one being as close as possible.
Category two tickets balance budget and view, since they are located on the first section of the upper level of the Philippe Chatrier Court. If shade is a consideration, look into the Borotra section, which is on the west side of the stadium, meaning the afternoon sun will be behind you as you watch.
Fans looking for a unique experience on the clay courts should try to get seats for the night matches, if they’re ready to get to bed in the early morning hours.
In 2021, Roland Garros hosted night matches to empty stadiums due to the COVID-19 restrictions still in place in Paris, but looking ahead to 2022, these sundown sets will be open to fans for the first time.
French Open Ticket Prices:
| French Open | Ticket Price |
|---|---|
| Outside Courts (First Week) | Starting From €34 |
| Philippe Chatrier (First Week) | Starting From €55 |
| Suzanne Lenglen Court (First Week) | Starting From €50 |
| Quarter-Finals | Starting From €75 |
| Semi-Finals | Starting From €80 |
| Finals | Starting From €155 |
Best Seats at Wimbledon
The best seats at Wimbledon are really whichever ones you get assigned. Just like Wimbledon has a wild card system to admit tennis players, there is also a bit of a wild card system to admit tennis fans.
Most years, the majority of tickets come from the UK and global ballots where fans can sign up for a lottery to see if they can get tickets. Since there are almost always more entrants than tickets, fans have to wait to find out if they’ve been selected and then determine if they want to purchase the seats they got in the draw.
However, due to the unusual circumstances in 2020 and 2021, there is no current public ballot. Instead, those who received seats in 2020 will get the same day and court offered again in 2022.
Of course, it would be remiss to not mention the invitation-only Royal Box at Wimbledon, which is located behind the baseline and offers 74 exclusive seats. This means that fans will have one fewer baseline to choose from, but there are some seating options on either side of the Royal Box, the opposite baseline, and the corner sections.
Centre Court also offers multiple levels, so the few first rows of those upper decks also have great views of the matches. Beautiful as British summers are, there has been a history of rain delays at Wimbledon, and in 2009, Centre Court and No 1 Court were fitted with accordion-style roofs to protect spectators, players, and (most importantly) the court from precipitation.
This installment brought with it some controversy and a section of seats underneath the roof overhang. These seats offer some shade to viewers whether the roof is open or closed.
Wimbledon Ticket Prices:
| Wimbledon | Ticket Price |
|---|---|
| Ground Passes | Starting From £27 |
| Centre Court (First Week) | Starting From £70 |
| Outside Courts (First Week) | Starting From £40 |
| Quarter-Finals | Starting From £210 |
| Semi-Finals | Starting From £240 |
| Finals | Starting From £240 |
Best Seats at US Open
Arthur Ashe must have been proud that the largest tennis stadium in the world (23,771 seats) bears his name. Fortunately for fans, this huge stadium offers a large number of seats in those quality sections behind the baseline, on the corners, and in upper levels.
The south, west, and north sides of the Arthur Ashe Stadium all receive some shade throughout the day, but those in the east section get no relief from the sun. The roof structure is also mostly transparent, so there is not a ton of shade offered by the overhang, as at other stadiums.
Tennis fans may want to be up close and personal at the outside courts or in an upper level of Arthur Ashe Stadium where they can feel the energy of the crowd. If you can, get as close to the baseline or corners as is reasonable within your budget, and remember to plan for where you’ll be able to sit in the shade, as well.
US Open Ticket Prices:
| US Open | Ticket Prices |
|---|---|
| Ground Pass (First Week) | Starting From $115 |
| Grandstand Stadium(First Week) | Starting From $245 |
| Louis Armstrong Stadium(First Week) | Starting From $275 |
| Arthur Ashe Stadium (First Week) | Starting From $275 |
| Semi-Finals | Starting From $495 |
| Finals | Starting From $1495 |
