Playing doubles is the most popular way to play pickleball. You can play pickleball doubles at almost any age, shape, and skill level. But there are some rules that you must know. Here is a quick run-through of pickleball rules for doubles so you can jump into the game and have fun playing.
How Do You Play Doubles In Pickleball?
To play pickleball doubles, there are a handful of rules that you must follow. Let’s go over each one.
How Does Pickleball Doubles Serve Work?
The pickleball serve must be an underhand serve with the paddle contacting the ball below the waist. The ball must land on the opposite court across from the server.
The service is considered out if it lands in the kitchen, the kitchen line, or is clearly out of bounds. The service is considered to be in if the ball lands on the baselines, sidelines, or centerline. The pickleball is only allowed to bounce once with each stroke. If the ball bounces more than once before a player contacts it with their paddle, the point is over.
At the start of the game, only one player will be allowed to serve from the team that serves first. This special rule only applies to the start of each game. Once there is a side out, the ball will be the opposing team’s and both players will be able to serve.
Double-Bounce Rule
Once the service is returned by the receiving player, the ball must bounce one more time on the serving team’s side before the ball can be contacted in the air. This is the double-bounce rule. The first bounce is the service bounce and the second bounce is the return bounce.
Scoring: What Are Pickleball Scoring Rules For Doubles
In pickleball doubles, there will always be three numbers that you must call out: your team’s score, your opponents’ score, and the server number. You must call out the score before every serve. The player standing at the start of the side out will always be player 1.
So if your team’s score is 2, your opponents’ 3, and you’re on the right side of the court at side out, you will call “2, 3, 1”. If your team commits a fault, your partner (the remaining player) who’s player 2 in this case, will serve and call out the score, “2, 3, 2”.
In both pickleball singles and doubles, you can only score on your serve. It is not rally scoring. The games are normally played to 11, win by 2. Or to 15, win by 2. Some rec centers may only play to 9 and win by 2 if there is a long wait for players to get on the court. Certain tournaments may also have special rules such as win by 1 or win 2 games out of 3.
Side-Outs And Switching Positions
As mentioned earlier, at every side out, the player on the right side of the court will always start serving. When a team scores a point, the player on the right and the left side will switch sides. They will continue to switch with every point earned on their serve. If the team is unable to score a point or commits a fault, the second player that has not served will give the service.
Switching sides at every score only applies to the serving team. The receiving team should never be switching sides. They can move freely anywhere on the court once the correct player receives the service on the correct side and the point is in play.
This method is usually used by more advanced players in a strategy called “stacking” where a player is always positioned on their preferred or advantageous side of the court. You may often see the pros use this in tournaments.
Read Also: New To Pickleball? Common Pickleball Terms And Phrases To Know
The Non-Volley Zone
The other essential pickleball rule to know is the rule against volleying in the kitchen or the non-volley zone. A player cannot contact the ball with their paddle while any part of their feet is in the kitchen or touching the kitchen line. This rule applies to whether they push off of the kitchen line while hitting the ball in the air. Or their momentum takes them into the kitchen after hitting a volley. A player may step into the kitchen as long as the ball bounces first.
In pickleball, the goal of all players is to get to the kitchen line as soon as possible once the service has been returned. This is because points are normally won at the kitchen line. There are many reasons for this and you can learn the strategy behind pickleball doubles in the next article below.
Read Also: Pickleball Strategy For Doubles
More Pickleball Tips
Playing pickleball doubles is undoubtedly fun. You may find that no matter how long you’ve been playing the game, there is always more to learn. For more of a physical challenge and a slightly different game, you can try playing pickleball singles. Find out more in the next article below.
Read Next: How To Play Pickleball Singles