Basic Racquetball Rules [What is a Good Serve?]

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Written By Dan Kaplan

Page Editor and Racquetball player

Racquetball is a fast-paced game and with any sport of this nature, following all the rules can be a challenge. Many people come together to play racquetball for fun or for the exercise benefits of the game and don’t want to get too involved with all the details or know every rule to have a good game. In this article, you will find the basic rules of racquetball and court basics so that you can still play the game as it was designed but will not inhibit the flow and fun of a purely recreational game of racquetball.  

About the Game of Racquetball 

Traditionally, the game is played to 15 points. The game can be played 1 vs. 1 and this is called a singles game or a doubles game which means two teams consisting of two players each.   

A player or team can earn a point by winning a rally, but only after they serve. If the person or team returning the serve wins the rally, they win the opportunity to serve and then earn points.

When playing a game of doubles, each player on the team has an opportunity to serve. This means the other team (not serving) has to win 2 rallies to earn the right to serve.  

Every serve must contact the front wall first to be a valid serve. If the ball contacts the ceiling, side wall, or floor before the front wall, this is not a valid serve resulting in a loss of serve. 

For more information on serving the ball, click here for a Drive Serve information and here for Z serve information.

For more information on returning a serve, click here! 

wear goggles

 

The way a rally is won is accomplished one of two ways.

First, a rally is won when the ball bounces twice before it can be returned by an opponent or a player on the other team.

The second way a rally is won is when a return shot does not make it to the front wall before it bounces on the court floor. 

 

 

About the Racquetball Court 

The court is forty (40) feet long, twenty (20) wide and twenty (20) feet tall.

From the front of the court, there are 3 important lines. The first solid red line (closest to the front wall) is the ‘Service Line’, and this is the line that the server has to avoid crossing during their serve motion.

The next solid line is the ‘Short Line’. This solid line indicates where the served ball must cross before it bounces after hitting the front wall. When the served ball does not clear the short line, it is deemed a “short serve”.

Another important thing to note is that the served racquetball must also bounce on the court floor before it contacts the back wall of the court. If this happens, it’s called a “long serve”.

This means a valid serve is where the ball crosses the short line, bounces on the floor and then it can contact the rear wall of the court.

The next line on the court, the 3rd one, is called the ‘Receiving Line’. This is usually a dashed line and dictates where the serve returner must stay behind when the ball is served. This line is in place for safety reasons. It protects the server from being hit by a ball, a racquet, or being run into.  

If the ball is served “short” or “long”, these are not penalized with loss of serve, rather the server gets a second attempt to make a good serve. If the violation happens on the second serve, that does result in a loss of serve.  

For more on the lines of the racquetball court, click here. 

 

The whole court

 

The USA Racquetball Official Rules Document is 48 pages long but the basic rules of playing racquetball are fairly simple and easy to understand.  With little equipment and knowledge of the game, you can quickly start playing racquetball in its purest form.

ball on door

 

 

The information in this article will get you started playing fair, competitive racquetball in no time at all.  

During recreational play, many of the things that happen on the court that don’t seem right are “played over”. This means that play is stopped with no rally winner, and the point is played again. The same person serves the ball, and the previous rally is forgotten.  

Some examples of these things could be that a player was in the way of a swing, a player stopped before hitting the ball because another player was in front of them, or a ball hit a seam in the back glass wall or door causing it to bounce unnaturally.

Another thing resulting in the replay of a rally is when there is a difference of opinion on a shot or the results of a shot.

If it is undecided if the ball bounced twice before the player hit it or if the ball “skipped” right before the front wall, meaning the ball hit the floor, those are good reasons to replay the point.

Things happen very quickly on the court and often there is a difference of opinion in how it plays out. Without a referee, the only way to resolve some of these disagreements is to replay the point.  

 

bench and tacquet

 

Now that you have a basic understanding of racquetball rules and court basics you can play a fair competitive game or just enjoy a friendly game for fun! 

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