Pickleball etiquette, from paddle taps to line calls

Tap paddles, or just the handles, with the other players at the net when a game ends, and call the whole score loud enough for the far side to hear before every serve. Call only the lines on your side, give the other team any ball you aren’t sure of, and wait for a rally to finish before you walk behind its court or fetch a ball from it.

What are paddle taps?

A paddle tap is the touch of paddles players trade at the net, most often when a game ends, as a way of saying good game. Pickleball.com calls tapping after a game an unspoken rule. USA Pickleball’s sportsmanship guide doesn’t mention the tap itself, only the meeting it goes with: At the end of each game, meet the other players at the net to acknowledge them in a positive manner.

Tap handles rather than faces. Battlefords Pickleball Club in Saskatchewan tells its players to tap the bottom of your paddles and find something positive to say to the other team at the net, and Pickleball Union notes that to protect their paddles, many pros go for handle taps or even a fist bump instead.

During a game, taps are between partners and vary a lot. Some duos tap paddles after every point, no matter the outcome, Pickleball.com writes; others save it for a long rally, or don’t tap at all. No rule asks for any of it. If you’re new to a group, the tap at the net after the game is the one to do every time, and the rest can follow your partner’s lead.

Do you have to call the score before every serve?

Yes. Rule 6.C says The entire score must be called before the server hits the serve. The server normally calls the score (rule 6.B), once the server and receiver are in position, and in doubles the call is three numbers: the serving team’s score, the receiving team’s score, then the server number. Our guide to keeping score explains what each number means.

The rulebook doesn’t say how loud. Battlefords Pickleball Club does: call the score loud enough for the opponent furthest from you to hear easily. A call nobody hears can’t be checked, and the moment before the serve is when a wrong score is easiest to sort out.

The call is also everyone’s cue to be ready. Before the start of the score call, any player may signal they are not ready to start play (rule 6.A), with a paddle or hand raised overhead or by completely turning their back to the net, so start the call only once the receiver has stopped fetching balls and looked up.

If remembering the score is the hard part, Rally Trace keeps it on your Apple Watch and calls it out loud after every rally, so the server has the right numbers before the next serve.

Who calls the lines in pickleball?

Each team calls the lines on its own side. Rule 8.A puts it this way: Players are responsible for making ‘out’ calls for all lines on their end of the court. The rest of Section 8 tilts every close call toward the other team. Rule 8.D says The opponent gets the benefit of the doubt on line calls made and Any ball that cannot be promptly called ‘out’ must be considered ‘in.’ You may call a ball out only when you can clearly see a space between the line and the ball when it lands (rule 8.E), and if you and your partner disagree, the ball is in (rule 8.H).

Make the call as soon as the ball lands, out loud, with a hand up if you can, since the rules ask for a prompt call by voice, hand signal or both (rule 8.F). If you see your own shot land out on their side, say so: USA Pickleball’s guide asks you to Call your own shot ‘out’ if you see that it is out. The same goes for faults: Players are expected to call faults on themselves or on their partner as soon as the fault is committed or detected (rule 9.B.2).

Don’t turn to the people watching for help, because Spectators must not be consulted on any call (rule 8.J). And if you ask the other team about a ball on your side, their clear answer stands, and your team gives up its own call on that ball (rule 8.I). The timing of out calls, and which faults you can call on your opponents, are in our odd rules guide.

Can you walk behind a pickleball court during a game?

Not while a rally is on. USA Pickleball’s guide says If you must cross over or behind an active court, wait until play is stopped and cross quickly in a single group. A player backing up for a lob isn’t looking behind them, and someone moving behind a baseline is right in the server’s or receiver’s eye line.

Where you wait matters too. Battlefords asks players to Wait in a spot off one corner of the court, far enough away so that you will not be in anyone’s way. When the rally ends, go, and go together, rather than one at a time over the next few points.

What do you do when your ball rolls onto another court?

If it could get under someone’s feet, shout “ball”. USA Pickleball asks you to warn players whose safety may be at risk by loudly calling ‘ball’, and adds: If the ball is rolling behind their court and does not present a danger to players, do not interrupt play. Either way, wait for their rally to end before you go after it, and thank whoever sends it back.

The warning matters because falls cause most pickleball injuries that end up in an emergency room. In Weiss, Dougherty and DiMaggio’s 2021 study of US emergency department records from 2010 to 2019, slips, trips, falls and dives caused 63% of pickleball injuries, and 67% among players 60 and over. It doesn’t say how many began with a ball underfoot.

When a ball rolls onto your court during a rally, stop and replay the rally. The rulebook calls it a hinder, Any transient element or occurrence not caused by a player that adversely impacts play, and lists stray balls among its examples. Any player may call a hinder (rule 9.C.1), and When a hinder is called, the rally must be replayed (rule 9.C.2), however the rally was going.

When you send a ball back, roll it or hand it to a player on that court once their rally is over. Battlefords is blunt about the alternative: Never blindly smack a ball back in the general direction of where you think it should go.

How do paddle stacks and open-play rotation work?

Every set of courts has its own system, so the useful habit is to ask someone waiting how this one works before you put your paddle down. USA Pickleball asks players to rotate on and off courts fairly, courteously, and in accordance with local practice.

Most systems use a paddle rack or a line of paddles by the gate. In Vancouver’s park rules, you Place your paddle in the next available slot on the paddle rack to the right, rotating clockwise as you reach the end. Holding a spot with a spare paddle is out: Don’t use a second paddle to reserve a court, either for yourself while playing or for someone else.

Who comes off after a game is where places differ most. At West Bloomfield Parks’ Drake courts in Michigan, the rules switch with the crowd: with six or fewer paddles waiting, it’s 2 on, 2 off, so the winners stay and the losers come off, though nobody plays more than two games in a row while others wait. With seven or more waiting, it’s 4 on, 4 off, and all four players leave the court after every game.

The one rule every rack shares is not to cut it. USA Pickleball’s guide says Don’t jump ahead of others who are waiting to play, and Don’t invite someone else forward in line or rearrange paddles so they can move up to play with you; move yourself back instead. With an odd number of players and no rack at all, our guide to playing with two, three or five has rotations that keep everyone in.

How should you play with newer players?

Play with them, and don’t pick on them. USA Pickleball’s guide asks players to Be willing to play sometimes with less-skilled players and to Avoid hitting excessively to a weaker player. Pickleball.com’s advice is If you’re playing with beginners, ease up on the power shots.

A clear call before every serve, and a quick word about which side to serve from, keeps a newer player’s game moving without a lesson. The rule behind where everyone stands is in our scoring guide. Battlefords’ reminder fits here: Remember, you were a beginner once too.

Should you apologize for a net cord?

You can, but you don’t have to. A ball that clips the net and lands in is in play, in a rally (rule 13.A) and on the serve (rule 7.E), so a net-cord winner counts like any other point. Our rules guide covers the serve that touches the net.

Players disagree about the apology, pros included. In a 2023 PPA Tour piece, Anna Leigh Waters said I think people and myself apologize after hitting the net cord because it is the sportsman thing to do, and Allyce Jones said I think it’s polite to apologize because it’s luck. The Dink’s Thomas Shields, who calls the habit a borrowing from tennis, where net cords are rarer, argued the other way: Stop apologizing for net cords. And stop expecting an apology.

Is it rude to give unsolicited advice in pickleball?

Usually, yes. USA Pickleball’s guide says Provide coaching and advice only when requested, and Battlefords Pickleball Club says Don’t offer unsolicited advice to another player during or after the game. Partners aren’t exempt: USA Pickleball also asks players to Avoid criticism and negative non-verbal communications, which covers the sigh after a missed dink.

If someone does ask, Battlefords suggests no more than one piece of advice at a time. Help with the score or where to stand isn’t coaching; advice about someone’s swing is.

Let your watch keep the score

The server still makes the call, but nobody has to carry the score in their head. Rally Trace keeps it on your Apple Watch, in doubles or singles: tap the side that won each rally, and it keeps the score, the server and where everyone stands.

Every game you score lands on your iPhone, with your record beside each partner and against each opponent. In open play, where partners change every game, those records fill in quickly, and after about 20 games with someone, yours together starts to mean something. Scoring and those records are free. Rally Trace Pro adds how you do on your serve and on theirs, and your win rate month by month. Rally Trace is on the App Store.