Universal Music Group (UMG) released the song as the second single from her debut studio album Pure Heroine (2013) in Australia and New Zealand on 7 June 2013.

"Tennis Court" received positive reviews from music critics, with some highlighting the song's production and lyrical content.

New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde (born 1996 as Ella Yelich-O'Connor) was interested in performing live at local venues around her home city of Auckland during intermediate school years.

[1] Scott Maclachlan, an A&R executive of Universal Music Group (UMG), discovered Lorde upon witnessing her performance at her school talent show when she was 12.

[6] Songwriting for "Tennis Court" was different from how Lorde usually writes songs; by and large, she would have a lyric forming before going into the studio to record.

[12] "Tennis Court" was later included as the opening track on Lorde's debut studio album Pure Heroine, released on 27 September 2013.

[37] During the songwriting process, Lorde explained that she took an interest to the works of American photographer Gregory Crewdson due to his depictions of human life, suburbia and sense of loneliness.

", which suggests "a frictional relationship with the high life",[36] and summarises Pure Heroine's central theme of Lorde's observations and critiques of mainstream culture.

[37] The follow-up lines "It's a new art form showing people how little we care / We're so happy even when we're smilin' out of fear" illustrate Lorde feigning disinterest when facing fame and adolescence.

[28][40] In the second verse, Lorde wonders about her future music career,[41] therefrom expecting inevitable nostalgia of her non-celebrity lifestyle, "But my head's filling up with the wicked games, up in flames / How can I fuck with the fun again, when I'm known?

"[42] At the bridge, Lorde sings "I fall apart, with all my heart / And you can watch from your window", which HuffPost interpreted as a commentary on the breakdowns of teenage celebrities.

[31] Emily Yoshida from Grantland labelled it a "murkily winsome, ever-so-slightly chopped ballad",[43] while Kyle Jaeger writing for The Hollywood Reporter commended the track's lyrical content and its "catchy" melody.

[44] Billboard's Jason Lipshutz was favourable towards the song's "detached attitude" and minimalist production that evoked "something intoxicating" in the music scene.

[45] Pitchfork writer Lindsay Zoladz applauded the song's narrative for "exposing irony and even hypocrisy without coming off as preachy or moralistic".

[46] In his review of Pure Heroine, Jon Hadusek from Consequence of Sound selected "Tennis Court" as an "essential" track and highlighted its narrative lyrics.

"[72] Writing for Ryan Seacrest's website, Kathleen Perricone complimented the "super simple" clip, which allowed Lorde's "voice and lyrics [to] really shine.

[73] MTV News editor Luke O'Neil wrote that the "Tennis Court" video is "a bit unsettling at first, but eventually it starts to make sense.

"[70] To promote her works to American audiences, Lorde held her first US show at Le Poisson Rouge in New York on 6 August 2013 and performed "Tennis Court" among songs from The Love Club EP.

[75][76] On 13 November 2013, Lorde performed "Tennis Court" among five other songs from The Love Club and Pure Heroine on Live on Letterman.

[77] Six days later, Lorde held her first UK concert at Soho, London, where she performed several tracks from Pure Heroine including "Tennis Court".

[86] Lorde included "Tennis Court" on the set list of her Melodrama World Tour, which ran from September 2017 to November 2018.

[89] Noisey credited his remix as one of the earliest examples of a SoundCloud trend incorporating a "dizzy drop", described as "piercing flurries of stuttering synths and stomach-churning side-chain compression.