If you’d like to learn racquetball, begin by understanding the basic rules and regulations to the game. General rules apply to general play, but in an official tournament, additional rules and regulations might be enforced. When two people play racquetball, it’s called singles or doubles when four people play. A game played by three players, not in a tournament, is called cut-throat. Points are scored only by the side who is serving. Losing the serve is called a side out in singles but in doubles when the first server loses, it’s called a hand-out or half-out. When the second server loses the serve it’s called a side-out. A match is won by the first side that wins 2 games. The first 2 games of a match are played to 15 points. If each side wins a game, a tiebreaker is played to 11 points. A racquetball court is 20 feet wide, 40 feet long and 20 feet high with a back wall of at least 12 feet in height. Courts are marked with inch-and-a-half wide lines at the short line, service line, drive serve line and receiving line.
The racquet, including handle and bumper guard cannot be longer than 22 inches. The frame may be fashioned from any number of materials, with a thong that attaches it to the player’s wrist and string that doesn’t mark the ball. In tournament rules, protective eyewear is required. Players who normally wear corrective lenses must also wear them while at tournament. Shoes must be athletic shoes which won’t mark the floor. Specific clothes are not designated, but should be comfortable and loose-fitting.
To play the game, a coin is tossed or another method of deciding who will serve first. This team also has the option of receiving instead of serving, if they prefer. The second game will reverse, with the receivers being the servers, and servers being the receivers. The team which scores the highest number of points in game one and two will have the option to serve or receive at the beginning of the tiebreaker. In the event that both players or teams score an equal number of points in the first two games, another coin toss can be done to decide who will have the serve/receive option. The serve is done from within the service zone, and stepping on the lines is permitted, but stepping over the lines is not. The server cannot step over the short line until the ball passes that line. The player begins the serve and the ball must be bounced and hit before bouncing again. The drive serve lines are 3 feet from each side wall in the service box. The player can drive serve between the body and the nearest side wall if the player starts and remains outside of the 3 foot drive service zone and if the racquet doesn’t break the plane of the zone while making ball contact. These drive serve zones aren’t observed for cross-court drive serves: the hard-Z, soft-Z, lob or half-lob serves.
When the first server is out at the beginning of a doubles game, the team is also out. After that, both players on each team serve until the team receives a hand-out and a side-out. On each serve, the partner must stand in an upright position with his back to the side wall and with both feet on the floor within the service box until the serve has passed the short line. A defective serve is when a dead-ball serve results in no penalty and the server is given another serve, or if there is a fault-serve where the server is at fault, or an out-serve where the serve causes that player or team to be out. Once a ball is into put into play, the receiver may not enter the marked safety zone until the ball either bounces or crosses the dashed receiving line. After proper contact with the ball, the receiver’s follow-through can carry the racquet or the body past the receiving line. A point will be awarded to the server for failure to return a serve. A server continues to serve until one of the following occurs:
1) an out-serve
2) two consecutive fault-serves
3) a player hits the partner with an attempted return
4) a player or team loses a rally
5) a player or team commits an avoidable hinder.
In singles, retiring the server is a side-out whereas in doubles, the side is retired when both partners have lost service. Play which is initiated after the successful return of a serve is called the rally. The play stops when the ball is carried, meaning it had contact with the racquet for too long, the ball rebounds from a court surface in to the gallery or wall opening, a ball doesn’t have enough speed or direction to hit the front wall and strikes a player, or an avoidable hinder occurs. The ball will remain in play until it touches the floor a second time, no matter how many walls it makes contact with. In singles, if a player swings at the ball but misses, the player can continue to attempt a return of the ball until it touches the floor a second time. In doubles, if a player swings but misses, both partners can make attempts at a successful return until it touches the floor a second time. There are only 2 types of hinders. One is a dead-ball hinder which is simply replayed with no penalties. The other is an avoidable hinder which causes the loss of rally by the offender. And, if your position or manner on the court has caused you to be hit by the server, for instance, you are expected to call a hinder upon yourself. After learning the rules and understanding the penalties, you should be ready for a nice, invigorating game.
