Pickleball is a sport similar to tennis, badminton, and ping pong but of course it has its own set of rules, including serving. Here’s a detailed guide on how to serve in pickleball:

The first differentiator in a pickleball serve is that it must be underhand, with the contact between the paddle and ball happening below your wrist and waist. Think about it being more like a softball pitch formation than a tennis serve.

Another rule of the pickleball serve is that it must land in the opponent’s court diagonally. It also must land past the “kitchen” or the no-volley zone (NVZ). If the serve lands on the line, that counts as in-bounds. The only exception to this rule is for if it lands on the kitchen line, that is out-of- bounds.

The crucial rule in pickleball is the “two-bounce rule.” This means the serve must bounce once on the opponent’s side, once on your side, and then you can start volleying. The bounce does not include if you drop the ball on your serve. You can either drop the ball and let it bounce or hit it out of the air on your serve. Both are legal, so long as the serve is below your waist, underhand, and you’re not bouncing the ball when you do the former.

The last rule to your serve is that you stay behind the line while you serve and do not go beyond the middle line either.