Eton Fives - The Court

The Court

An Eton Fives court consists of three walls, with the left hand wall interrupted by a buttress approximately halfway up the court. There are also two levels to the court, the front being around six inches higher than the back half of the playing area. On the front wall is a vertical black line about three quarters of a metre from the right wall; this is used during the serve and return process detailed later. There is a diagonal ledge that circumvents the entire 'top-step' at about chest height; it is this ledge which the ball has to hit or go above to be 'up'. Below this ledge, at knee height, is a horizontal ledge about two inches wide, and which is only present on the 'top-step'. This is merely here because of the origins of Eton Fives as the ledge is present at the chapel in Eton College. The diagonal ledge drops vertically at the edge of the 'top-step' and then returns to normal at a slightly lower height on the bottom step, running to the back of the court. At the back are brick columns that jutt out slightly into the court, which are only about an inch to two inches wide. Shots very rarely hit this part of the court, but once they do it is usually very effective for winning a point. Each of the courts at varying schools differ in some way, leaving room to modify how your school's courts are built to a certain extent. In this way the 'home team' will often have an advantage over a visiting side because of their knowledge of the court's layout.