Rules
Pickleball singles rules
Last reviewed September 2026 · 2026 USA Pickleball Rulebook
Pickleball singles uses the same court, kitchen, serve, and two-bounce rule as doubles. Three things change. Your own score decides where you serve from: the right half when it is even, the left when it is odd, and your opponent receives diagonally (USA Pickleball Rule 5.A.1). There is one server, so losing a rally on your serve is an immediate side out (Rule 5.A.3). And the score is called as two numbers, yours then theirs, starting at zero-zero (Rule 6.B.1).
How do you play pickleball singles?
One player each side, the full 20 by 44 foot court, and the rulebook you already know. The rulebook gives singles and doubles the same court, so nothing narrows and the kitchen stays 7 feet deep on both sides. You serve underhand from behind the baseline, the serve and the return each bounce before anyone volleys, and the kitchen is still off limits for volleys. Only the server can score a point, and a game is typically to 11, win by 2.
What singles removes is the bookkeeping. No partner means no server number, no second server, and no question about who the correct receiver is. What it adds is a job: the whole court is yours to cover, and your score is now doing double duty as a position marker.
Pickleball singles serving rules: which side do you serve from?
Check your own score before every serve. Zero or even, serve from the right serving area into the service court diagonally across. Odd, serve from the left into the far left service court (USA Pickleball Rule 5.A.1). The receiver's score has nothing to do with it; only the server's score sets the position for both players.
You keep serving as long as you keep winning rallies, and you switch sides after every point. Said out loud, an opening looks like this: you serve at 0-0 from the right and win, so you move left and call 1-0. Win again, back to the right at 2-0. Lose the next rally and that is a side out: your opponent now serves, and their score, 0, puts them on their right.
The serve itself follows the same mechanics as every other pickleball serve. One attempt, contact below the waist with the paddle head below the wrist, or a drop serve; at least one foot on the ground behind the baseline in the correct serving area, and neither foot on the court. The ball must clear the far kitchen, with or without touching the net, and land in the correct service court. The full list, with the drop serve and every foot fault, is on the serving rules page.
How many serves do you get in pickleball singles?
One. There is no second serve in pickleball, singles or doubles. What doubles has is a second server: when the first partner loses a rally, the other partner serves before the side out. Singles has no partner, so the first lost rally is the side out. A serve into the net, into the kitchen, or wide is a fault, and the ball goes to your opponent.
Pickleball singles scoring rules
Two numbers: the server's score first, the receiver's second, and every game opens at "zero-zero" (Rule 6.B.1). The whole score must be called before the serve is hit, and the server then has 10 seconds. Only the server scores; winning a rally as the receiver earns you the serve, not a point. Standard games go to 11, win by 2, and tournaments also use 15 and 21.
Because your score also places you, a wrong call moves people. What happens when someone calls the wrong score, and the four branches of that rule, are on the scoring rules page; this page stays with positions.
Pickleball singles vs doubles rules: what changes
| Singles | Doubles | |
|---|---|---|
| Servers per side out | One (Rule 5.A.3) | Two, except the game's opening turn (Rule 5.B) |
| Which side you serve from | Your own score: even right, odd left (5.A.1) | Your team's score, applied to the game's starting server (5.B.3) |
| Score call | Two numbers, from 0-0 (6.B.1) | Three numbers, from 0-0-2 (6.B.2) |
| Who may return the serve | The only player there | Only the diagonal partner (5.C.1.c) |
| Court, kitchen, two-bounce, line calls | Identical (Rules 3.A.1, 11.A, 10.A, Section 8) | |
| Half-court variation | Mini-singles, Rule 14.B | None in the rulebook |
Everything in the doubles game that is a rule rather than a habit, the rotation, the 0-0-2 opening, stacking, lives on the doubles rules page.
Skinny singles rules (the rulebook calls it mini-singles)
Skinny singles is singles on half the width, and it is an official variation: Section 14.B of the rulebook, under the name mini-singles. Every standard singles rule applies unless 14.B changes it, and it changes four things:
- Only one half of each end is in play during a rally, and each player's own score picks theirs: right when even, left when odd (Rules 14.B.1.a, 14.B.2). The other half is out of bounds.
- The boundaries of your live half are the baseline, your sideline, and the centerline (Rule 14.B.1.b).
- A line is added through the kitchen. The standard centerline stops at the kitchen line, so mini-singles extends it through each non-volley zone, in any color (Rule 14.B.1.c).
- The serve and every return must land in the opponent's live half (Rule 14.B.3). Not necessarily diagonally.
That last point is the one that surprises people. In standard singles the receiver is always diagonal, because the server's score places both players. In mini-singles the receiver's own score places the receiver. When one score is even and the other is odd, the two live halves sit straight across the net from each other; when both are even or both are odd, they are diagonal. USA Pickleball's own Mini-Singles FAQ says the same thing in plain terms: each player's position is set by their individual score, "whether the player is serving or receiving," and the format has been approved for sanctioned tournaments since April 1, 2022. Pick a score combination below to see all four cases.
Why play it? The rulebook does not say, but the geometry does: half the width means a player alone can cover it, so two people get a full-pace singles game without the running. Common practice is to use it for drilling dinks and third shots one on one, and some tournaments run it as an event.
Is this legal? Real-game verdicts
Your score is 4, but you serve from the left. Your opponent returns it, and the rally runs.
It depends on when the error is caught. Before the serve, either player may ask which position is correct, and the answer must be given. If your opponent stops the rally and correctly identifies the wrong position, the rally is replayed. If the rally is played out, the result stands. A referee would call it at the serve itself: a foot outside the correct serving area is a fault. USA Pickleball Rules 5.A.1, 5.C.1.a, 5.C.2, 7.A.3.a
At 6-5 you serve from the left. The ball clips the net tape and drops into the far left service court, past the kitchen line.
Legal, and live. A serve may touch the net on the way over as long as it clears the kitchen and lands in the correct service court. There is no let in pickleball; play on. USA Pickleball Rule 7.E
The serve comes deep and you step in and volley it back before it bounces.
Fault against the receiver. The serve must bounce before it is returned, in singles exactly as in doubles. That fault on the receiver is a point for the server. USA Pickleball Rule 10.A.1
To open up a wide angle, you serve from well behind the baseline with both feet outside the sideline, a step beyond where the sideline would extend.
Fault against the server. The serving area is bounded by the imaginary extensions of the sideline and the centerline. A foot on the playing surface outside the correct serving area when the serve is hit is a fault. USA Pickleball Rules 3.A.4.g, 7.A.3.a
Mini-singles. Your opponent's score is 3. Mid-rally you hit a clean winner that lands deep in the right half of their court.
It depends on which half is live, and their score decides: at 3, an odd score, their left half is in play and the right half is out. Your winner is out, and the rally is theirs. Had their score been even, the same ball wins the point. USA Pickleball Rules 14.B.1.a, 14.B.3
Your club plays singles with rally scoring. You are receiving, you win the rally, and your opponent says only the server can score.
Exception. Under the provisional rally scoring option, every rally scores a point for whoever wins it, server or receiver. Your serving position is still set by your own score. Under standard scoring, your opponent would be right. USA Pickleball Rules 14.A, 14.A.2
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: "You get two serves in singles."
You get one. Doubles gives a team two servers, one per partner, before a side out. Singles has one player, so one lost rally on serve hands the ball over. Neither game gives a server a second try at a missed serve.
Misunderstanding: "The receiver has to stand in the service box."
No rule places the receiver's feet. Rule 5.A.1 says where the serve must be received, meaning where it must land. The receiver can stand behind the baseline, well wide, or anywhere else, and most stand deep because the serve has to bounce first.
Misunderstanding: "Singles is played on a narrower court."
Same court, same lines (Rule 3.A.1). The narrower game exists, but it is a variation with its own section, mini-singles (Rule 14.B), and it uses the full court's lines plus one added line through the kitchen.
Misunderstanding: "Skinny singles is just a drill people made up."
It started that way and then made the rulebook. USA Pickleball approved mini-singles for sanctioned tournaments on April 1, 2022, and Section 14.B now gives it official positions, boundaries, and a serve placement rule. It is not used at Golden Ticket events, Diamond Regionals, or the National Championships.
Under the official rule
- Rule 3.A.1 The court is 20 feet by 44 feet for both singles and doubles.
- Rule 3.A.4.g The serving areas sit behind each baseline, bounded by the imaginary extensions of the sideline and the centerline.
- Rule 4.A A point is scored by serving and winning the rally.
- Rule 5.A, 5.A.1 In singles the server’s score positions both players: serve from the right serving area into the right service court when the score is zero or even, from the left into the left when odd.
- Rule 5.A.2, 5.A.3 The server keeps serving, alternating sides after each point, until losing a rally, which is a side out.
- Rule 5.C, 5.C.1.a, 5.C.2 Before the serve, a player may ask about correct positions and must be answered. A rally stopped to correctly identify a position error is replayed; a completed rally stands.
- Rule 6.B.1 The singles score is called as two numbers, server’s score then receiver’s, starting at zero-zero.
- Rule 7.A.3, 7.A.3.a When the serve is hit, neither foot may touch the playing surface outside the correct serving area; doing so is a fault.
- Rule 7.E, 7.E.1, 7.E.2 The serve goes to the service court diagonally opposite the server’s correct position, must clear the non-volley zone, and may touch the net. Landing out or in the zone is a fault.
- Rule 10.A, 10.A.1 The serve and the return must each bounce; a receiver who volleys the serve commits a fault.
- Rule 14.A, 14.A.2 Rally scoring (provisional option): the player who wins each rally scores a point.
- Rule 14.B.1 to 14.B.3 Mini-singles: one half of each end is in play per rally, chosen by each player’s own score; the live half is bounded by baseline, sideline, and centerline; the centerline is extended through the kitchen; serves and returns must land in the opponent’s live half.
- Rule 21.B.1 In a tournament single game to 11, players change ends when the first player reaches 6.
Paraphrased from the 2026 USA Pickleball Official Rulebook, always the final authority.
Related questions
How many serves do you get in pickleball singles?
One. A serve that lands out, in the kitchen, or fails the service rules is a fault, and in singles a fault on serve is a side out: your opponent serves next (Rules 5.A.3, 7.E). The "second serve" people remember from doubles is a second server, a partner, not a retry.
Can you play pickleball singles?
Yes. The rulebook covers singles and doubles on the same 20 by 44 foot court (Rule 3.A.1), and tournaments run men’s, women’s, and wheelchair singles events (Rule 15.A). Nothing about the court, the kitchen, or the two-bounce rule changes when you play one against one.
What is the difference between skinny singles and singles?
Skinny singles, which the rulebook calls mini-singles, uses only half the court on each side. Your own score picks your live half: right when even, left when odd, for the receiver as well as the server. Everything else follows singles rules (Rule 14.B).
Do you have to serve diagonally in singles?
Yes, in standard singles. The serve goes from your serving area to the service court diagonally opposite, past the kitchen (Rule 7.E). Mini-singles is the exception: the serve must land in whichever half of the receiver’s court is in play by their score, which may be straight ahead (Rule 14.B.3).
Where does the receiver stand in pickleball singles?
Anywhere they like. The rule fixes where the serve must land, the service court diagonal from the server, not where the receiver’s feet are (Rules 5.A.1, 7.E). Most receivers stand near the baseline of that court because the serve has to bounce before they can hit it.
Is the kitchen rule the same in singles?
Identical. You cannot volley while touching the non-volley zone or its lines, and momentum carrying you in after a volley is still a fault (Rule 11.A). With nobody to cover the other half, singles players hit far more balls from the baseline, but the zone itself does not move.