Public Tennis Courts in Muncie, Indiana

Muncie is a surprisingly great place for tennis lovers. This, of course, is only true when the weather cooperates. It's true that Muncie, Indiana is cold and cloudy for the majority of the year. But from late spring to early fall, weather is often ideal for the sport. My husband and I picked up the game as a hobby last summer when we became bored with walking by the river all the time. It's been a source of great exercise and a lot of fun ever since.

We've tried almost every place in Muncie to play tennis, and I can tell you which locations are the best. As a bonus, there seems to be a lot of amateur tennis players around the city. So unlike playing at a country club, you don't have to feel embarrassed if you're a less than stellar player. (Like myself.) You can feel comfortable just going out there on the public courts and having a great time!

As a special note, most tennis nets get taken down in November and are only set up again in mid-April. The only other location I know of to play tennis in the bad weather would be the indoor courts at the YMCA Northwest. But that's not technically a public location since you have to pay to play. If you're desperate, and you're an alumni, student, or employee of Ball State University, you could take up racquetball in the cold months. There are plenty of indoor courts available in the Worthen Arena sports complex.

Ball State Campus - Next to Lucina Hall

There are excellent tennis courts available on the Ball State University campus located directly next to Lucina Hall and West Quad, and diagonally from Ball Memorial Hospital. (You can get to them by driving along University Avenue.) There are doors on these tennis courts, but they are never closed or locked. My husband and I play at this location most frequently.

The courts are clay, there is a high fence structure that helps prevent you from losing too many balls, and there are a total of four courts. However, these are also the busiest courts in town, so you'll have to be okay with playing directly next to other people. There is no night-lighting at this location, so get there while there's plenty of daylight.

There are other courts on the Ball State Campus that do have night lights, but they are typically locked and reserved specifically for the Ball State tennis team. But it's always worth a try if you are curious. There are plenty of restrooms available at all of the campus buildings nearby in the quad. However, your best bet would be to use the restrooms in the Cooper Science building, as classes are typically running there at all times of the day year-round. So the doors to the building are almost never locked. It's very convenient.

Tuhey Park

There are a set of two tennis courts located at Tuhey Park directly across from the White River. However, one is locked for some reason. The other is missing an entire wall of fencing. So losing balls is a bigger risk here, but the courts are built into a hill. So it is usually very easy to go after and recover lost balls. These courts are also clay, however they are in worse shape than the courts on the Ball State campus. There are many cracks and you have to be careful not to trip over them. However, you almost never have to share with anyone. If you can stay aware of some of the uneven ground, it's a perfectly good place to play. Though I wouldn't recommend going in the heat of the day, as the fences aren't shaded with netting as they are on the Ball State campus. There are no public restrooms nearby.

There are also courts at Wilson Middle School which are open to the public. But I have not personally played at that location, so I'm not comfortable recommending it. My husband has played there and it's one of his favorite locations. So I would say it's definitely worth a try. However, there are no restrooms nearby. Tennis is a great way to pass the time in our sometimes sleepy Mid-Western town. I would highly recommend giving it a try this spring and summer, you may be surprised at how much you like it.