While playing pickleball doubles tends to be popular in rec games, there are those that want a bit more movement and a different kind of challenge. Playing pickleball singles can be a great way to get in more cardio while adding a different type of game and strategy. Let’s go over how to play pickleball singles.
The Pickleball Court
The pickleball court is exactly the same as playing doubles. The pickleball net, balls, and paddles are the same. The only difference is that you and your opponent are the only players on each side. There is a different pickleball singles game called a “skinny single” where you use only half of the court. Otherwise, you will be using the whole pickleball court in a regular singles game.
How To Play Pickleball Singles
Positions in Singles
Like doubles, you or your opponent will start the game by serving on the right side of the court. If you score, you will move to the other side and serve from the left side of the court.
Serving
Like pickleball doubles, the service requirements are the same. You will have to serve underhand with the paddle contacting the ball below your waist. The server must stand behind the baseline and serve crosscourt to the opponent. While the ball can land on the baseline, centerline, or sideline during a service, it is considered a fault if the ball lands on the kitchen line.
Double Bounce Rule
Once the service is returned, the ball must bounce once more for the “double bounce” rule before a third shot is made.
Kitchen Faults
Like doubles, you cannot hit the ball in the air while stepping into the kitchen. If your feet step onto the kitchen line, it is considered a fault. Even if it is your momentum that carries you into the kitchen after you have hit a ball in the air, it is considered a fault.
How Scoring Works In Pickleball Singles
Since there is only one player on each side of the court in pickleball singles, all you have to do is call out your score, then your opponent’s score. You do not have to call out the third number as you would in pickleball doubles. Like doubles, you can only score a point on your serve. The points are normally played to 11, win by 2. If you’re playing in a tournament, you may play to 15 points, win by 2 in a consolation bracket.
You may find that it is a lot easier to keep track of your scores in pickleball singles because you can look at your position on the court to know whether the score should be even or odd. Since you will start the game at zero on the right side, the score will always be even when you’re serving from the right side. Similarly, if you’re serving from the left side of the court, your score should be an odd number.
The only difference between pickleball doubles and singles when it comes to serving after a side-out is that you will serve from where you last scored a point, which may not always be on the right side of the court as it is in doubles. So if the score is 3-2 and it is a side out where it is your turn to serve, you will serve from the left side of the court.
Additional Tips
Playing pickleball singles can be a whole different game than playing doubles. However, a lot of the same rules and principles apply. For a refresher on how to play pickleball check out the next article below.
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