and must land inside the area bounded by the non-volley zone line, the baseline and the sidelines. Touching the non-volley zone line is a fault. You get one serve only, and if it clips the net but lands in the correct service court it stays in play - there is no replay (the let rule was scrapped in the 2021 rule change).
The importance of the two-bounce rule
The symbolic rule of pickleball is the "two-bounce rule"!
The side receiving the serve must let the ball bounce once before returning it. And the side that served must also let that return bounce once before hitting. Only after these two bounces does returning without a bounce (a volley) become possible.
Thanks to this rule, the overwhelming advantage of serve-and-volley as in tennis is prevented, and rallies continue more easily. In singles especially, understanding this rule and adjusting your positioning after the serve is important. Since you can't rush forward immediately after serving, you need to wait for the opponent's return near the baseline.
Scoring and how the game progresses
Pickleball is usually first to 11 points, and you need to win by a 2-point margin. In tournaments it's sometimes played to 15 or 21 points.
The key point is that you can only score while you hold the serve. This is not rally scoring, so an opponent's mistake never gives you a point directly. Ser
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