Serving in Pickleball: The Ultimate Guide to Mastering the Serve

Whether you’re just picking up a paddle or you’re a seasoned pickleball enthusiast, understanding Serving In Pickleball is absolutely crucial. It’s the foundation of every point, and mastering it can significantly elevate your game.

To help you serve with confidence and legality, we’ve created this comprehensive guide on pickleball serving.

Inside, we’ll break down the official rules, explore effective serving techniques, and share actionable tips to refine your serve and gain a competitive edge. Ready to ace your serve? Let’s get started!

Mastering the Pickleball Serve: Essential Rules You Need to Know

Pickleball’s surge in popularity is undeniable. This exciting sport, blending elements of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong, is captivating players of all ages and skill levels. To truly enjoy the game and perhaps even compete, a solid grasp of the rules, especially serving rules in pickleball, is paramount.

Don’t worry if it seems daunting at first. Once you’ve absorbed the information in this guide and dedicated a bit of time to practice, serving legally and effectively will become second nature.

6 Fundamental Pickleball Serving Rules

In pickleball, the serve initiates every single point. It’s important to remember that in pickleball, you can only score points when you or your team is serving. This underscores the strategic importance of serving well.

So, you’re up to serve and ready to score. How do you execute a legal serve in pickleball? It boils down to following these six straightforward rules:

Underhand or Backhand Serving Motion is Mandatory: A pickleball serve must always be executed with an underhand stroke. This means your arm must move in an upward arc as you strike the ball. Overhand serves, or hitting the ball from the side with a horizontal swing, are not permitted. The emphasis is on an upward motion.
Contact Point Below the Waist: The point of contact between your paddle and the pickleball must be below your waistline when you hit the serve. The exact height will vary depending on your individual build, but the key is to ensure the contact is clearly below your waist.
Paddle Head Position at Contact: At the moment of contact, the paddle head must be positioned below the highest part of your wrist. This rule reinforces the underhand serving motion and prevents any tennis-like serves from above the wrist. The entire paddle face should be beneath your hand as you make contact.
Diagonal Serve Requirement: A pickleball serve must always land in the service box that is diagonally opposite to you on the court. Similar to tennis, serving in pickleball follows a diagonal pattern across the net.
Correct Foot Placement is Key: When serving, at least one of your feet must be in contact with the playing surface behind the baseline. Furthermore, your feet must be within the imaginary extensions of both the sideline and the centerline that delineate the service box. You cannot step onto or over the baseline until after you’ve struck the ball.
One Serve Attempt Per Server: Unlike tennis, pickleball grants only a single serve attempt. If your serve results in a fault, there is no second serve. The serve then transitions to your partner (in doubles) or to the opposing team (in a side out situation).

Alt text: Diagram of a pickleball court highlighting the diagonally opposite service box where a serve must legally land.

Volley Serve vs. Drop Serve: Choosing Your Serving Style in Pickleball

Alt text: Pickleball player Brandon Mackie demonstrating the stance and preparation for a volley serve.

Pickleball offers two distinct yet legal serving styles: the traditional volley serve and the more recently introduced drop serve. The pickleball volley serve involves striking the ball in the air before it bounces, while the pickleball drop serve requires you to drop the ball and hit it after it bounces on the court surface.

The drop serve was officially adopted as a provisional rule in 2022, primarily to make serving more accessible for beginners. Interestingly, players of all levels, including advanced competitors, have embraced the drop serve and found it to be a valuable technique.

A significant difference between the volley serve and the drop serve lies in the number of rules that apply. The drop serve is less restrictive. When performing a drop serve, you are allowed to drop the ball from any height and from your open palm. You can then hit the ball after it bounces in any manner you choose. This exemption effectively removes the constraints of rules 1, 2, and 3 mentioned earlier regarding the underhand motion, waist height contact, and paddle head position.

With the drop serve, the ball can bounce multiple times before you strike it. There are no regulations about whether the bounce must occur within the court boundaries, as long as your feet are legally positioned behind the baseline. Crucially, you cannot toss or propel the ball upwards or downwards; you must simply drop it.

To solidify your understanding and practice these serving techniques, consider taking pickleball lessons.

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Pros and Cons: Volley Serve vs. Drop Serve in Pickleball

The traditional pickleball volley serve offers the advantage of generating speed and power. By contacting the ball at a point roughly around navel height, you can achieve a higher impact point, translating to more drive and potentially a faster serve.

In contrast, the pickleball drop serve, regardless of the height from which you drop the ball, typically results in a bounce that is no higher than mid-thigh level. This lower contact point inherently limits the amount of power you can generate without risking hitting the ball too high and long, resulting in a fault.

However, the drop serve excels in facilitating spin. The drop serve technique is particularly well-suited for imparting spin on your pickleball serve. This added spin can make your serve more challenging for your opponent to react to and return effectively, adding a layer of strategic complexity.

Alt text: Comparison chart outlining the pros and cons of volley serve and drop serve in pickleball, highlighting power and speed for volley, and spin and consistency for drop serve.

Despite the introduction and growing acceptance of drop serves, professional pickleball players still rarely utilize them in competition.

Drop serves are generally more beneficial for beginner and intermediate players who prioritize ensuring their serves are consistently legal and in play. They are also valuable as practice tools, allowing players to experiment with techniques like adding spin or mastering backhand serves without the complexities of the volley serve motion.

Professionals tend to favor the traditional volley serve because their game often revolves around generating maximum power and aggressive shot-making from the serve.

While the volley serve remains the dominant serving style currently, the landscape of pickleball is constantly evolving. The drop serve, with its recent official inclusion in 2022, appears to be a permanent fixture in the rules and may see increased adoption as strategies adapt.

The Serving Sequence in Pickleball: Order and Scoring Explained

Understanding the pickleball serving sequence is crucial for gameplay. Pickleball follows a specific serving order that dictates who serves and when.

Before each serve, it’s essential to call out the score clearly so that all players on the court can hear it. As the server, this responsibility falls to you. Calling the score also serves as a signal that you are ready to begin the point.

In doubles pickleball, at the start of a game or after a side out, the player positioned on the right-hand side of the court always serves first. (In singles, the service side is determined by the score).

Alt text: Action shot of pickleball player Brandon Mackie in mid-serve, demonstrating the underhand volley serve technique.

Pickleball scoring uses a three-number system: serving team’s score – receiving team’s score – server number (1 or 2). The server number indicates whether it is the first or second server for the serving team in that particular serving sequence (after a side out).

Alt text: Close-up image of a pickleball paddle hitting a pickleball during a serve, emphasizing the contact point.

For example, a score of 6-3-2 would be announced as “six, three, second server.” This indicates the serving team has 6 points, the receiving team has 3 points, and it is the second server’s turn to serve for the serving team.

Common Pickleball Serving Faults to Avoid

Pickleball serving rules are meticulously outlined in the official rulebook. Any violation of these rules during the serve results in a ‘fault’. Understanding and avoiding common serving faults is key to consistent play.

Alt text: Infographic illustrating four common pickleball serving faults: foot fault, illegal motion, wrong player serve, and serve out of bounds.

Here are four prevalent service faults to be mindful of:

Foot Faults: ‘Service foot faults’ are a frequent cause of errors. Remember the footwork rules: at least one foot grounded behind the baseline (no jumping serves!), feet within the imaginary sideline and centerline extensions, and no touching the baseline before contact. Any deviation from these foot placement rules constitutes a foot fault.
Illegal Serving Motion: As previously discussed, the serving motion is strictly defined. The serve must have an upward arc, whether forehand or backhand, and paddle-ball contact must occur below waist level. Failure to adhere to these motion and contact height requirements leads to an illegal serve fault.
Wrong Player Serves: While seemingly simple, serving out of turn is an easy mistake to make, especially in doubles. Pay close attention to whose turn it is to serve. If unsure, always check with your partner, opponents, or a referee if available.
Serve Lands Out of Bounds: The serve must be directed diagonally across the net and land within the opponent’s designated service box. If the serve lands outside this box, it’s a fault. Crucially, the serve must also clear the non-volley zone line, often called the “kitchen line.” If the serve lands directly on the kitchen line, it is also considered a fault. However, the sideline, centerline, and baseline of the service box itself are all considered “in.”

Are there lets in pickleball?

Let’s clarify what is a “let” in pickleball. In racquet sports, a “let” typically refers to a serve that hits the net but still lands within the correct service area. In tennis, a let serve is replayed.

Prior to 2021, pickleball also followed this rule, replaying let serves. However, the USA Pickleball Rules Committee revised this, finding that let serves often disrupted the flow of the game, led to unnecessary disputes, and complicated matters for both players and referees.

Consequently, the rule was changed, and the concept of a let serve was removed from the official pickleball rulebook. Now, even if a serve hits the net and lands legally in the correct service area, it is considered a valid serve, and play continues without replay!

Pickleball Receiving Faults

Alt text: Infographic illustrating three common pickleball receiving faults: hitting return before bounce, wrong receiver hitting the ball, and late timeout request.

Similar to serving, pickleball receiving also has specific rules, and receivers can commit faults. Here are three common receiving faults to be aware of:

Hitting the Return Before the Ball Bounces: The most frequent receiving fault is violating the “double-bounce rule.” This rule mandates that the served ball must bounce once in the receiver’s service box before the receiving player can hit it. Hitting or touching the ball before this bounce is a fault. Remember, the initial return of serve must be a groundstroke (hit after the bounce).
The Wrong Receiver Hits the Ball (or is Hit by the Serve): Another common fault occurs due to incorrect positioning of the receiving team. If players are on the wrong sides of the court, it can lead to the incorrect player attempting to return the serve. Additionally, if the non-receiving player is hit by the serve, this is also a fault. This can happen if they are positioned too close to the centerline near the kitchen line, obstructing the serve’s path.
Asking for Timeout or Score Correction Too Late: Pickleball players are permitted to request a timeout or ask the referee for a score clarification. However, receivers must adhere to timing. A receiver cannot call for a timeout or score correction after the server has already initiated their serving motion. Doing so would be considered a distraction and a fault.

Pickleball Serve Positioning

Let’s examine pickleball serve positioning, specifically where players should stand on the court during the serve in doubles play.

In doubles pickleball, there are four players on the court. For clarity, we’ll number them 1 through 4.

Alt text: Diagram of a pickleball court indicating server and receiver positions and the diagonal service area.

The Server: The server must position themselves behind the baseline and within the boundaries defined by the centerline and sideline (including their imaginary extensions). Most servers stand a few inches behind the baseline to avoid accidental foot faults.
The Server’s Partner: The non-serving partner has more positional freedom and can stand anywhere on their side of the court, according to the rules. However, strategically, they usually position themselves out of the way, often behind the baseline, and must allow the served ball to bounce before hitting it on the return of serve.
The Receiver: The receiver typically positions themselves a step or two behind the baseline, in a relatively central position within their service area. This positioning optimizes their ability to react to and return the serve effectively.
The Receiver’s Partner: The non-receiving partner usually adopts a more aggressive position, often near the kitchen line (non-volley zone line). This forward position allows them to be ready to attack the serving team’s third shot, as they will not be constrained by the double-bounce rule after the serve and return.

The “Double Bounce Rule” explained:

Alt text: Diagram illustrating the double bounce rule in pickleball, showing the serve bouncing once in the receiver’s court and the return of serve bouncing once in the server’s court.

Top 5 Pickleball Serving and Receiving Tips

Here are some valuable tips to elevate your serving in pickleball and your receiving game:

Watch the Ball, Not Its Trajectory: It’s a common mistake to take your eyes off the pickleball ball prematurely, anticipating its path or where you intend to hit it. Resist this urge! Maintain focused vision on the ball itself until you’ve made solid contact.
Keep Your Opponents Guessing: Variety is key to a successful serve. By mixing up your serves, you prevent your opponent from settling into a predictable return pattern. Experiment with powerful, deep serves, high arcing lob serves, and shorter serves with backspin. Vary your serve placement, targeting different areas of the service box each time. Incorporate the drop serve occasionally to further disrupt your opponent’s rhythm. Pickleball serving drills are excellent for developing this serve variety.

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Don’t Try to Ace Every Serve: Especially when starting out, prioritize consistency and legality over trying to hit a perfect ace serve every time. Focus on landing playable, legal serves consistently in the service box. This approach will lead to more rallies and more enjoyment on the court.
Keep your opponents back: A dominant strategy in pickleball is to control the kitchen line. Since many points are won from this advantageous position, aim to serve deep into your opponent’s service box. Short serves allow the receiver to advance to the kitchen line more quickly. Similarly, when returning serve, aim for a deep return with some arc. This buys you valuable time to advance to the kitchen line yourself.
Try aiming for different targets: Serving to the middle of the service court is a safe and reliable starting point, especially for beginners focused on simply getting the ball in play. As your serve develops, challenge yourself by aiming to specific targets, such as your opponent’s backhand side or their extreme right or left. Varying the pace of your serve as you progress is another effective tactic.

Does each player serve in pickleball doubles?

In pickleball doubles, the serving sequence differs at the very beginning of the game. The team that is designated to serve first only has one player serve before a fault occurs and a side out is called. To reflect this initial single-server turn, the opening score in a pickleball match is always announced as 0-0-2. (Remember, the third number in the score indicates the server number).

After this initial serve and side out, and for the remainder of the game, both players on each team will have the opportunity to serve before a side out occurs. This means each team gets two serves per side out after the initial serve.

The starting server for each team, at the beginning of the game and after each subsequent side out, will always be the player positioned on the right-hand side of the court. If the serving team scores a point, the server and their partner switch positions on their side of the court. The server then moves to the left side and serves again.

This side-switching and serving continues with each point scored by the serving team. If the serving team commits a fault, the server stays on their current side, and the serve either goes to their partner (if it was the first server) or a side out is called, and the serve goes to the opposing team.

How do you know who wins?

In pickleball, points are exclusively scored by the serving team. Games are typically played to 11 points, but a crucial rule is that you must win by a margin of at least 2 points. For example, if the score reaches 10-10, play continues until one team leads by two points (e.g., 12-10, 15-13, etc.).

Bottom line

We trust this guide has clarified the intricacies of serving in pickleball and provided you with valuable insights and practical tips to enhance your game.

While pickleball serving rules may initially seem intricate, especially for beginners, with practice and consistent application, they will become intuitive and automatic.

Do you have any local rule variations or additional serving tips that have worked for you? Share them with fellow pickleball enthusiasts on social media!

We also encourage you to reach out with any further questions about pickleball serving rules – the pickleball community is always happy to help. Until our next pickleball discussion, happy pickling and ace those serves!