Pickleball has evolved from a recreational game played on a makeshift court in your driveway or on the one court available in the entire city at the local park, to now being recognized as a sport with two professional tours and courts being built everywhere. To keep up with that growth the rules of pickleball need to evolve and be updated to make the game more enjoyable for all participants. This is why the pickleball rules are updated each year by USA Pickleball and we want to share a little about the most notable pickleball rules changes for 2023.
How are Pickleball Rule Changes Made?
Each year USA Pickleball will have a period of time, normally six months, where they will allow the public to submit proposed rules changes that if approved would take affect in the following year. The submission process this year will go through June 15th and the comment period will end on June 30th. In 2022, there were 78 rules suggestions submitted for the 2023 year.
There is a USA Pickleball Rules Committee and starting in July they will review the rules that have been submitted and either approve the proposed rules as-is, or they will revise the proposed rules as needed, or the proposed rules will be rejected.
The writing of any new proposed pickleball rules will be completed by September 15th and those newly proposed rules will be submitted to the USA Pickleball Board of Directors for a vote and final approval on or before October 31st.
The new USA Pickleball Rulebook for the upcoming year is normally published on their website by December 1st so the public can become familiar with the new rules before they become effective in the new year.
What are the new pickleball rules for 2023?
Some of the new rules for 2023 were eagerly anticipated by regular pickleball players while others were merely updates to rules that had already been in place but needed some modifications.
Here is a summary of the more notable 2023 pickleball rule changes that were adopted by USA Pickleball.
* Elimination of the Pickleball Spin Serve: in the past, players were allowed to add some spin to the ball using their non paddle hand prior to hitting the ball for the serve. They would do this by “pinching” the ball between their thumb and index finger and generating spin on the ball when tossing it in the air.
That spin would put movement on the ball when served that made it difficult for many opponents to return a serve that had spin. Some higher level players became really proficient at the spin serve and used this pickleball technique to their advantage.
USA Pickleball wanted to remove this advantage with the serve and passed this pickleball spin serve rule change for 2023.
The actual wording from the USA Pickleball Rules Committee reads:
– Original purpose was to just use the serve to begin play
– Most players cannot master a truly effective spin serve, or return a good spin serve
– Effective spin serves require more court space to allow a receiver to react
– Only a limited number of players have mastered this, giving them an unfair advantage
– It is particularly devastating for amateur players
This rule applies to both the volley and the drop serve. So, say goodbye to the spin serve and now players can focus more on placement of their serve if they hope to gain an advantage when serving.
Click Here to Read About Pickleball Serve Rules all Players Should Know
* Wrong Score Called: this rule change is an about face from what the rule was in 2022. Previously, a player who stopped play after the serve is made because of an incorrect score that was called would be charged with a fault.
Now with the 2023 rule change, after a serve is made and before the return of serve, a player or referee may stop play to correct the score and no fault will be committed. However, if an incorrect score is called and the return of serve is made, the rally shall continue until the end of the rally and the score correction made before the next serve.
This is a welcome change according to many players because playing a full rally after a wrong score has been called can be a distraction, since the player will be thinking about the score in this case rather than focused on playing out the point which is where a player’s focus should be.
* Clothing Color Distraction: this rule applies to tournament players and says that a referee or a tournament director may request a player to change their apparel if any of their clothing matches the color of the ball. Hopefully players aren’t intentionally wearing neon colored clothing to try to match the ball color to gain an unfair advantage. This rule aims to address this problem before it becomes an issue.
For those playing in tournaments, this is one of the reasons why tournament directors are required to post both the ball type to be used in their tournament as well as the ball color.
* Equipment timeouts: this is another rule that applies mainly to tournament players. If a player has an equipment failure during a match that needs to be addressed, that player will not be charged a timeout and will be granted a “reasonable duration” of time to correct the problem.
Those are the notable pickleball rule changes for 2023 that you should know as you jump on the court in the New Year. Being familiar with the rules of any sport is a must for all participants and with the pickleball rules being updated each year by the USA Pickleball Rules committee regular pickleball players need to stay engaged and aware of any new rules that meaningfully affect the game.
If you have any rule changes that you would like to see made, you can submit your rule change requests HERE to the USA Pickleball Rules Committee for consideration for the upcoming year. Make sure to get your proposed new rules suggestions submitted by the June 15th deadline so you will ensure your submission will be considered.