The Most Powerful Pickleball Serve
Every point starts with a serve in pickleball, making pickleball serves a pivotal part of the game. While it is unusual to hit an ace and win a point from a pickleball serve, it offers an opportunity to throw your opponent off balance, which may help you set up a third shot drop.
Pickleball players can use several different serves to keep their opponent guessing. While the lob serve or topspin serves are popular, the most iconic and powerful pickleball serve is the power serve.
What is the Most Powerful Serve in Pickleball?
The power serve is one of the best (and most powerful) types of serves on the pickleball court and is the one that most new players can master with practice. Players may refer to it as a drive or rip serve. It is a hard serve that is satisfying to hit and, when done correctly, can help you set up your next shot.
How to Power Serve in Pickleball
Start with both feet behind the baseline and stand in a semi-closed stance with your knees bent.
Keep your upper body relaxed and your grip loose.
Using your shoulder as a hinge, generate power from your body rather than your wrist and strike the ball in one smooth motion.
Step forward onto the court using your follow-through after you’ve struck the ball, keeping your body loose.
Check out this video to see the power serve in action from Enhance Pickleball:
How Do You Get a Strong Serve in Pickleball?
There are several important serve techniques that will give you a strong, consistent serve.
Move from your shoulder and finish the follow-through of the swing with the paddle.
Forget an open stance - when serving, use a semi-closed stance.
Avoid over-rotating on your backswing.
Make contact with the ball while close to your body rather than away from you.
Engage your core muscles and legs to generate power rather than your arms.
Ensure you have a consistent drop or toss.
Keep your eyes focused on the ball.
Try to serve deep to the backhand side to force return of serve errors from your opponents.
What is an Illegal Serve in Pickleball?
Illegal serves are those that don’t adhere to the official serving rules put out each year by the governing body of pickleball, USA Pickleball.
It is important that players review the new rulebook each year and look for changes. Pickleball is a constantly evolving sport, and there are often changes to the rules year over year. For instance, in 2023, the popular chainsaw serve became illegal.
New Serving Rule Changes for 2023
Rule 4.A.5: Spinning the Ball on a Serve is No Longer Allowed
Placing the ball between the pickleball paddle and a player’s hand while spinning it is no longer a legal serve. This serve was called the chainsaw serve and was originally used by Zane Navratil and Morgan Evans.
This new rule means players can only use a single, bare hand to drop the ball for volley serves, and no spin is allowed to be put on the ball when throwing it into the air before hitting it with the paddle.
Rule 4.A.6.a: The Server Must Hit the Ball After it Bounces
This rule is for drop serves and clarifies that a ball may bounce multiple times or anywhere on the playing surface before being struck by the paddle.
Rule 4.A.5: The Release of the Ball Must Be Visible to the Receiver and Referee
When using a volley serve, when the ball is released from the player’s hand, the referee and receiver must be able to see it to ensure that no spin is placed on the ball.
Rule 4.B.8: Before the Serve Occurs, Players May Ask the Referee for the Score, Correct Server or Receiver, Correct Player Position, and May Challenge or Confirm the Called Score
Before this rule was implemented, players weren’t allowed to challenge what they felt was incorrect prior to a serve.
Rule 4.K: Wrong Score Called
Whether a referee or server announces an incorrect serve before the serve is made, once the ball is in play, the players can complete the rally and correct the score before the next serve. It is now a fault if a player stops the rally to make this correct due to an incorrect score.
Rule 7.J: After The Serve, A Ball Contacting Any Permanent Object Before Bouncing On The Court
After a server calls the score, they must serve within 10 seconds. If the server accidentally drops the ball or it touches an object such as a fence or wall, the server can still serve, provided it is within the 10-second service window.
What is the Best Pickleball Serve?
The best pickleball serve doesn’t exist because serving is situational. Rather than focusing on one serve, having a variety of serves that you can hit accurately should be your aim.
Accuracy means hitting and placing the ball consistently in the area you’re aiming for. Some opponents have difficulty returning deep serves, while others may struggle with kitchen corner or centerline serves.
Once you master a variety of service types, you can select the best pickleball serve for that moment against the opponent standing across from you.
What are the Serving Rules in Pickleball?
Here are the six main pickleball serving rules players must follow in a pickleball game:
The serving motion goes from low to high in an upward arc (underhand) when the ball is struck.
The contact point with the ball must take place below the waistline.
The paddle head has to be below the highest point of your wrist upon contact.
A single-serve attempt is allowed. If you win a point, your team will continue serving until you lose a point.
Both feet must be behind the baseline when serving, with one of them touching the ground as well as between the imaginary extension between the centerline and sideline behind the court.
The ball must land in the service area on the opposite side of the court at a diagonal, as in tennis.
Pickleball Serving Strategy and Tips
This video from Enhance Pickleball will help new players master the power serve and offers pickleball serving tips and strategies to take your serve to the next level:
