Serving the ball is an essential skill to have as a pickleball player and is a must for those wanting to play the game. The pickleball serve is a unique motion not commonly found in any other sport so learning the pickleball serve for newcomers might take some time. There are several pickleball serve rules to learn for both singles and doubles players and in this article we will focus primarily on serve rules for the doubles game. If you want to take your pickleball serving game to the next level the first step is to learn the pickleball serving rules so you are ready to play.
What is the Most Effective Pickleball Serve?
The most effective pickleball serve is a legal pickleball serve. In addition, an effective pickleball serve is one that goes in consistently when serving in a game. Think of the serve in pickleball like tennis players think of their serve. The serve is an offensive weapon that should be used to set up a point for the advantage of the serving player and/or team.
For example, if you know your opponent has a weak backhand, try serving consistently to the backhand side of your opponent to force a weak return of serve that you can capitalize on. Use your serve to your advantage to win pickleball points.
And for the reasons given above, I urge all new pickleball players to take time to learn the serve and the serving rules well so you can use this information during games to your advantage.
There have been some changes to the serving rules over the past several years where some serves that were previously not legal serves are now allowed (drop serve, let serve) during play. And other serves have been banned from play such as the pickleball chainsaw serve which is a serve that created a lot of spin and made it difficult for opponents to return.
10 Key Pickleball Rules Every Player Should Know
What Are the Three Basic Pickleball Serving Rules?
The serving rules in pickleball are pretty extensive and are covered in section 4 of the official USA Pickleball rules book. And while there are many rules that govern the serve and serving technique, the pickleball serve can be loosely defined with three basic serving rules.
Underhand Serve: the serve motion in pickleball is unique to the sport and unlike any “point starting” motion that I am aware of in other sports. The rules are very clear on how the serve motion should be, the difficult part for new players is to perfect the motion so the ball lands in consistently using the underhand motion.
The USA Pickleball rulebook for the underhand serve reads as follows:
4.A.5.a – the servers arm must be moving in and upward arc at the time the ball is struck and may be made with either a forehand or a backhand motion
In addition, the highest part of the paddle head must not be above the highest part of the wrist when it strikes the ball. What this means is there are no “level swing” forehands allowed on a pickleball serve, as well as no overhand serves like a tennis serve. In both instances, the paddle head in each of these cases would be above the wrist and this would make each an illegal serve
And finally, contact with the ball must not be made above the waist. If a server makes contact with the ball above the waist on a serve, that would be a “level swing” forehand serve and not the required underhand and below the waist legal serve.
I know this seems more complicated than it has to be but once you start playing more, the serve will come naturally and will be second nature as you become more comfortable on the court.
Feet Behind the Baseline: the official pickleball rulebook is clear on where the server needs to stand when serving in a game. The server needs to stand behind the baseline with at least one foot on the ground when serving. The official rule reads as follows:
4.A.4.a – at least one foot must be on the playing surface behind the baseline.
4.A.4.b – neither of the server’s feet may touch the court on or inside the baseline
4.A.4.c – neither of the server’s feet may touch outside the imaginary extensions of the sideline or centerline
The rule is clear that the server must be on the proper side of the court for the serve turn and in a location behind the baseline of the service court. The rule for one foot on the ground is to prevent any advantage that may arise for a server trying a jump serve motion of some sort.
Crosscourt Serve: much like the serve in tennis, the server needs to serve cross court to the opponent, so the serve travels over the net and lands in the area of the court diagonally opposite the server.
This is fairly easy to do for most players because you have a large area to hit your serve. The serve can land in the receivers area of the court and can touch any of the three lines including the baseline, sideline, or centerline and will be considered “in”. The only line the serve can not touch and still be in is the kitchen or “no volley zone” line in which case that serve would be out. More on that later in this article.
Pickleball Doubles vs Singles
Pickleball is played as both singles and doubles, but doubles is far more common in pickleball for many reasons. As one that plays both tennis and pickleball, I prefer the singles game in tennis due to the strategy and competition that is a part of the singles game.
But when playing pickleball, I much prefer the doubles game because I feel like the teamwork required to play doubles is much more invigorating than the power of the singles game. I also enjoy the social aspect of the doubles game and this most likely is the favorite answer if you asked most recreational pickleball players.
I rarely see any singles pickleball games being played when at any of the local pickleball courts in my community. So, for this reason, most of our focus will be on the doubles game.
Pickleball Doubles Serving Rules
The rules for serving in Pickleball doubles are pretty straightforward and easy to learn. If you can learn just 2 – 3 key points about the doubles serving process that will be enough to get you started playing. And the rest of the serving rules for me fell in to place as I played more and learned those rules as we went.
Earlier, we covered some basic serving rules that apply to every player whether playing singles or doubles. Now we will focus on some of the rules that apply to serving specifically in the doubles game.
Both Doubles Players serve: both doubles players on each “service turn” have the opportunity to serve and score points until a rally is lost or a fault is committed by the serving team, in which case the serve would go to the opposing team.
First Doubles Server Begins the Game as Server 2: the exception to the above rule is at the beginning of a pickleball game when the first player to serve starts out as “server 2” for scoring purposes. This server will serve until a rally is lost or a fault is committed by the serving team, at which time the service will be awarded to the opposing team.
Side out: the term commonly used when the serve moves to the opposing team
Pickleball Doubles Serving Rotation
The pickleball doubles serving rotation is pretty straightforward and is something you will pick up very quickly once you start playing. According to the pickleball rules, the doubles serving rotations are as follows:
Doubles serving area: at the start of each side out, serving begins in the right/even serving area
Doubles Score and Court position: when the teams score is even (0,2,4,6……..), the teams starting servers correct position is at the right/even serving area. When the teams score is odd (1, 3, 5…..), the starting servers correct position is at the left/odd court.
Server 1 vs Server 2: after each side out, the first doubles server will be server 1 and that player will be correctly positioned on the right/even side of the court. Server 1 will serve, and switch court sides from the right to the left side until the team loses a rally or commits a fault, at which time server 2 starts their serve from the side of the court where the last point ended and will continue to serve until a rally is lost.
Player positions at time of Serve: for the serving team, both players must be standing behind the baseline as their partner hits the serve. For the receiving team, the receiver of the serve must be on their respective side of the court(even/odd) to be able to receive the serve. The receivers partner may move up in to the court and may stand in the court or off to the side as the serve is made by the serving team.
Pickleball Additional Serving Rules to Know
These are some additional rules to know when playing a pickleball game and should be followed by all players on the court. These rules will become second nature as you play more, and some may not even know there are rules that apply to this part of the serving game.
Calling the Score: the serve should be called by the server before serving to the receiving team and will consist of a three-digit score for doubles players (Score x Score x Server 1 or 2) and a two digit score for singles players (Score x Score).
Courtesy in recreational play dictates that the score is normally called when all players are in their correct position for both the serving and the receiving team on the court. Once all players are in position, the server will call out the score for both teams to hear and serve the ball after the score is called.
If you are playing a tournament, the referee will call out the score and the server must wait to serve until and after the score has been called.
The 10-Second Rule:
Once the score has been called out, the server will have 10 seconds to serve the ball. If the server exceeds 10-seconds to serve the ball that will constitute a fault and the serve will be awarded to the opposing team.
In recreational play this is rarely an issue and no one will be on your court with a stop watch timing how long it takes you to serve the ball. In competitive tournament play is where this rule will apply because you will have a referee calling out the score and monitoring if the servers on each team are all serving the ball in a timely manner.
Two Types of Pickleball Serves: Pickleball Volley Serve or Pickleball Drop Serve
There are essentially two ways to serve in pickleball and that is either a volley serve or a drop serve. For most players the volley serve is the most commonly used serve by far and is a mainstay on the court in both recreational and competitive play.
The principle behind the volley serve is a simple one in that the player should toss the ball in to the air before serving and hit the ball out of the air with the pickleball paddle, with an underhand motion over the net to the serve receiver.
Similar to tennis, the toss is the key to having a consistent pickleball serve. So, most players learning to serve should practice starting with a consistent toss that leads to hitting the pickleball from the same spot out of the air for the serve. Developing the consistency in the toss and the paddle hitting point that comes from repetition and practice will develop a strong serve for most pickleball players.
The second type of serve in pickleball that was added to the rule book in early 2021 is the drop serve, or sometimes known as the bounce serve. The drop serve is a less commonly used serve by experienced pickleball players but it is a great technique to use to learn the underhand motion when learning a pickleball serve.
To learn more about how to serve using the drop serve, read our complete article here where we explain the technique to learn this serve, and we also share a complete explanation of the pickleball bounce serve rules.
Can a Pickleball Serve Land in the Kitchen?
The pickleball rules are very clear on this point so players should understand the rules so they are familiar with these rules going in to pickleball play. According to the pickleball rulebook, the serving rule that applies to the Non-Volley Zone, also known as the Kitchen reads as follows:
4.M.5: It is a Service Fault if, the served ball lands in the non-volley zone which includes the NVZ lines
The pickleball serve must travel over the net and in to the opponents service court without landing in the Kitchen or touching the kitchen lines in that area. If the ball lands in and touches the receivers sideline, centerline, or baseline the ball is still considered “in”.
The server should therefore learn to hit their serve with enough power to clear the no volley zone on each serve. And it is good strategy to try and hit a deep serve to one’s opponent to keep them back at the baseline as much as possible.
What is a Let Serve in Pickleball?
A let serve in pickleball is when the server serves the ball and the ball hits the net, but clears the NVZ and lands in the opponents correct receiving court. That is considered a live serve and is played just like any other live serve.
For comparison, in tennis, a let is not a live serve and the server is awarded either their first serve or second serve to re-serve to their opponent. This is a big change for tennis players and leads to some interesting discussions on the court until one becomes familiar with the pickleball rules.
These are the primary rules that all pickleball players should know. If you learn the pickleball serve rules covered in our article, you will be one of the better educated pickleball players on the court and this knowledge will serve you well in your games.
Hopefully this information was helpful and if you benefited from the information in this article, please share with your pickleball friends so they can benefit as well.