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PPA Tour Unveils Latest Change to Serve Rules

by Erik Tice on

In an email to players ahead of its upcoming Atlanta Slam (Sep 9-15), The PPA Tour revealed its latest installment of provisional rules. The focus? Once again, the pickleball serve rule.

Service has been a hot topic of late, especially following the recent PPA Tour Las Vegas Cup men's doubles gold medal match (Dekel Bar & Zane Navratil vs Andrei Daescu & Gabe Tardio) that was plagued with service do-overs and faults that left many fans confused.

In combination with a recent video of the PPA experimenting with the implementation of service lines, and suggestions that the serve needs to be "de-weaponized", it seems we still have a long way to go before we have longterm clarity on what is and is not a legal serve.

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PPA Player Email - Sep 7, 2024

Provisional Service Rule. This provisional rule will be under evaluation for 60 days. After which, a determination to alter, abolish, or implement will be made.

  • The ball must be released downward from the waist area. A drop from the hand may not be tossed upwards but can incur minimal and natural lift (up to one ball length).
  • The swing on the serve must be underhand (around 45 degrees or less) and the paddle must clearly travel in a low to high direction.
  • Serves where either the ball is tossed too high on the release or the swing was not clearly in a low to high motion will first result in a service warning and re-serve. Each player is allowed one service warning per match. Subsequent violations will result in a fault.

After receiving the email, Zane Navratil, co-host of PicklePod, quickly took to X to offer his thoughts.

Reactions to the Latest Pickleball Serve Rule

After The Dink posted the provisional pickleball serve rule on Instagram, many offered their opinions in the form of comments. Most responses resembled this one from dinkdifferentpickleball.

Many other IGers called for an installment of a drop serve to solve the serving "problem" instead.

Mostly, though, users wondered if there was a problem at all.

How the Pickleball Serve Rule Got Here

The service rules on the PPA Tour are now going through their third iteration this year alone.

Pickleball Serve Rule Change No. 1

Just before the 2024 PPA Masters in January, the first event of the year, the PPA implemented a provisional service rule.

From Don Stanley, Director of Officiating, Carvana PPA Tour 

"At the prompting of the pro player council, PPA will be beta-testing a new service rule for the pro and senior open brackets. The Palm Springs tournament, (Jan 9-14, 2024) will be used as a test basis for the new service rule. After the tournament has concluded, the results will be reviewed for implementation, revisions or possible deletion. The driving force behind this rule change is to make the serve less of a weapon.

New Rule: 'On the serve, (1) the ball must be released with the non-paddle hand, (2) no spin can be imparted on the ball at the time of release, and (3) the release of the ball must be downward and below the top of the hip.'

Application: All current serve rules still apply. There will be no re-serves for a questionable release. The release will either be completely legal or the referee will call a fault. Thank you for your help as we test this new service rule."

Pickleball Serve Rule Change No. 2

Without much warning, the PPA Tour returned to the USA Pickleball rules – allowing players to lift or toss the ball again – for PPA Kansas City. This was the second change to service rules in 2024.

Check out our overview of all the changes:

How Pickleball’s Serve Rule Has Changed Over the Years
The serve rule in pickleball has come under a lot of scrutiny in 2024 and surely there are more tweaks and adjustments to come in the near future. We look back at how the shot has changed and evolved through the years.
The Dink PickleballJason Flamm

Third Pickleball Serve Rule of 2024

This brings us to the latest "Provision Service Rule", which Navratil has dubbed the 'Dekel Bar' rule:

It's probably not a stretch to infer that the Vegas men's final contributed to this new rule implementation from the PPA.

Is the New Pickleball Serve Rule Enforceable?

As many have pointed out online, the new pickleball serve rule is quite vague. Rules are usually meant to be enforceable. How will referees determine what is and isn't "around 45 degrees"?

Is 50 degrees "around" 45 degrees? Is 55 degrees "around" 45 degrees?

Brooks Wiley (Co-Founder and former Commissioner of Major League Pickleball) commented on Zane's Post:

Fans weigh in:

People don't like change. People definitely don't like constant change, especially when it comes to something as pivotal as serves. It's understandable that most feedback from fans could be categorized as either confusion or negative.

But as Navratil, Thomas Shields and various guests have asserted on PicklePod, isn't experimenting a good thing? At a certain point, too much experimentation can stunt progress. But overall, AB testing is important for establishing rules that lend to the most competitive, suitable-for-TV, product.

The debate over the pickleball serve rule is also playing out on a broader stage, as the sport gains national broadcast coverage and scrutiny from fans who expect consistency at the pro level.

We're looking forward to hearing Navratil, who has emerged as one of the most influential thought leaders in pickleball, expand on his X post during this week's episode of PicklePod.

Make sure to subscribe and tune in.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the new pickleball serve rule from the PPA Tour?

The PPA Tour's latest provisional pickleball serve rule requires players to release the ball downward from the waist area, with only minimal natural lift allowed (up to one ball length). The swing must be underhand at approximately 45 degrees or less, with the paddle clearly traveling in a low-to-high direction.

Why does the PPA Tour keep changing the pickleball serve rule?

The PPA has changed its pickleball serve rule multiple times in 2024 in an effort to "de-weaponize" the serve and make it easier for referees to enforce legally. Concerns reached a peak after a high-profile men's doubles match was disrupted by repeated service faults and do-overs that confused fans watching live.

How is the PPA Tour's pickleball serve rule different from USA Pickleball's rules?

The PPA Tour operates under its own provisional serve rules, which are stricter and different from the official USA Pickleball rulebook. Recreational and amateur players who follow USA Pickleball rules are not bound by the PPA's provisional regulations and may still use the drop serve or a standard volley serve as permitted under USAP guidelines.

Can referees actually enforce the new pickleball serve rule?

Many players and observers have raised serious concerns about the enforceability of the new rule, particularly the vague language around "around 45 degrees" and "too high." Brooks Wiley, Co-Founder and former Commissioner of Major League Pickleball, publicly called the wording "vague and lazy rule writing," and fans on social media echoed similar frustrations.

Does the drop serve solve the pickleball serve rule controversy?

Many fans and recreational players have suggested that making the drop serve mandatory would eliminate most of the ambiguity surrounding illegal serves at the pro level. However, the PPA Tour has not moved in that direction, and the drop serve itself has its own enforcement nuances that players need to be aware of.

Erik Tice

Erik Tice

Erik produces content for The Dink related to pro and collegiate pickleball. He is an avid watcher of pickleball and became passionate about the sport in early 2022.

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