Pickleball: The New Rally

On January 25th 2021, some of the rules changed, and there’s now an Alternate Rules document to keep track of in addition to the Official Rules document — my understanding is that referees, for now, will refer to the traditional Rules doc and the Officiating manual. The figure below diagrams out the flow of a rally. Where possible, I’ve referenced both the traditional Rules document and the new Alternate Rules document. It’s a bit of a pain to have to keep track of both references as they don’t share numeric designations, but I can see why they did that: the new Alternate document is a lot clearer and more approachable, particularly to new players. It’s also better formatted and internally hyperlinked to internal anchors, which is convenient. Eventually, I hope the USAPA implements rule-specific anchors rather than page numbers, in which case you could link to a rule from outside the document.

Here’s a rally in a sort of flow chart:

When is the ball live?

A common misconception is that the ball goes live when the serve occurs. Wrong-o. The ball becomes live the moment the referee or the server (or their partner) finishes calling the score [Rules 3.A.19, Alternate 2]. It is also at this moment where players lose the ability to signal they’re not ready [Rules 4.C.2 / Alternate 8.a]. Note that this means the ball is live before the serve. This is a bit of adjustment to identify a more deterministic point in time (a server waiving their arms around versus the paddle striking the ball), and to be able to consistently state that faults (including service faults) can only occur when the ball is live (with the exception of No-Volley Zone faults) [Rules 8.E / Alternate 5.B.1].

There are other implications of this rule:

Challenging the called score, server or receiver

The moment the score has been fully called, players now have until the 3rd shot is hit to challenge the score [Rules 4.K / Alternate 8.F] or the server or receiver [Rules 4.B.11 / Alternate 7.C]. An interesting side effect here is the case where the 3rd shot is never hit, for example if a serve or return went out or into the net. In this case, players have until the next serve is struck to challenge the score. If the called score was correct, it’s a fault against the player who challenged it.

If the score was indeed incorrect, the rally must be replayed. Be careful here: if the return goes out, the serving team wins the point. But if the serving team were to successfully challenge the score before the next serve, they have to replay the rally even though they technically won the point.

Where can the server be when serving?

A player can literally start their motion while standing in the court, but as long as they’re off the court with at least one foot on the ground when they strike the ball, they’re good [Rules 4.A.2 / Alternate 9.C].

So, when does the serve occur?

Until 2021, the “serve” included any motion related to serving the ball, including the backswing. Even starting the backswing before the ref finished calling the score was a fault. Now the backswing or tap-dancing or other motion prior to actually striking the ball is irrelevant.

Note that you have 10 seconds after the score is called to strike the serve — not to begin the motion, but to actually hit the ball. This means that if you drop the ball accidentally, or whiff the serve, you can recover the ball and try again, or even change from a traditional serve to a drop serve, until you run out of time.

Up until that moment when the ball is struck, a lot of things can happen:

Ask for the correct score, server or receiver

Before the serve is struck, a player can now ask the referee if they’re the correct server or receiver, or verify the score [Rules 4.B.7,8,9 / Alternate 19.A,B,C]. If you stop play to ask the ref after the serve is struck, it’s a fault.

Appeal that a ball is cracked

Before the serve is struck, a player can call out that they think the ball is cracked. Stopping play after the serve to appeal a cracked ball is a fault [Rules 11.E / Alternate 19.d]. If you miss the chance to call this out, you have to play out the point with that ball.

Note: dropping the ball and crushing it, even if it is cracked, is a technical warning in a tournament.

Call a timeout

Players have until the moment the serve is struck to call a timeout [Rules 10.A.3 / Alternate 20.A.2.a]. Calling a timeout after that moment is a fault.

When is the ball dead?

The ball is dead if the ball bounces out of bounds, or passes between the net post and the net, or hits a stationary object (including a net post). But there are some interesting things here:

Ball goes into the net

If the ball goes into the net, is it dead? Nope. The ball is live until it hits a stationary object, or bounces out of bounds, or bounces on the same side of the net as the player who made the shot [Rules 7.B / Alternate 13.A]. There are situations where this is particularly relevant: If Player A hits the ball over the net to player B and then bounces with enough backspin to back up into B’s side of the the net, Player B can still play the ball before it hits the ground.

Ball hits the net, then drops onto the net bar or center base

If the ball hits the net bar or center base on a serve, it’s a fault and the ball is dead. From the return on, if the ball contacts the net bar or center base after the shot crosses the net, a replay is required [Rules 11.L.5.b / Alternate 11.B.1, 11.E].

No-Volley Zone faults

It’s important to remember that faults can occur in the No-Volley Zone (NVZ) even after the ball is dead [Rules 9.C / Alternate 5.B.1]. Momentum is key here. Imagine rushing toward the net and hitting a volley that your opponent deflects into their side of the net and hits the ground, making the ball dead and ending the rally. But your momentum then carries you into the NVZ. You lose the rally.