Orientation Relative to Sun Angle
A tennis court should be laid out to minimize players looking into the sun when serving or when following the flight of a ball. A tennis court also should be laid out to avoid distracting shadow lines and patterns on the court surface.
Theoretically, the best possible layout would be to orient the longitudinal axis of the court perpendicular to the azimuth of the sun -- the angular measurement of the horizontal location of the sun in relation to true north. Since the azimuth of the sun constantly shifts due to the rotation of the earth on its axis as well as the revolution of the earth around the sun, it is difficult to generalize about an ideal orientation.
No matter where a court is located, the average of all the azimuths in any given location will be such that the perpendicular orientation described will be in a north-south diection. This is true for any court located anywhere. However, it is possible to orient a court to favor play at a particular time of the day at a particular time of year. For instance, in the northern US you may want to orient a court to favor afternoon to evening play or winter play. If that were the case, then you would orient the court east of north, since the sun sets north of west in the summertime.
NOTE: It is important to remember that the orientation of the court should be in relation to true north, not to magnetic north. The angular difference between geographic north and magnetic north is referred to as "magnetic declination." This declination changes according to the location on the earth, as it is a function of the direction of the earth's magnetic field. Information regarding the magnetic declination can be obtained from the Natiional Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) website.
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