You Make the Call!
Here’s the Scenario:
During the serve, the server’s feet are positioned outside of the imaginary extension of the sideline. The opponents miss the return. What’s the call?
I see pickleball service foot faults seemingly all the time when observing rec play. Okay. Perhaps I’m exaggerating a bit. Nevertheless, I see service foot faults with a fair degree of regularity — particularly with beginning pickleball players. Perhaps they weren’t properly taught and don’t know the rules. Perhaps they just aren’t paying attention to the position of their feet on the serve.
Nevertheless, as rule #4.L.1 and #4.L.2 from the 2019 International Federation of Pickleball Official Tournament Rulebook, clearly state, during the serve, when the ball is struck, the server’s feet shall neither touch the area outside of the imaginary extension of the sideline nor touch the area outside the imaginary extension of the centerline. If either happens — or if the server’s feet touched the court or baseline on contact — the server has committed a fault and would not be entitled to the point. Instead, the serve would revert to the server’s partner, or — if the service fault was committed by the second server — a sideout would be called and the serve would go to the opposing team. Shown below is the official ruling. Happy serving!
2019 International Federation of Pickleball — Official Tournament Rulebook
Rule #4.L:
Service Foot Fault. During the serve, when the ball is struck, the server’s feet shall:
4.L.1. Not touch the area outside the imaginary extension of the sideline.
4.L.2. Not touch the area outside the imaginary extension of the centerline.
4.L.3. Not touch the court, including the baseline.
Need More Pickleball Rules Clarifications & Interpretations?
Please reference our pickleball rules page and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter so that you receive additional pickleball rules clarifications and interpretations for many of the common — and not-so-common — scenarios that happen on the pickleball courts. By subscribing to the newsletter you will also receive pickleball tips, strategies, tournament recaps and more.
I didn’t see an answer to the question. Posting the rule still leaves questions in my mind. How long can you wait before you make the call is an issue. If the return was missed completely, whiff, I would think the call could be made anytime before the ball was put in play again. But the call should be made quickly. If the ball was returned and then hit by the serving team, it would be too late to make the fault call.
Good question, Doug. Your question doesn’t seem to necessarily relate specifically to this scenario — but more generally to any fault, out or let call. The best I can do is reference Rule # 6.D.7.
Who can call the foot fault?
Great question!
When there’s a referee, Rule #13.C.1 applies:
During non-officiated sanctioned play, Rules #13.D.1.a and #13.D.1.b apply:
Opponent should not be able to call service foot fault!!!!!
Hi Charles, In my opinion the opponent should, indeed, be able to call a service foot fault in a match that doesn’t have a referee — as long as the service foot fault is quite obvious. Who else would call it? The server or server’s partner isn’t going to call it. In a match with a referee, the referee calls it.
Is it a foot fault if the server steps over the baseline with one foot after the paddle has struck the ball?
Hi Ron, Any aspect of server positioning is fair game after the server makes contact with the ball. So, no, the scenario you describe is not a foot fault.
Can the server’s paddle contact with the ball be over the line extensions? Example serving from the left court a right-hander stands at the center line but their hands are in the right court when the ball is struck.
Hi Margaret, Great question. Yes, the server’s body can be “hovering” over the imaginary line extensions — as long as the feet are correctly positioned.
After calling the score but before initiating a backswing(or during it) can the server move side to side or start with feet outside the court extentions? It is very distracting and difficult to tell where the ball is coming from. To make matters worse the server does it when backhand serving.
Hi Mark, Yup. No issues there!