What a shocker! The USA Pickleball Association announced their changes to the official rules that will become effective January 25, 2021, and one of the most eyebrow raising of the changes is THE DROP SERVE.
Along with the normal serve, which is toss the ball and hit with an upwards motion, players will now be able to drop the ball so that it bounces on the ground and then hit it with the paddle in any manner including a side hit. What? After all these years of perfecting our upward strokes not above the waist, now we may serve with a drop serve?
The drop serve is good for beginners, handicapped and for players that have developed the YIPS.
The new serve is provisional.
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1.arranged or existing for the present, possibly to be changed later.“a provisional construction permit”
Check out the video below to see examples of the drop serve.
From the official changes.
4.A.8. Provisional Drop Serve. In addition to the
standard serve sequence described in Rules 4.A.1 to
4.A.7, players may opt to use an alternate “drop
serve” method.
4.A.8.a. Servers must release the ball from one of
the server’s hands or dropped off the
server’s paddle face from any natural (unaided) height and hit the ball after the ball
bounces on the playing surface. The
server’s release of the ball must be visible
to the referee and the receiver. In matches
without a referee, the server’s release of
the ball must be visible to the receiver. A
replay shall be called before the return of
serve if the release of the ball is not visible.
The rules for feet placement (4.A.2 and 4.L)
still apply.
4.A.8.b. Before bouncing on the ground, the ball
shall not be propelled (thrown) downward
or tossed or hit upward with the paddle.
Failure to drop the ball properly will result
in a fault. There is no restriction on where
the ball can land on the playing surface
after it is dropped (providing 4.A.2 is
satisfied) nor how many times within the
USA PICKLEBALL & IFP Official Rulebook
20
10 seconds after the score is called the
server may drop the ball.
4.A.8.c. If the drop serve is used, the ball may be
struck with either a forehand or backhand
motion without any other restriction; i.e.,
the location restrictions of the ball and
paddle in Rules 4.A.3, 4.A.4 and 4.A.5 do
not apply.
Here is a link to the new rules. (click on the pictures)
And the alternative rules below. (Used mostly for tournaments)
Thanks all for reading. If you have any questions, please drop me an email.
Pickleball Terry
USA Pickleball Ambassador
PPA Certified Coach
Owner of SarasotaPickleball.com
If the drop serve is made permanent, will it replace the standard serve in 2022 or be an option to the “conventional serve” going forward?