How to Serve in Pickleball for Beginners: Step by Step, Then Deeper
By José Cabrera · September 28, 2026 · 7 min read
Stand behind the baseline, sideways to the net, with the paddle held low. Drop or hold the ball out in front, swing low to high with a relaxed arm, and hit below your waist, aiming deep into the diagonal service box past the kitchen. Beginners should aim for consistency first: a deep, boring serve that lands every time beats a fast one that lands half the time.
The serve is the easiest shot in pickleball to learn and the one beginners lose the most points on. Not because it is hard, but because there is only one attempt: miss it and the serve is gone.
Here is how to hit a serve that lands every time, step by step, then how to make it a little better once it does. The rules themselves, what is legal and what is a fault, are covered separately in the rulebook side of the serve. This one is about technique.
The goal of a beginner serve
Before the steps, the mindset. The serve in pickleball is not a weapon at your level. It is a way to start the rally.
The receiving team has to let your serve bounce, and then your team has to let the return bounce too. That means even an ace-looking serve rarely wins the point outright. What loses points is the serve that goes into the net or out, because you get one try.
So the whole target for your first months is simple: a deep, unremarkable serve you can land ten times out of ten.
Step 1: Stand behind the baseline
Put both feet behind the baseline. Neither foot may touch the line or the court inside it when you hit the ball.
Stand on the correct side: the right side of your court when your score is even (0, 2, 4...) in singles, or wherever your team's rotation puts you in doubles.
Turn slightly sideways, about 45 degrees to the net, with your non-paddle foot a little forward. Right-handed players lead with the left foot. This is the same stance you would use to toss a ball underhand to someone.
Step 2: Hold the paddle low and loose
Use a continental grip: hold the paddle as if you are shaking hands with it, with the edge of the paddle pointing at the net.
Grip it loosely. On a scale of one to ten, around a four. A tight grip is the most common cause of serves that fly long, because the arm cannot swing smoothly.
Start with the paddle low, below your waist, down by your back leg.
Step 3: Present the ball
You have two legal options.
Volley serve. Hold the ball out in front of your front hip, about waist height, and hit it out of the air. You can drop it from your hand and hit it before it bounces. This is the traditional serve.
Drop serve. Drop the ball from any height and let it bounce once, then hit it. Nothing about the paddle position is restricted with the drop serve, which makes it very forgiving for beginners and for anyone whose volley serve keeps getting called.
If your volley serve is inconsistent, switch to the drop serve for a few weeks. Nobody will think less of it.
Step 4: Swing low to high
This is the whole serve.
Bring the paddle back, then swing forward in a smooth pendulum motion, low to high, like tossing a bowling ball gently. Contact the ball below your waist, in front of your front foot, with the paddle head lower than your wrist at contact.
Let the swing finish naturally, with the paddle pointing up toward your target. Do not stop the swing at contact. A stopped swing is where short serves come from.
Step 5: Aim deep and diagonal
Aim for the back third of the diagonal service box, well past the kitchen line. A serve that lands in the kitchen or on the kitchen line is a fault.
Aim higher over the net than feels natural. The pickleball net is only 34 inches in the middle, but a serve that clears it by a couple of feet lands deep, and deep is what you want.
Do not aim at the lines. Aim for the middle of the back of the box. Lines are for later.
The five mistakes that cause most bad serves
1. Gripping too tight. The serve flies long or sprays sideways. Loosen up.
2. Swinging flat instead of up. The ball goes into the net. The swing has to rise.
3. Hitting too late. Contact beside or behind your body sends the ball wide. Meet it in front of your front foot.
4. Looking up before contact. Watch the ball onto the paddle, then look.
5. Trying to hit it hard. Speed comes last, if at all. A hard serve that lands 60 percent of the time loses more points than a soft one that lands every time.
Once your serve lands every time
When you can put ten in a row deep in the box, add one thing at a time.
Depth first. Try to land the serve within a few feet of the baseline. A deep serve keeps the receiver back and makes their return shorter.
Then direction. Learn to serve toward the receiver's backhand side. Watch which hand holds their paddle before the game and aim for the other side of their body.
Then a little pace. Add speed with a longer, smoother swing, not a harder arm.
Spin last. A slight brush up the back of the ball adds topspin and makes the serve dip. Keep it for when everything above is automatic.
How to practice your serve alone
You do not need a partner. Take a bucket of balls to an empty court and serve 20 in a row from each side, aiming at a towel placed in the back third of the box. Count how many land. When you can do 18 out of 20 on both sides, move the towel.
The rest of the solo routines are in pickleball drills you can do by yourself, and a serve bucket session is the most useful 15 minutes a new player can spend.
Serving in doubles: who serves, and from where
The technique is the same in doubles. What changes is the order, and that is where most new players get confused.
The first serve of each turn comes from the right side. Whenever your team wins the serve back, the player standing on the right serves first.
You switch sides with your partner only when you win a point on your serve. Then you serve again from the left. Lose the rally and you do not move; your partner serves next from wherever they are standing.
The game starts at 0-0-2. The first team to serve gets only one server, so nobody argues about it later.
If that is a lot to keep track of mid-game, it is exactly what the scoreboard tool shows on every rally: who serves and from which side. It is the same thing the best players in your group do in their heads, with none of the arguing, and it works in any shirt, sweaty or not.
What comes after the serve
The serve starts the rally, but it is the next shots that win it. Your team has to let the return bounce, then hit the third shot, ideally a soft drop that lets you move up to the kitchen line. That is what separates new players from comfortable ones, and why the kitchen matters more than any serve.
Remember to call the score before every serve. If your group can never remember it, the free pickleball scoreboard tracks who serves and from which side, which is the other half of getting the serve right.
The short version
Stand behind the baseline, sideways. Hold the paddle low and loose. Swing low to high and hit below your waist, in front of you. Aim deep and diagonal, high over the net, away from the lines. One serve, so land it first and improve it later.
And if you are in the first few weeks, when the serve and the score are the two hardest things in the game, the New to This collection has a few shirts about exactly that stage, including a tee for the player still counting the score out loud.
How to hit a basic pickleball serve
- 01Stand behind the baselineBoth feet behind the baseline, between the centerline and sideline extensions, angled about 45 degrees to the net with your non-paddle foot slightly forward.
- 02Hold the paddle low and looseUse a continental grip, like shaking hands with the paddle, and hold it with a relaxed grip pressure around four out of ten.
- 03Present the ball in front of youHold the ball out in front of your front hip at about waist height, or drop it and let it bounce if you are using the drop serve.
- 04Swing low to highBring the paddle back, then swing forward in an upward arc like a pendulum, contacting the ball below your waist with the paddle head below your wrist.
- 05Aim deep and diagonalAim for the back third of the diagonal service box, well past the kitchen line, and follow through toward your target.
Common questions
- How do you serve in pickleball for beginners?
- Stand behind the baseline sideways to the net, swing low to high with a relaxed arm, hit the ball below your waist, and aim deep into the diagonal service box past the kitchen. Consistency first, power later.
- Do you have to bounce the ball when serving in pickleball?
- No. You can hit it out of the air with a volley serve, or drop it and let it bounce with a drop serve. Both are legal, and the drop serve is often easier for beginners.
- Where should you aim your pickleball serve?
- Deep, toward the back third of the diagonal service box. A deep serve keeps the receiver back and gives your team more time. Aiming near the lines is not worth the risk for beginners.
- Why do my pickleball serves go into the net?
- Usually because the swing is too flat or the contact is too late. Swing more low to high, contact the ball in front of your body, and aim higher over the net than feels natural.
- How many serves do you get in pickleball?
- One. There is no second serve, which is why a reliable serve is worth more than a powerful one.
New to This
Week three. Still counting out loud.
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