🥒Rules Pickleball

Pickleball is a racket sport that blends elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis. It is played in singles or doubles on a badminton-sized court using a solid paddle and a perforated plastic ball. Its quick learning curve and social nature have made it one of the fastest-growing sports in the world.

Hit the ball over the net so the opponent cannot return it legally, in order to score points and win the game.

• •The serve is made diagonally, below waist level, from behind the baseline.
• •Two-bounce rule: after the serve, each side must let the ball bounce once before it may be volleyed.
• •The non-volley zone (the kitchen), about 2.1 m on each side of the net, forbids hitting the ball as a volley while standing in it.
• •The ball must stay within the lines; touching a line generally counts as in (except the non-volley zone line on the serve).
• •In doubles, the score is called with three numbers: server's points, receiver's points, server number (1 or 2).
• •Depending on format, the game is played to 11 points, win by 2.

In traditional scoring, only the serving side can score a point; if the serving side loses the rally there is a side-out (change of serve) with no point for the opponent. In rally scoring, a point is scored on every rally regardless of who served. Games are usually played to 11 points, win by 2; some tournaments play to 15 or 21 points depending on the format.

A standard game is played to 11 points, win by 2. Tournaments may set the target at 15 or 21 points and run matches as a single game or best-of-three (best-of-five in some pro finals) depending on the chosen format. The scoring system (traditional or rally) and the target vary by federation and organizer.

The side that first reaches the target score (11, 15 or 21 depending on format) with at least a 2-point lead wins the game.