Tennis floodlighting from club training to the Regionalliga

The DTB match regulations give no illuminance for the Regionalligen. § 56 governs the procedure: if play outdoors is no longer possible, the match moves indoors. Play under floodlights outdoors is permitted only if both team captains and the chief umpire agree.

The 2026 tender for the Regionalliga Süd-Ost prescribes an indoor requirement for all women's and men's competitions, with at least two indoor courts. The Regionalliga Südwest also names an indoor requirement in its 2025 provisions. A home club with a hall should therefore consider outdoor and indoor courts together.

For individual courts and smaller facilities the STL963 usually suits, and for larger facilities with few masts the STL1443.

In Hesse, play under floodlights is possible only by mutual agreement. In Lower Saxony-Bremen the team captains must agree and note it in the match report. In Baden this applies to continuing a team match outdoors, and in Saarland both team captains and the chief umpire must agree.

If in Hesse no agreement on the lighting conditions is reached, the match is interrupted 15 minutes after sunset. For the club this means: floodlighting in league play is an option that the opponents must accept. Its benefit lies mainly in training and in free play.

For this level the DTB recommends 300 lx and stresses even light distribution. The technical publication licht.wissen 08 lists 300 lx outdoors as Class II with a uniformity of 0.7 and GR 50.

Competitions at national level are at 500 lx in the DTB recommendation. If several teams play at the facility, it is worth designing for the higher level, with training then run dimmed.

The DTB gives 200 lx as basic lighting for recreational players. licht.wissen 08 lists this as Class III outdoors with a uniformity of 0.6 and GR 55.

At CHTC in Krefeld, the floodlighting is integrated into the booking system and runs according to use. The STL963 and STL1443 floodlights are dimmable via 0⁠–⁠10 V. For outdoor facilities, the DTB names robust materials and ingress protection from IP65.

The indoor values come from licht.wissen 08: 300 lx in Class III, and 500 lx and 750 lx in Classes II and I. The DTB table does not distinguish between indoor and outdoor courts.

The DTB advises mounting luminaires parallel to the side line and outside the playing surface, and names ball-impact resistant luminaires under DIN 18032-⁠3 for indoor tennis halls. In Lower Saxony-Bremen, indoor competitions need two courts with the same surface in a hall that has only tennis court markings. Saarland advises clubs to check the lighting of the indoor courts before the season as well.