Serving Rules in Pickleball: Your How-To-Play Guide

• Must serve underhand
• Must sever below the Naval (belly button) line
• Must Serve diagonally
• Only one serve is allowed unless the ball hits the net and goes over, then it is a let

The physical serving in pickleball is pretty easy to grasp. Most of the rules and processes for serving in pickleball are adapted directly from other paddle sports. The first thing to know is that you must serve underhand. You also have to hit the ball below your naval (belly button), meaning that you cannot throw the ball up and hit it overhand like in tennis. However, you can throw the ball up to serve as long as you hit it underhand and when the ball is below your naval line.

Like in tennis, you are required to serve in the box diagonally across from you. This means if you are serving on the right side, you must hit it to the opponents left side. You only get one attempt at serving the ball, unless the ball hits the net and goes over. In this instance, the serve will be called a let and you have one more chance to serve it over the net.

• Both players on one side will serve until a fault is committed
• The first serve is always on the right side
• Server switches side if they win the point
• After the first server commits a fault, the second server on the same side will serve
• Once the second server commits a fault, the other team serves

The serving sequence in pickleball is where things start to get a little confusing, but it's easy to grasp after a couple games. A crucial aspect of pickleball that affects how the serving sequence works is scoring. You can only win a point if your team was the one who served the ball. Meaning if the opponent served and you successfully defended, you are not awarded the point.

The first serve occurs with the person on the right side of the court. If the server successfully wins the point, they rotate to the left side and continue serving. They serve until they cause a fault or their team losses a rally. After that occurs, the other person on the same side of the court will serve until a fault is occurred. After that, the other team gets the chance to serve and earn points.

This aspect of the serving sequence is an integral part to how pickleball works. Because you only get a point when you are the team serving, having these rotations make the game more rounded and fair. It also adds extra intensity when you're down and have to defend two points to get an attempt at winning the game. Also of note, a game can never end on a fault.

• Games are played to eleven
• Must win by two points

In order to win a game of pickleball, you must reach eleven points before your opponent does. A key aspect to the scoring rules is that you must win by two. This means if you reach eleven points but your opponent is sitting on ten, you must score another point. This helps create intense games that go back and forth as opponents fight to get that two point edge.

With this guide you should be ready to take on the pickleball courts for the first time!