LINGO (CONTINUED)
Pe rmanen t O bje ct: A ny object near the court or hanging over the court that interferes with the flight of the
ba ll. Pe rman en t o bje c ts in c lu de th e ceilin g , walls, fen c in g , ligh tin g fix tu re s , ne t pos ts , the stan d s and s e ats for
sp e cta to rs , the ref er e e , line ju dges, sp ec ta to rs (w h e n in the ir re c og n i z ed po siti on s ) and all ot he r ob jec t s
around and above the court.
R ally: Continuous play that occurs after the serve and before a fault.
Replays: Any rallie s tha t are re pla y e d for any re a so n w ithout the aw arding of a point or a side out.
Service Court: The area on either side of the center line, bounded by the non-volley line, the baseline, and
the side li ne . All line s are incl ud e d in the se rv ic e co ur t ex c e p t the no n -v o lle y line .
Side Ou t: Declared after one side loses its service and other side is awarded service.
Techn ical Foul: T he referee is em pow ered to add one point to a play er’s score or a team ’s score when the
op p o n e n t vio la tes on e of the rule s callin g fo r a tech n ica l fou l or, in the ref e re e ’s jud g ment, the op p o n e n t is
being overly and deliberately abusive.
V olley: Hittin g th e ball in the air, du ri ng a rally , bef or e the ba ll ha s a ch a nc e to bou n c e on to the co ur t.
STRATEGY
· Try to keep serves firm and deep. Vary direction but m ake sure they’re in bounds.
· Serve from near the center line so you can get at most returns m ore easily .
· Try to keep returns deep and to the corners.
· Gen era lly sta y ne a r the ba c k thir d of the co u r t.
· Try to force opponents to use their backhand, m ost players are weaker there.
· A nytim e you can, hit a deep forcing shot into the corners, w here your opponent doesn’t have tim e
to set up for their shot. That gives you a chance to com e to the non-volley line and hit a passing
shot.
· Fa c e yo u r op p o n e nt . Y o u ’re in a bette r po sitio n to retur n a sh ot to eith e r sid e .
· N ever hit a drop shot w hen your opponent is deep. G ood players will get to it quickly and be in
position to hit a passing shot.
· Vary your shots so opponents can’t anticipate you, occasionally try to m ake them think you’re
doing one thing but do another.
· G enerally m ove left or right as your opponent m oves but stay closer to the center line.
· U se lobs only when necessary and your opponent is at the net or non-volley line.
· If y o ur op ponen t has m a n aged to ge t to the ne t an d y ou are still ba c k , the n yo u ha v e 3 ch oic e s - hit
a hard passing shot, hit a dipping shot that hits the ground at your opponent’s feet or hit a lob.
· The best choice depends upon your skill level with each type of shot. The best players rarely lob
because it’s a difficult shot to hit deep enough to keep a good player from putting it aw ay.
Content provided by our friends at the USA Pickleball A ssociation (U SA PA ). L earn m ore about the U SA PA .
LINGO
Carry: Hitting the ball in such a way that it does not bounce away from the paddle but tends to be carried
along on the face of the paddle during its forward motion.
Cross-cour t: The court diagona ll y opposite your court.
Dead Ball: A dead ball is declared after a fault.
Dink Shot: A soft shot that is intende d to arc over the net and land within the non-volley zone.
Double Bounce: A ball that bounces more than once, on one side, before it is returned.
Double Hit: One side hitting the ball twice before it is returned over net. Double hits m ay occur by one
player or could involv e both players on a team.
Drop Shot: A ground stroke shot that falls short of the opponen t’s position.
Drop Shot Volley: A volley shot that is designed to “kill” the speed of the ball and return it short, near the
net, to an opponent positioned at or near the baseline. This shot is especially effective when initiated close to
the non-volley line.
Fault: A fault is any action that stops play because of a rule violation.
Ground stroke: Hitting the ball after one bounce.
Half Volle y: A ground stroke shot where the paddle conta c ts the ball immediately after it bounces from the
court and before the ball rises to its potential height.
Hinder: Any eleme nt or occurrenc e that affe c ts play.
Let: A serve that hits the net cord and lands in the service court. Let may also refer to a rally that must be
replay e d for any reason.
Lob: A shot that returns the ball as high and deep as possible, forcing the opposing side back to the baseline .
Non-Volley Zone: The section of court adjacent to the net in which you cannot volley the ball. It includes all
lines surrounding the zone.
Second Serve: A term used to describe the condition w he n a serving team begins the gam e or subseque nt ly
loses the first of its two allocated serve s.
Ov e rh ead Slam / Sma sh : A hard, overhand shot usually resulting from an oppone nt’s lob, high return, or
high bounce.
Passing Shot: A volley or ground stroke shot that is aim e d at a distanc e from the player and is designe d to
preve nt return of the ball.