Illegal Pickleball Serves: The Rules of Pickleball Serving

Is your pickleball serve legal or illegal? Learn more about all the pickleball serve rules, the two types of pickleball serves (the drop serve and volley serve), and what makes a pickleball serve legal. What can and can’t you do when you are serving and what are the differences between the volley and drop serves in pickleball? Plus, can you spot an illegal pickleball serve? Take our test to find out.

0:00 - Is Your Pickleball Serve Illegal?
0:25 - 3 Important Pickleball Serving Rules to Remember
1:00 - Rules of the Pickleball Volley Serve
2:35 - Rules of the Pickleball Drop Serve
3:19 - Spin During Your Pickleball Serve
3:30 - Are These Pickleball Serves Legal or Illegal?

Pickleball serving rules:

[rodneypantony]

Thanks. Explained directly and simply versus YouTubers who blather irrelevantly for minutes.

[brianb]

Helpful video but one glaring omission about the drop serve is that the drop serve does not have all the restrictions of the volley serve. Since I am a drop server I am often being told that my legal serve is illegal.
4.A.8.c. The restrictions on the Volley Serve in Rule

4.A.7 do not apply to the drop serve.
This means drop serve does not have to worry about upward arc, below the waist or angle of wrist.

[bknees]

Dude,
The very 1st serve you asked legal or not WAS LEGAL by the very definition you stated. Are you not able to watch in slow motion or freeze frame? Stop your video at the 3:40
mark where ball makes contact with paddle, snap a picture, simply edit pic inserting a horizontal line in the center of the ball where it hits the paddle. You will see the line lines up with your crotch. Something tells me your crotch is below your navel. The line is definitely beneath your waistband of your shorts.
If you’re gonna make a video at least make sure it’s accurate. I would add the pic I used to analyze but don’t see how or if that’s possible. Just follow the above directions and you’ll see your mistake.
And remember it’s not where your navel is when you start to serve, but where it is when you strike the ball. This is important as you are typically in a crouched position, legs bent pre-serve and as you extend your legs and come out of your crouch and strike the ball your navel is rising.
Unfortunately, it’s videos like this that misguide people. It’s not that you aren’t stating the rule correctly, it’s the application. In a training video you should slightly exaggerate the rule in demonstrating so it’s easily understood & interpreted.

[MsJunwai]

love your showing example of legal or illegal, many argue about tis on beginner game

[canadave]

0:55 you are incorrect. "At the moment of contact, both feet must be behind the baseline." That is untrue. Rule 4.A.4.a says: "[The moment the ball is served], at least one foot must be on the playing surface behind the baseline." The only other restrictions regarding feet placement are in the rest of 4.A.4, and none of them say both feet must be behind the baseline at the moment of contact. The closest is Rule 4.A.4.b, which says this: "Neither of the server’s feet may touch the court on or inside the baseline " [the moment the ball is served]...but that's talking about touching the court, not being *over* the court. You can serve with one foot planted behind the baseline on the ground, and the other foot well beyond the baseline if it's in the air. There are several pros who serve like this, with one foot planted and the other foot well past the baseline in the air as part of their follow-through.

Yet another great example of well-meaning people spreading pickleball misinformation on the internet.

[CollectingCarolina]

3:45 that serve was legal, you made contact below your hips... I understand the point but don't us a legal serve as an example of an illegal serve.

[davidchristian]

Great video - thank you! One thing that's murky for me: I know you aren't allowed to toss the ball up when you are doing a drop-serve, but are you allowed to toss the ball up when you are doing a volley-serve as long as all the other rules are followed?

[rohitchandra]

any rule against taking a couple of steps of a walk up to the serve?

[MalcolmMilner-yg]

The commentary states that spin cannot be imparted by your hand before you hit it and this is in agreement with the written rules. It does not state in the commentary that spin cannot be imparted by the paddle as you hit it.
Hence players can put spin on their serves.

[MSnyc]

The ball not going above the naval rule I think is unfair bc it creates an advantage for people with taller legs (most taller people), esp when compared to a short person.

Now this isn’t to say that genetics shouldn’t play a part in sports. It does and that usually determines a big part of who wins. However when you basically limit a shorter person by not allowing the ball to pass their belly button, they will never have a serve that begins at the same height as a taller person. Which means they will never be able to do certain serves legally (even if they could do them physically). Considering the serve has to be performed in an upper swing, this doesn’t give them an advantage if they were allowed to serve the ball at the same height as a taller person. So ultimately the shorter person is always at the disadvantage and on top of that limited by their disadvantage. They should in my opinion be allowed to hit the ball up higher, as long as it is an upward swing of course if that’s the rule. Just based on physics, a taller person will have a shot coming from a taller height which means it will be able to go over the net at a direct angle that is to the taller server’s advantage. The shorter person doesn’t have that same angle, they are going to have a bit more lob to their shot.

[mathewharper]

You made an incorrect statement about your feet positioning. You only need 1 foot behind the baseline. The other can be in the air and does not need to be planted.

[sebaf]

I have to say, I thoroughly enjoy people argue over the legality of serves in rec play. Unless my opponent is doing something ridiculous I will never ever call them for serving illegally during rec play.

[bobwhite]

The last serve at 4:95 was illegal. Because the ball was rising when it left your hand

[the_tkat]

Im new to the game and am wondering if i serve holding the ball out in front of me, and my paddle swing is like tossing horseshoes, is it a legal serve as long as i make contact below my waist? Because this way i can get the ball high in the air like a slow pitch softball arc. Our group seems to be a little divided and it may be because its an odd style they dont like. Amy help would be much appreciated

[tarekag]

In a volley serve, can i toss the ball up a little before hitting it below the waist line? (assuming i did everything else right)

[hbearboy]

You forgot the placement of feet - can't be outside the extended lines - BUT ball can be dropped outside those lines on Drop serve

[trustinmark]

Last serve was illegal since the ball was thrown up to start

[GerryStuck]

Good video....helpful, however still not sure if I can toss the ball up on a volley serve if I hit below the navel and in an upward motion. This is a controversy where I play...others say you can only drop the ball on a volley serve.

[HePaidItAll]

The controversy I see brewing is the definition of release in rule 4.A.5. This strictly impacts the volley serve. Some claim release simply means dropping the ball while others interpret the rule releasing the ball can be tossing the ball up some as long as you make contact below the belly button with the downward angle of the paddle. What is everyone's opinion on this?

[cassandrasmith]

Rule 4.A.4. The moment the ball is served:
4.A.4.a. At least one foot must be on the playing
surface behind the baseline. (not both feet as stated at the :56 mark)