A pickleball court is 20 feet wide and 44 feet long (about 6.1 m × 13.4 m) — the same size as a badminton doubles court. The net is 36 inches (91 cm) at the posts and 34 inches (86 cm) in the middle.
The most important line is the one 7 feet from the net on each side . That marks the non-volley zone — universally called the kitchen .
After the serve, the ball must bounce once on each side before anyone can hit a volley (a ball out of the air). So the returner lets the serve bounce, hits it back, and the serving team lets that return bounce before hitting it. After those two bounces, either team can volley. This rule stops servers from just charging the net.
Only the serving side can score. Games are usually to 11, win by 2 . Tournaments sometimes play to 15 or 21.
In doubles, the score is called as three numbers: serving team score – receiving team score – server number (1 or 2) . For example, "4–2–1" means the serving team has 4, receivers have 2, and it's the first server\'s turn. Both partners serve before the ball goes to the other team — except the very first serve of the game, when only one player on the starting team serves.
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