How to serve in pickleball: rules, technique and drills

The rules of a legal pickleball serve

Every serve is hit from behind the baseline, diagonally, into the service court opposite. It has to clear the kitchen (the non-volley zone): a serve that lands in it, or on the kitchen line, is a fault. The baseline, sideline and centreline are all in. You get one attempt, and a serve that clips the net and lands in the right court is in play.

At contact, at least one foot must be on the ground behind the baseline, and neither foot may touch the baseline, the court inside it, or the ground outside the imaginary extensions of the sideline and centreline.

The volley serve

You release the ball and hit it out of the air. Three things must be true at contact:

• Upward arc. Your arm is swinging upward when paddle meets ball. A flat sideways swipe is not legal.
• Below the waist. Contact is below your navel, which is how the rulebook defines the waist.
• Paddle head below the wrist. No part of the paddle head is above the highest part of your wrist.

The drop serve

You drop the ball from your hand, let it bounce anywhere on the court, and hit it after the bounce. No tossing it up or throwing it down. After the bounce, the three volley-serve rules do not apply. On either serve, putting spin on the ball with your fingers as you release it is no longer allowed.

The rulebook is revised most years. For sanctioned events, read the current edition rather than trusting club folklore.

Volley serve or drop serve

Both are legal in recreational and tournament play, and neither is the proper one. Pick the one you can land nine times out of ten.

• The drop serve suits beginners, tennis players whose forehand wants to swing through at waist height, and anyone who keeps getting told their contact is too high. The bounce gives the same contact height every time.
• The volley serve suits players who like a quick rhythm and want to vary pace and height straight off the hand. It is more common, and more often faulted.

Switching between them in a match is legal. It is also a reliable way to own two serves that are both slightly unreliable.

What a good serve does: depth, then consistency, then pace

The two-bounce rule shapes everything. The returner must let your serve bounce, and then your side must let the return bounce too. So the receiving team gets to the kitchen line first and the serving team starts the rally at the baseline. The serve cannot change that, only how comfortable the return is.

A deep serve, landing in the last metre or so of the service court, pushes the returner behind their baseline. They have further to run to the kitchen, and that extra half second is what your third shot needs. A short serve lets them return on the move and arrive at the line early.

Pace comes last. A missed serve costs the serve without a rally, so most club players are better off at 70 to 80 per cent effort, putting the spare energy into a higher arc.

What a good pickleball serve looks like

1. Set-up. Side-on or slightly open stance behind the baseline, front foot pointing roughly at the target. Ball held out in front of you and slightly to the paddle side, at waist height or lower, well away from the body.
2. Backswing. The paddle goes back low, like a pendulum, paddle head below the wrist. Weight settles on the back foot. No loop.
3. Contact. Weight moves forward as the paddle swings low to high. Contact is in front of your body, roughly level with the front foot, between knee and hip height. The face is square to the target, or slightly open for more height.
4. Finish. The paddle keeps travelling up and toward the target, ending around shoulder height. A chopped finish means you slowed down before contact.
5. Recovery. Stay behind the baseline and split step as the returner hits. The return must bounce, so running in only means taking it at your feet.

Grip for the pickleball serve

Most players serve with an eastern forehand grip, the shake-hands grip with the palm behind the handle, because it gives a square face with no adjustment. The continental grip (hammer grip, index knuckle on the upper right bevel for a right-hander) also works and saves a grip change if you play the rest of the game with it. A semi-western grip closes the face and pulls serves into the net; not a beginner's serve grip.

Grip pressure matters more than grip name. About four out of ten: firm enough that the paddle does not twist, loose enough that the paddle head can swing.

How to serve in pickleball, step by step

1. Same spot, same routine. A foot behind the baseline, near the centre of your half, every point.
2. Target first. Pick a spot a metre inside the far baseline before you look at the ball.
3. Release, don't toss. On a volley serve, let go of the ball so contact comes at the same height every time. On a drop serve, open the hand.
4. Legs start it. Knees bent, then push up and forward as the paddle swings from the shoulder.
5. Clear the net by a metre. A serve that skims the tape lands short; height buys depth.
6. Hold the finish at the target for a count of one, then stay back and split step.

Cue: low, out, up. Paddle low, ball out in front, finish up at the target.

Where to aim the serve

• Deep first. Aim for the back third of the service court, about a metre (three feet) inside the baseline. Aiming at the line leaves no margin; a metre inside still pushes the returner back.
• To the backhand. Most club returners hit a weaker return off the backhand. For a right-hander receiving in the right-hand court, that means serving toward the centreline; in the left-hand court, out toward the sideline.
• At the body, sometimes. A deep serve at the returner's paddle hip cramps the swing.
• Vary height and pace. A high, slow, deep serve is awkward to attack.

Common serve mistakes and the fix for each

Serving short

It comes from aiming at the net instead of over it. Fix: aim a metre above the tape and a metre inside the baseline, and finish higher.

Missing because of pace

Fix: serve at 70 per cent until you can land ten in a row, then add speed a notch at a time.

Illegal contact on the volley serve

Contact above the navel or the paddle head above the wrist, usually from holding the ball high and standing tall. Fix: bend the knees, hold the ball lower, and let the paddle head hang below the hand at the bottom of the swing. If it keeps happening, switch to the drop serve.

Tossing on the drop serve

A little flick up to get a higher bounce is a fault. Fix: open the hand and let gravity do it. Drop from higher if you want more bounce; that is allowed.

Swinging across the body

A tennis habit that sends the ball wide. Fix: finish with the paddle pointing at the target, not over the opposite shoulder.

All arm, no legs

Depth then depends on effort, and effort varies. Fix: sit lower at set-up and push from the back foot to the front.

Following the serve in

The return must bounce, so moving in means playing it off your shoelaces. Fix: serve, stay, split step.

Serve drills without a court

The serve is the most home-friendly shot in pickleball: you start it, nobody pressures it, and the whole motion fits in a garage. The wider routine is in pickleball practice at home and shadow swing drills.

• Shadow serves, three sets of ten, one cue per set. Set one: paddle head below the wrist at the bottom of the swing. Set two: contact out in front, level with the front foot. Set three: finish at shoulder height toward the target, held for a count of one.
• Mirror freeze. Side-on to a mirror, swing and stop at contact. The paddle should be below your navel and the paddle head below your wrist.
• Drop consistency. For the drop serve, drop twenty balls from the same height and check they bounce to the same spot. Dull, and it works.
• Wall arc. Six metres from a wall with a line at 86 cm, the net height in the middle. Serve so the ball hits the wall well above the line.

The honest limit: nothing at home tells you where the ball would have landed. Depth is a court job.

With Pro you can also build a custom workout of serves, and a coach voice calls and counts them with timed rests. It counts swings and cannot see where the ball lands.

Serve drills on court

• Depth zone. Lay a towel or a line of cones a metre inside the far baseline. Serve twenty and count how many land behind it. A fair club target is twelve of twenty. Then serve from the other side.
• Ten in a row. Any miss sends the count back to zero.
• Backhand corner. A cone where the returner's backhand would be. Ten from each side; only deep ones count.
• Serve, stay, split. With a partner returning deep: serve, stay behind the baseline, split step as they hit, let the return bounce, play a third shot.
• Pressure games. Play to eleven with a house rule that a missed serve also gives the opponents a point.

Related guides

• The third shot drop
• How to hit a drive
• How to dink
• Pickleball practice at home: drills without a court
• Shadow swing drills: the complete guide