Where the court is entirely enclosed by the stop-nets the over-all dimensions may well be those given, but they should not be smaller than 60 × 120 ft.
While the usual backstop is made of hollow iron posts sunk in the ground at intervals of 10 or 15 feet, with chicken or fence wire stretched taut between them, it is not unusual to-day to find more elaborate affairs of genuine architectural worth to harmonize with the residence and other buildings. Pergola effects are thus used. The posts of solid wood are sunk in the ground, and then wrapped with wire netting to hold the stucco. The latter is applied in the usual way and finished off in white, cream-white, or gray. The wire net must be stretched from post to post before the stucco is applied. Wooden beams join the tops of the stucco columns, and a foot molding, with sometimes a railing, connects the posts from base to base. The rather elaborate character of such tennis backstops cannot always be worked out by a novice, although a good carpenter or mason can do the work if the plans are sketched carefully in advance.
The simplest form of backstop is the frame of iron pipe forms, which are now made especially for that purpose, covered with the ordinary wire netting
A saving of stop-nets is frequently made by leaving open spaces at the sides
The plain backstop of wire net and iron posts does not enhance the beauty of the lawn, and consequently many experiments have been made to eliminate, so far as possible, their ugly appearance. Painting the whole affair a grass green so as to render it as inconspicuous as possible, is one way of partly achieving the desired results. Another simple and more satisfactory method of hiding the plain backstops is to utilize the things which nature furnishes so lavishly for us. These may be growing in our garden or found rampant in the fields and woods, climbing over hedges and fences and reaching to the tops of trees.
The most economical form of stop-net is here shown, although it will not, of course, stop all stray balls