Dolores Park Tennis Courts

The courts are great (if you can actually get on one). The last two nights I waited over 45 minutes to get on a court and ended up just going home. The selfishness of mankind is on display big time here! There were 14 people waiting 45 minutes and not one of the six courts freed up. It is unacceptable to hog up a court for 1.5 hours when there are people waiting. SF Rec and Park need to better implement a court-​sharing system here! And quick before all hell breaks-​out. Because of this selfishness Rec and Park may be implementing a permit system where you will have to pay and reserve in advance. I am a new tennis player and this behavior makes me NOT want to continue learning tennis.

The brand new courts are great. There are six courts and also a system for calling next on a court. There is a wall on which to hit on two courts. The views are nice — palm trees and Dolores park and houses and the Mission High School.

These courts get five stars for location, four stars for condition, but 1 star for being closed for the year for construction. I am ever grateful to have these public courts in Dolores Park, however, I am sad to see that the construction is going to be closing them down for one year, according to rumors on the street. Hopefully that rumor is not true, and courts will be back up and ready soon. This rating is going back up, once remodeling is complete, because who doesn’t want to play tennis in Dolores.

decent courts. sometimes you can find singles to pick up a game. its always crowded on a nice weather day. so expect to wait if you don’t get there early. plenty of street parking all around. bi-​rite creamery is nearby for a snack after a good tennis game.

One of the sunniest in the city. In pretty good condition. Props to San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department who maintain it.
I play one to two times a week and regularly find matches on
if you’re interested.

When I relocated to San Francisco-​I met a couple of tennis players who recommended playing @ Dolores Park Tennis courts. When I first played there, I was really pleasantly surprised At how lively the park and the courts could be. I really liked it-​the pot smoking in the park, the hula hooping, the dogs, and the crowd was interesting. No where are you able to find a park like this back in Orange County. I play here regularly and love it. The courts are ok and there’s a mix of tennis players both regulars and not-​so regulars. Five courts. And lights for the evening. All the courts have cracks but currently it looks like the city is attempting to fill in the cracks. Court 3 has a net that is broken, hopefully the city will fix that after they fix the cracks.
But honestly the courts are fine to play on.
If are tempted to play tennis, please remember:
— first come first serve
— limit your warm up to 15 minutes then one set (if others are waiting)
— have fun and enjoy the sun (if it’s out, LOL)

Terrible courts with huge cracks running through them and somewhat crowded despite this. As others have mentioned, no dividers means a lot of balls fly at you.

One of the few places to play tennis when the sun goes down. 30 minute wait on a mild Thursday night. 10 minutes into playing, my tennis strings popped and no spare racquets. Fail for me, win for the next guys in line.

When the clouds and fog and cold chill clears out of San Francisco for the day, Dolores Park fills up fast with smiling hipsters, puppies, drunk vomiting teenagers, and a whole lot of smoke. It’s a great place to sit back with a group of friends and while away some hours. But when I’m more in the mood to move, I use the weather opportunity to hit the DP tennis courts.
Free of charge, first come first served (get it?) and without dress code or skill requirements, I love coming here to kid around and try to improve my swing. The quality ain’t so high — the courts are cracked, the benches might be hiding crack. But it’s a fun pastime with the added benefit of being in the vicinity of Bi-​Rite, Delfina and Puerto Allegre for a post-​game snack.
So grab your balls, it’s hot out there!

The park has four courts right next to each other, and one solitary court on the other side of the basketball court. I prefer the solitary court, it is great for practicing or for playing. The four courts can get a little crowded, and since there is no partition, you have to deal with the other people’s balls coming on your side of the court; very annoying when you are trying to focus.
Overall not bad, best time to come and play weekdays afternoons, weekends good luck finding a court, especially on a warm day.

So we went here to play but we are definitely not coming back.
All the courts are cracked… just like McLaren before they re-​furbished it.

EXCELLENT LOCATION when the weather permits.
There are no dividers so you better hope your tennis neighbors know how to rally!
This park rocks although some could use a little resurfacing, thus a 3 ½ rounded up to 4 because my SF hitting partner and I can meet here with ease after work.

Gorgious setting; waiting times aren’t too bad before you’ll get a court.

This is the place! Sunny, easy parking, but windy at times. I’m always able to walk in on weekdays and get a court after 12pm.
I know what you’re thinking — there is one lone court fenced off from the rest. Cool, you think. Nuh uh! Don’t be fooled by the novelty — stick with the 6 adjacent courts. The lone court has very shallow depth. Baseline players with full swings will be smashing their racquets against fence constantly. Needs 6 ft more on both ends.

Just thought I would add a few points to the other informative reviews:
Court condition — Probably resurfaced sometime in the late 1990’s, so there is plenty of wear, and occasional cracks, but I’ve played on much worse. Maybe a 5 out of 10 rating.
Pick-​up games — Dolores probably isn’t the best place for this, as people typically do arrive with their partners. There is a backboard/​wall, so sometimes you might come across stragglers, but I wouldn’t count on it. Golden Gate Park, with 21 courts (and a wall), is probably a better choice.
Vibe — While maybe not the most important part of a tennis review, the feeling at Dolores Park is a remarkably happy/​chill one; dogs are running around, people are playing frisbee, sunbathing, etc, so it’s cool to hang out there while you’re waiting the 20 – 30 minutes for a court to open up.
I like playing tennis in Dolores Park because of (i) the central location (lots of public transit options, as Julie D. mentioned, as well as that it’s in the middle of SF), and (ii) proximity to watering holes, if you and your friends are open to that kind of post-​match activity.
So get out there are play some more tennis!

Tennis is my favorite activity and when there it is a nice day or evening out there isn’t much I rather be doing than hitting the tennis ball. I am also a big fan of parks, it is where you usually see people happy doing whatever it is that they enjoy doing, running, sunbathing, napping, flying a kite and of course if there is tennis courts then playing tennis.
I love that Dolores park offers tennis courts and usually the weather is better there than most places in the city so it is a good combo unless it is windy then it is not so fun there, especially since there is not wind screens or divider between the courts so you have to deal with balls coming onto your court and your balls going onto your neighbors court. Dolores park has lights on their court which is killer, the lines to play are sometimes long but hey that is the case with anything that is good right? I am not sure how the courts are for drop in tennis or meeting people to play with there, I have always had someone to hit with when I went there.

Free Public Tennis Courts in Dolores Park. On the corner of 18^th and Dolores in the Mission, these courts are clean, well kept, and, on a weekday midday, always available. There are 6 or 7 courts here and they are easily accessible by the J church MUNI or BART to 16^th street.