Court and Equipment
The court is 20 feet wide, 40 feet long, and 20 feet high. The back wall must be at least 12 feet high.
The short line is 20 feet from the front wall and parallel to it. Five feet in front of the short line, and parallel to it, is the service line. Five feet behind the short line, and parallel to it, is a broken line known as the receiving line.
The area bounded by the short line and service line is the service zone. Service boxes, used only in doubles, are located at each end of the service zone, and are marked by lines parallel to the side walls and 18 inches from the nearest side wall. Drive serve zones are located at each end of the service zone, and are marked by lines parallel to the side walls and 3 feet from the nearest side wall.
The safety zone is a 5-by-20-foot area between the short line and the receiving line.
The ball is 2 1/4 inches in diameter and weighs approximately 1.4 ounces. It must bounce 68-72 inches when dropped from 100 inches above the floor at a temperature of 70-74 degrees F.
The racquet may be no more than 22 inches long, including bumper guard and handle. It must be attached to the player's wrist with a thong.
Players are required to wear approved protective eyewear.
The Serve
Before a match, the players toss a coin. The winner of the toss is given the option of serving or receiving to start the first game.
The serve must be made from within the service zone, the 5-by-20-foot area bounded by the short line and the service line. The server bounces the ball and must hit it before it bounces a second time. On a legal serve, the ball must hit the front wall first and, on the rebound, must hit the floor beyond the back edge of the short line. It may touch one of the side walls before hitting the floor, but cannot touch both side walls first.
There are two types of illegal serves: A fault serve and an out serve. Two consecutive fault serves result in an out. An out serve is an out (a sideout in singles, a handout in doubles.)
It is a fault serve if:
- The server doesn't begin the service motion with both feet within the service zone (foot fault).
- The server steps completely over the service line before the ball has crossed the short line (foot fault).
- The serve hits the floor on or in front of the short line after hitting the front wall (short serve).
- The serve, after hitting the front wall, hits both side walls before touching the floor (three-wall serve).
- The serve hits the ceiling after hitting the front wall (ceiling serve).
- The serve bounces off the front wall directly to the back wall before touching the floor (long serve).
- The serve, on the rebound from the front wall, passes so near the to the server or the server's partner in doubles, that the receiver is prevented from having a clear view of the ball (screen serve).
It is an out serve if:
- The server allows the ball bounce more than once before striking it.
- The server totally misses the ball during a serve attempt.
- The ball touches any part of the server's body during a serve attempt.
- The serve, after rebounding from the front wall, touches the server or the server's racquet before touching the floor (touched serve).
- The server moves the racquet toward the ball in a non-continuous manner as an attempt to deceive the receiver (fake or balk serve).
- The server contacts the ball twice, carries the ball, or hits it with the racquet handle or any part of the body or uniform (illegal hit).
- The serve doesn't strike the front wall before striking any other playing area (non-front wall serve).
- The server, or the server's partner in doubles, enters the safety zone before the serve passes the short line (safety zone violation).
- The serve, after hitting the front wall and before striking the floor, goes out of the court or hits a surface above the normal playing area of the court that has been declared out of play (out-of-court serve).
- The server attempts a drive serve between the body and the nearest side wall only if the player starts and remains outside the 3-foot drive service zone and the racquet doesn't break the plane of the zone while striking the ball. Failure to observe this rule is an illegal drive serve.
Return of Service
The receiver isn't allowed to enter the safety zone until the ball bounces or crosses crosses the receiving line. Neither the receiver nor the receiver's racket may break the plane of the short line, unless the ball is struck after it has rebounded off the back wall.
In returning the serve, the receiver must hit the ball on the fly or after the first bounce from the floor, before the ball touches the floor a second time. If making a return on the fly, the receiver may not strike the ball until it breaks the plane of the receiving line.
The return must touch the front wall before touching the floor. However, it may touch one or both side walls, the back wall, the ceiling, or any combination of those services before it touches the front wall.
After a legal serve has been legally returned, a rally begins.
Rallies, Points and Outs
During a rally, each player or doubles team plays the ball in turn until one of them fails to make a legal return.
It is a failure to make a legal return if:
- The ball bounces more than once on the floor before being hit.
- The shot does not reach the front wall on the fly, that is, before touching. However, the ball may touch one or both side walls, the back wall, the ceiling, or any combination of those services before it touches the front wall.
- The ball is hit in such a way that it enters the gallery or wall opening or strikes a surface above the normal playing area of the court that has been declared as out-of-play.
- A shot that obviously lacks the velocity or direction to reach the front wall strikes another player.
- A ball struck by a player hits that player or, in doubles, that player's partner.
- An avoidable hinder is committed.
- A player touches the ball with the body or uniform.
- The ball is carried or slung with the racquet.
Only the server or serving team may score a point. If the server or serving team fails to continue a rally legally, the result is a sideout in singles and a handout in doubles.
On a sideout, the serve passes to the other player or team.
Hinders
There are two types of hinders, unavoidable or dead-ball, and avoidable. On an unavoidable hinder, the point is replayed without penalty. On an avoidable hinder, the offender loses the rally.
It is an unavoidable, or dead-ball, hinder when:
- The ball hits any part of the court that was designated in advance as a court hinder, e.g., a vent or lighting fixture; or takes an irregular bounce because it strikes a rough surface or wet spot (court hinder).
- The ball hits an opponent in flight. (However, if the shot obviously lacked the velocity or direction to reach the front wall, it is not a hinder. Under certain circumstances, it may be called an avoidable hinder when the ball hits an opponent.)
- Body contact between opponents is sufficient to stop the rally.
- The ball, after rebounding from the front wall, passes so near a defensive player that the offensive player is deprived of a clear view (screen ball).
- Body or racquet contact, during the backswing or while the racquet is on its way toward the ball, impairs the hitter's ability to take a reasonable swing (backswing hinder). Note that, under some circumstances, this may be called an avoidable hinder.
- A player refrains from executing a return because striking the opponent with the ball or racquet is likely (safety hinder). The player must immediately stop play and request a dead-ball hinder from the referee. Under some circumstances, the referee may call this an avoidable hinder.
It is an avoidable hinder if:
- A player fails to move enough to allow the opponent a shot straight to the front wall or a cross-court shot.
- A player moves in such a way that it prevents an opponent from taking one of those shot.
- A player moves, or fails to move, so that the opponent doesn't have a free swing in the attempt to return.
- The player moves into a position that blocks the opponent from getting to or returning the ball.
- In doubles, a player moves in front of an opponent just as the opponent's partner is returning the ball.
- A player moves and is struck by the ball just after it has been played by the opponent.
- A player deliberately pushes or shoves an opponent during a rally.
- A player intentionally creates a distraction, such as shouting, stamping the feet, or waving the racquet.
- A player moves across the opponent's line of vision just as the opponent is about to strike the ball.
As a general rule, the player who is attempting the return is entitled to a fair chance both to see the ball and to return it, and it is the responsibility of the other player or team to move in order to provide that fair chance. At the same time, the returner must make a reasonable effort to move toward the ball. If there is no reasonable chance to make a return, no hinder should be called.
Doubles
A few special rules apply to doubles play, particularly in regard to serves.
Before the match, each team must inform the referee of their order of service. That order must be followed through the match, except that the order may be changed between games, provided that the referee is notified before the first serve of the ensuing game.
At the beginning of a game, when a team's first server is out, the team is out. Thereafter, each player on the team serves until the team receives both a handout and a sideout.
On a serve, the server's partner must stand with back to the side wall and both feet on the floor within the service box until the served ball passes the short line, A violation is a foot fault. If the server's partner enters the safety zone before the serve passes the short line, the server loses service.
If the served ball hits the server's partner while in the service box, it is a fault.
If either partner serves out of order, any points by that server will be subtracted from the score and an out serve is called. If the first server serves out of order, a sideout is called. If the second server serves out of order, the out serve will be called on the first server and the second server continues serving.
If a player's attempted return hits the player's partner, the team loses the rally.
Game and Match
A match ends when one player or doubles team has won two games. The first two games of a match are played to 15 points. There is no provision, as in many other racket sports, that a game must be won by 2 or more points; 15-14 is an acceptable winning score.
If the first two games are split between the players or doubles teams, a third game, called the tiebreaker, is played to decide the match. The tiebreaker is played to 11 points.
The second game of a match begins in reverse order of the first game. That is, if Player B or Team B served to start the first game, then Player A or Team A serves to start the second game.
In the tiebreaker, the player or team that scored the most total in the first two games will have the option of serving or receiving at the start. If both players or teams had an equal number of total points in the first two games, another coin toss is used to determine which has the option.