What pickleball is
Pickleball is a mix of tennis, badminton and table tennis: a solid paddle, a perforated plastic ball and a low net on a court the size of a badminton court. It is mostly played in doubles. Pickleball was invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island in the USA as a family game, and in recent years it has been one of the fastest growing sports there.
The court is 13.41 metres long and 6.10 metres wide and the net is 86 cm high in the middle. The ball is slow and the serve is underarm, so rallies are long from the start. The court is small, so there is less running than in tennis.
Where and when it is played in Estonia
In Estonia there are still few courts marked for pickleball. It is played in sports halls and on tennis courts with extra lines. The Kahur.ee list of venues has the ones we know. If you know a place where pickleball is played, tell us with "Write to us".
In short for beginners
- Where pickleball is played, you can often rent a paddle and a ball.
- Indoor or tennis shoes that grip when you move sideways.
- Two rules make pickleball special: the two-bounce rule and the non-volley zone in front of the net.
- The full guide: how to start playing pickleball.
The rules in short
- The serve is underarm, diagonally into the opponents' service box, and each server has one try.
- The serve must bounce before it is returned, and the return must bounce on the serving side. Only then may the ball be volleyed.
- In front of the net there is a 2.13 metre non-volley zone on both sides, where the ball may be hit only after a bounce.
- In traditional scoring only the serving side scores. A game goes to 11 points with a two-point lead.
- The full rules are on our pickleball rules page in Estonian.