The Major League Pickleball serve rules have been a hot topic of conversation recently.

One of the main storylines from last week’s iconic event in New York City was the serve, and there appeared to be some confusion on the side of the players over what the correct rules were.

Now’s the perfect time to clear up some of that confusion.

We can summarize the most up to date MLP serve rules with the following five points:

• 1. Servers can release the ball any way they want (with a toss or a drop), as long as it’s a volley serve and the release is visible to the referee.
• 2. The highest point of the paddle head must be clearly below the wrist when the paddle strikes the ball.
• 3. There must be a clear and discernible upward arc in the server’s arm swing at the time the ball is struck with the paddle.
• 4. There are no restrictions on where the server contacts the ball on their body (can be above or below waist level).
• 5. A player’s serve cannot be challenged.
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Let’s look at some of these in a little more detail: 

Rule No. 2 was updated most recently. This rule used to state that the paddle head must be “at or below” wrist level upon contact, but MLP added new verbiage this week (ahead of MLP Virginia Beach) to make it “clearly below” wrist level.

Folks are referring to this as the 'Will Howells Rule' because his serve is notorious for stretching the old “at or below” standard.

Rule No. 4 is another important one. MLP added it ahead of the first event of the 2024 season because of the difficulty in determining where “waist level” was on players in real time. Now, players can make contact at any height on their serve.

Rule No. 5 is also a new addition from last week, now matching up with PPA serving guidelines. Teams challenged service faults on six occasions at MLP New York City, but they will no longer be able to do so. Service fault calls are at the referee’s discretion and not eligible for video challenges.

Check out this video from MLP Head of Competition Courtney Johnson for a further breakdown of MLP serving rules.