Rules

This chapter provides a summary and explanation of the USA Pickleball rules. In the Equipment and Court chapter (chapter 2), rules about the court and equipment are detailed and should be reviewed to ensure all rules are understood. All rules can be found in the USA Pickleball Official Rulebook including any updates and rule changes.

Serve Rules

When discussing the rules of the serve we will start with rules that apply to all serves. Violation of these rules will result in a fault:

• Serve diagonally cross court (i.e Right service court to Right service court)
• Serve must clear the non-volley zone and non-volley zone line
• One service attempt allowed
• Feet must be behind the baseline
• Feet may not go beyond the imaginary extensions of the sideline and centerline (Figure 3.1).
• Serves that hit the net and fall into the correct service court are considered in.
• Players have 10 seconds to serve the ball after the score is called.

In addition to the rules outlined above, there are specific rules for each type of serve. There are two types of serves discussed in the USA Pickleball rulebook, the drop and volley serve.  It is important to note that there are differences in regulations when comparing both serves. There are more rules associated with the volley serve. Table 3.1  below details all associated rules with each serve, violation of these rules will result in a fault.

Table 3.1                     

Gameplay Rules

This section will summarize rules associated with receiving the serve, rallies, and timeouts.

Receiving the Serve

• Signal unreadiness to receive the serve by raising hand, paddle, or turning back to the server
• The return of serve cannot be volleyed, (two-bounce rule).
• If the ball contacts the receiver or the receiver’s partner before bouncing, a point will be awarded to the serving team.

Rally Rules

• The ball must bounce on each team’s side of the court before it can be volleyed (two-bounce rule)
• Balls that hit the player’s paddle hand below the wrist, and go over the net are legal shots
• Balls touching any part of the player’s body besides the paddle hand, will result in a fault
• Players may double-hit the ball as long as one continuous motion is used
• It is legal to switch the paddle to either hand while playing.
• Two-handed shots are legal
• Any ball that hits the ceiling or area outside of court is considered a fault

Timeout  Regulations

Timeouts are more commonly seen during tournaments than recreational play and can serve various strategic purposes, such as breaking an opponent’s momentum or allowing a struggling player to regroup. Three categories of timeout rules will be covered:

Standard Timeout

• Two timeouts are permitted in games to 11 or 15 points. Games to 21 points are allowed three.
• Players are given 60 seconds for each timeout.

Medical Timeout

• Maximum of 15 minutes allowed.
• Any unused time of the 15 minutes is forfeited and cannot be reclaimed later.
• If the injured player cannot continue after 15 minutes, the match ends in retirement.

Time between games and matches

• Two minutes between games
• 10 minutes between matches

Scoring

USA Pickleball Scoring (PPA)

Scoring formats in tournaments often vary, with common score formats including games that go up to  11, 15, or 21 points. The variability is usually due to the number of participants in a tournament, with formats chosen to ensure the timely completion of matches. The primary focus in this section will be on the USA Pickleball best of three game matches, with each game going up to 11 points. The following rules apply to both doubles and singles:

• A coin toss or another fair method will be used to determine who has the first choice of court side, serve, or receiving.
• If the winner of the coin toss opts to either serve or receive first, the losing player/team will select which side of the court they choose to start on. Alternatively, if the winner of the coin toss chooses the end of the court to start on first, the loser of the toss will select if they would like to serve or receive first.
• The score must be called out before serving.
• Points can only be scored by the serving player or team.
• Player/Players’ must win by two points.
• At the end of each game, players will switch ends before the start of the next game.
• If a third game is required, players will switch ends when the first player or team reaches 6 points in games up to 11. When games are played to 15 points, the end change will occur when the first team reaches a score of 8. While 11 points mark when an end change should occur for games up to 21 points.
• Players are allowed 60 seconds to change ends.

Doubles

Below is a summary of the scoring guidelines and rules for doubles play.

• At the start of each game and after every side-out, the serve will start at the right service court
• The server must call out three numbers prior to the serve in the following order: server score, receiver score, and the server number (1 or 2).
• The server will alternate service courts (right to left or left to right) only when a point is scored.
• There will be no alternating of courts on the serve by the receiving team at any time.
• The same server will continue to serve until a loss of rally occurs.
• When a loss of rally occurs, server 1 will hand the ball out to server 2. Server 2 will continue to serve until a loss of rally occurs, resulting in a side-out.
• On the first serve of every game, teams will only be allowed to have one player serve. The score on the first serve of every game should be called out as 0-0-2.

Test your knowledge on scoring by playing the video below and answer the interactive questions:

Singles

While singles matches share similar scoring rules as doubles, below is a list of distinct rules of singles gameplay. The video below also provides an example of USA Pickleball singles scoring.

• Only two numbers are required when calling the score, the server’s score and the receiver’s score.
• The first serve of the game should start in the right service court
• The server’s score will determine which court to serve from. When the server’s score is even, the serve will come from the right service court. When the server’s score is odd, the serve will come from the left service court.
• The receiver will line up diagonally from the server

Rally Scoring

Over the years, rally scoring has gained popularity particularly in professional leagues. The surge in popularity can be attributed to fast-paced matches produced from this scoring format. The primary difference between rally scoring and traditional scoring is that either the serving or receiving team can score a point on each rally. This format emphasizes the importance of every rally. Below is a summary of the rules for doubles rally scoring, along with a video demonstration of the scoring process.

• Only two numbers are called out for the score, the server’s score followed by the receiver’s score
• Players are still required to serve cross-court
• The first serve of the game will start in the right service court
• Players stay in the same service court for the entire game; they do not alternate courts when a point is scored
• The serving team will continue to serve until a loss of rally occurs. Instead of alternating courts and having the same player serve, the server will hand the ball out to their teammate to serve when a rally is won
• When the serving team loses a rally, the receiving team will win a point and the right to serve
• The score of the serving team will determine which player will serve. Similarly to singles rules, if the serving teams score is odd the player in the left court will serve. Whereas if the score is even the player in the right court will serve.
• Teams must win by 2 points

• A team can only win the final point if they are serving the ball. Typically games will go up to 21 points in tournaments that use rally scoring. When a team reaches 20 points they can only score the final point when they are serving.

  The video below demonstrates how the serving team must serve to win the final point in an 11-point game.

Singles Rally Scoring

In singles rally scoring, similar to doubles, a point is awarded on every rally, regardless of who serves. Unlike traditional scoring, if the receiving player wins the rally, they gain both the serve and a point. The server’s court position is determined by their score: even scores serve from the right court, and odd scores from the left. To win the final point, players must have a two-point lead and be serving. A player cannot win the final point while receiving the serve. Watch the video below to learn how to score using rally scoring in singles play.