Pickleball Serve for Beginners

Quick Answer: A legal pickleball serve is hit underhand, with contact below your waist, from behind the baseline, and it must land diagonally in the opposite service box past the kitchen line. Beginners should aim for deep and consistent before anything else. The rulebook allows two serve types, the volley serve and the drop serve.

The serve is the shot that starts every pickleball point, hit underhand from behind the baseline into the diagonal service court, and it is the only shot in the game you control completely.

What makes a pickleball serve legal?

Four things, and getting any one wrong is a fault.

• Contact has to happen below your waist, specifically below the navel.
• The paddle has to be moving upward at contact, in an underhand motion.
• The highest point of the paddle head cannot be above your wrist at contact.
• Both feet behind the baseline, at least one foot on the ground, and neither foot touching the court until after contact.

The ball must clear the net and land in the service box diagonally opposite, past the non-volley zone line. Landing on the kitchen line is out. Landing on any other line is in.

You get one serve. There is no second serve in pickleball, which is why consistency matters more here than power.

What are the two legal types of serve?

The rulebook permits the volley serve and the drop serve, and both are equally legal.

The volley serve is the traditional one. Toss or drop the ball from your hand, or hold it and strike it out of the air, and hit it before it bounces. You may not toss it upward and hit it overhead, and you may not spin it off your fingers on release.

The drop serve lets you drop the ball, let it bounce, and hit it after the bounce. You must let it fall on its own, without throwing it downward. Once it bounces there is no waist-height restriction and no upward-motion requirement, which is why it is often far easier for new players.

Beginners who struggle with contact height should start with the drop serve. It removes two of the four ways to fault. Our full explainer covers whether the drop serve is legal and how it differs.

How do you actually hit a good beginner serve?

1. Stand behind the baseline, feet roughly shoulder width, front foot pointed toward your target.
2. Hold the ball out in front of you at about thigh height, well away from your body.
3. Drop it. Do not toss it up.
4. Swing from low to high, contacting the ball out in front and below your navel.
5. Aim for the deep middle of the service box, not the corners.
6. Follow through toward your target rather than stopping at the ball.

Deep middle is the right target for a beginner because it is the biggest margin for error, it pushes the returner back, and it takes away the sharp angle they could hit from a short ball.

What should a beginner work on first?

Getting it in. That sounds obvious and it is still where most new players lose the most points. A serve that lands in every time beats a serve that is fast twice and out three times.

Once the serve is landing reliably, work in this order:

• Depth. Aim to land the ball in the back third of the service box.
• Consistency of motion. The same drop, the same swing, every time.
• Placement. Learn to move the ball between the middle and the outside corner.
• Pace and spin. Last, and only after the first three are solid.

Most players skip to pace and spin and then wonder why their serve percentage collapsed. There is a whole guide on improving your pickleball serve once the basics are steady, and if you want to add rotation later, how to add spin to your serve covers what the rules do and do not allow.

What are the most common beginner serve mistakes?

• Tossing the ball up. It feels like tennis and it is a fault on the volley serve.
• Contacting too high. If the ball feels comfortable to hit, it is often above the waist.
• Stepping on the baseline. Easy to do when you swing hard. Give yourself a foot of room.
• Serving to the wrong box. Always diagonal. Score determines which side you serve from.
• Aiming for corners. The margin is tiny and the reward is small at this level.
• Swinging as hard as possible. Pace on a serve you cannot control is a gift to the other team.

Do you have to call the score before serving?

Yes, and beginners forget constantly. In doubles you call three numbers before you serve: your team’s score, the other team’s score, and whether you are the first or second server. Nine, four, two means your team has nine, they have four, and you are the second server. In singles you call two numbers.

Calling it clearly and loudly is also the simplest thing you can do to look like you belong. Our guide to pickleball scoring walks through the whole system.

FAQ

Can you serve overhand in pickleball?

No. The serve must be underhand with the paddle moving upward at contact and the paddle head below your wrist. An overhand serve is a fault regardless of where it lands.

How many serves do you get in pickleball?

One. There is no second serve. A fault on the serve loses the rally, which is why consistency matters more than power.

Where does the pickleball serve have to land?

In the service box diagonally opposite you, past the non-volley zone line. A serve landing on the kitchen line is out. A serve landing on the baseline or sideline of the correct box is in.

Can the serve hit the net and still count?

Yes. Since 2021 a serve that clips the net and lands in the correct service box is live and play continues. There are no let serves.

Which side do I serve from?

When your team’s score is even, you serve from the right side. When it is odd, you serve from the left. That holds in both singles and doubles.

Is the drop serve easier for beginners?

For many players, yes. Letting the ball bounce removes the waist-height and upward-motion requirements at contact, which eliminates two common faults. It is fully legal and some tournament players use it.

How hard should a beginner hit the serve?

Around seventy percent of what you are capable of. The goal is a deep, repeatable serve. Pace can come later once the ball is landing in the same area every time.

Can I bounce the ball before serving?

You can bounce it on the ground beside you while getting ready. That is not the serve. The drop serve itself requires you to release the ball and let it fall without pushing it downward.

If you want the serve fixed properly in one session instead of over a season, that is exactly the kind of thing a lesson solves. Our directory lists coaches by city, and plenty offer a single-session tune-up.

Written by the Pickler Junction Team.