Tennis court guide

Pier 42

E River Greenway, New York, NY 10002, United States

Courts: Hard
Season: Open year round
Setup: Outdoor · No lights
Pricing: Free to play
Transit: FJZM

First come, first served. Add your racket to the line when players are waiting. · One hour for singles, two hours for doubles.

Court details updated September 2026

What and where

Pier 42 sits on a pier deck cantilevered over the East River in Manhattan's Lower East Side, between the FDR Drive and the Brooklyn waterfront. The park hosts four hard courts built directly on the pier structure, with open sightlines to the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges. No lights are installed, so play is limited to daylight hours.

Getting there requires some planning. The park is accessible via the East River Greenway, with entrances at Montgomery Street on the south side of the FDR Drive and through Corlears Hook Park at Cherry Street. The nearest subway is the F train at East Broadway, roughly a half-mile walk. No close bus stop serves the site directly. Bike access along the greenway is the most practical option for most visitors.

How to get on court

Pier 42 is an unstaffed walk-on court. There is no attendant, no sign-up sheet and no online booking. When players are waiting, a racket line forms at the fence by the entrance: lean your racket at the end of the line and you are in the queue. Play is one hour for singles and two hours for doubles when others are waiting, and the courts stay open year round from 7am until early evening, later in summer.

One honest caveat: Pier 42 is an NYC Parks court, and on paper the permit rules apply in season like everywhere else in the system. In practice nobody checks here.

Getting on court

Is Pier 42 first come, first served?

Yes. No attendant, no reservations. A racket line at the entrance fence sets the order when courts are full.

Do I need a permit at Pier 42?

Nobody checks. It is an NYC Parks court, so the permit rules apply on paper in season but not in reality.

Can I reserve a court?

Technically no. In reality you can stick your racket in the fence and come back in an hour. Pier 42 is not on the NYC Parks online-reservation list and there is no sign-up sheet.

How long can I play?

One hour of singles or two hours of doubles when others are waiting.

Is it open in winter?

Yes, year round, daylight hours. No lights.

What are the courts like?

Hard courts on a deck over the East River, so wind is a real factor and the views of the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges are the backdrop for every point.

What makes it notable

Pier 42 carries a distinctive history. The structure was Manhattan's last working cargo dock, nicknamed the Banana Pier because an estimated 935 million bananas arrived annually from Ecuador. The final shipment landed in November 1987, after which the pier sat abandoned for nearly two decades.

The transformation into a public park happened in phases. The sports deck, including the four tennis courts, opened in November 2022 as the first phase of the project. The full 8-acre park opened July 3, 2024. The design by Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects earned the 2025 ASLA-NY Honor Award for its ecological restoration approach, which wove storm surge barriers and marine habitat into the recreational design rather than treating them as separate infrastructure.

Playing here is different from an inland court. The pier deck extends over open water, so the backdrop beyond the baselines is the East River and the Brooklyn shoreline. Wind can be a factor in a way that enclosed park courts rarely are. The views of the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges are unobstructed and present for every point.

For more places to play, see the best public tennis courts in NYC or browse every court in the city. Then find a partner at your level on Doyouplay before you go.

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