Each year, the USA Pickleball (USAP) Rules Committee receives a list of proposed changes to improve the overall experience of playing pickleball. The list of changes comes directly from players and is vetted by the USAP Rules Committee, sent to the International Federation of Pickleball (IFP) Rules Committee for further consideration, and then is finally examined by the USAP Board of Directors, who decide which rules will be changed.
In 2023, the most significant change was seen in the banning of the spin serve, but each year typically sees about 4-5 impactful changes to the rules. With the release of the USA Pickleball Official Rulebook (2024 Edition), we’ve got a handful of exciting regulation changes for the upcoming year!
Here’s a quick outline of the key pickleball rules changes for 2024:
- Correcting Server, Receiver, and Player Position Errors (4.B.9) – This rule change was implemented mid-year 2023 in August, an early change that helped streamline the gameplay of amateur and professional matches. Referees now correct position errors before play begins in order to prevent superfluous error calls during a match.
- Draping Net (2.C.6/11.L.5.b) – The old ruling called for a referee’s call for a replay if the ball went over a net and was somehow affected by a draped net. Now the determination is not required, meaning it’s at the players’ discretion.
- Catch or Carry Ball on the Paddle (7.L) – Catching or carrying the ball with your paddle is officially a fault without needing clarification on the player’s intent with the shot. Before, refs had to use their discretion to determine if the carry was “deliberate” and would base their ruling upon that.
- Conceding a Rally (13.E.4/13.E.5) – This rule calls for a replay when a player overrules to their detriment a line judge’s out call as in. That player is able to choose to concede the rally if they don’t think they’d be able to return that ball. This ruling also requires a replay when a referee overturns a line judge’s out call. The team which benefits from the ref’s ruling makes the same decision as to whether they’d be able to return the ball, conceding the rally.
- Medical Time-Outs (10.B.2.c) – A player can now use standard time-outs after the 15-minute medical time-out has expired in order to give themselves more time before they’re forced to retire from the match.
- Paddle Specifications (2.E.2/2.E.5.a/2.E.5.c) – These rules address developing paddle technology in terms of a paddle’s surface and personal alterations. Nothing too crazy here – they’re general enough, as paddles need to be USAP-certified anyway.
- Mini-Singles (12.O) – Mini-singles, otherwise known as skinny singles, is now officially recognized as a proper format.
Key Takeaways
Looking at these new rules, which ones will have the most impact on how you play pickleball? Well, for the most part, it depends on if you’re playing at the tournament level!
Rules 4.B, 2.C, 7.L, 13.E, 10.B, and 2.E all care about referee-based interaction on in-game rulings, while 12.0 is simply recognizing skinny singles as an official format. The majority of them will allow for better on-court communication between the referees and allow for more player engagement during calls.
13.E – We’re So Close To Fixing Line Call Rulings
To us, 13.E is the most notable, as it brings up the age-old struggle with line calls. This year, we saw one of the APP Tour’s top players, Megan Fudge, retire from singles altogether due to an ongoing feud with Salome Devidze, who repeatedly would make out calls on balls that looked in.
13.E addresses the opposite issue, one that has less of a detriment to the pro level, but is still aggravating nonetheless. Essentially, if you accidentally call a ball ‘in’ and miss it or misplay it, if a line judge calls it ‘out,’ then you have the opportunity to state whether you’d have been able to hit the ball, and a replay will occur.
The problem is that 13.E.4 is still at the judge’s discretion and doesn’t force acknowledging a replay at the pro level, meaning that in the case of Fudge vs. Devidze, if the ref drops the ball with the calls as well, Fudge still doesn’t have a failsafe of instant replay (even though the APP has the technology), and Devidze isn’t punished for repeatedly making the same call.
While 13.E addresses many of the key issues with line calls, we might need a 13.E.6 that also addresses instances where shots are overruled as ‘in’ instead of ‘out.’ There continues to be confusion with these calls at the pro level, and a more streamlined ruling structure is necessary to continue the advancement of pro pickleball.
7.L Catch Or Carry Faults – Does This Really Matter?
This is an interesting one, as these types of faults aren’t something players see too much while on the pickleball court. At any point, if someone uses their paddle to carry the ball instead of hitting it, meaning that the ball stays on the paddle for an extended period of time, it counts as a fault and they forfeit the point.
I suppose this might come into play during slow play at the kitchen line, where a player might lift a softer dink upwards off their paddle, but there aren’t that many opportunities during a match when a player can outright catch the ball with their paddle. If you’ve seen this, by all means, send in those clips!
12.0 – Skinny Singles Pro Events Anyone??
I’m a big fan of using skinny singles as a training method, but I rarely see it as a popular format during open play. It’s a fun casual format but doesn’t directly translate to higher levels of competitive pickleball. Now, it is technically viable for USAP-approved tournaments!
While I’d love to see skinny single pro matchups at some sort of pro-tour-friendly exhibition, I’m not sure there’s space for it to see any real traction at the competitive level. Who knows, though, maybe Lea Jansen will come out of her singles retirement to dominate skinny singles.
