Pickleball Rules for Beginners: Serve, Kitchen and the Two-Bounce Rule

The court and equipment

A pickleball court is 20 feet wide and 44 feet long (about 6.1 m by 13.4 m), the same size as a doubles badminton court. The net is 36 inches high at the sidelines and 34 inches in the middle. Each side has a non-volley zone next to the net, known as the kitchen, and two service courts behind it.

You need a solid paddle and a plastic ball with holes. Outdoor balls are harder with smaller holes. Indoor balls are softer with larger holes.

How to serve

• Serve underhand, contacting the ball below your waist.
• Keep at least one foot behind the baseline, and do not touch the court inside it until you have hit the ball.
• Serve diagonally, into the service court opposite you.
• The serve must clear the kitchen. A serve that lands on the kitchen line is a fault. A serve that lands on the sideline, centerline or baseline is in.
• You get one attempt. There is no second serve.

A drop serve is also allowed: you drop the ball from your hand and hit it after it bounces. Many beginners find it easier to control.

The two-bounce rule

After the serve, the ball must bounce once on each side before anyone can volley it (hit it out of the air). So the receiving team must let the serve bounce, and the serving team must let the return bounce. After those two bounces, players can volley or play off the bounce.

This rule stops the serving team from rushing the net straight away, and it is why rallies in pickleball tend to be longer than in tennis.

The kitchen (non-volley zone)

The kitchen is the area within 7 feet of the net on both sides. You cannot volley the ball while you are standing in the kitchen or touching its line. That includes your momentum carrying you into the kitchen after a volley, even if the ball is already dead.

You can enter the kitchen at any time to play a ball that has bounced. You just need to get back out before you volley again.

Faults: how you lose a rally

• Hitting the ball out of bounds or into the net.
• Letting the ball bounce twice on your side.
• Volleying before the two-bounce rule is satisfied.
• Volleying from inside the kitchen, or touching the kitchen after a volley.
• Serving into the wrong service court or into the kitchen.
• Touching the net with your body or paddle while the ball is in play.

Line calls

A ball that touches any part of a line is in, except on the serve, where touching the kitchen line is a fault. In casual and many tournament matches without line judges, players call the lines on their own side. If you are not sure whether a ball was out, the call goes to your opponent.

How scoring works

Games are usually played to 11, win by 2, and only the serving team scores. Doubles scoring has a few extra details, so we wrote a full guide: how to keep score in pickleball.

Your first tournament

Once you are comfortable, a local tournament is the best way to improve. Browse upcoming pickleball tournaments on SkorX, and use the app to keep score in your practice games so every result counts toward your profile.