Racquetball Rules and Strategies

The basic idea of racquetball is to hit the ball so your opponent can’t retrieve it before it bounces twice. This is a standard rule in many racquet sports including squash, tennis and pickleball. There are, however, variations of this rule to make the game more accessible to lower leveled players and beginners. For example, multi-bounce is a racquetball rules variation that allows players to retrieve the ball even after the second bounce.

For a singles match, and after deciding who serves first by flipping a coin or other chosen methods, players go to their respective positions in the service box (the server) and deep in the back court (the returnee).

Play is initiated by the server hitting their serve into the front wall using their racquetball racquet. The ball MUST hit the front wall first.  The served ball may then strike one side wall, but no more. If it hits three surfaces including the ceiling or back wall before bouncing the serve is not good and the ball is not in play. The served ball must also cross the short line before taking its first bounce on the floor.

 
Once the ball is legally served by the server the returnee must return the ball to the front wall via any number of other walls without touching the ground. The server then must return the ball before it bounces twice. This exchange between the two players is called a rally. The rally ends when one player fails to legally retrieve their opponent’s shot before the second bounce, or hits the ball into the floor before it reaches the front wall. This is commonly known as a skip, due to the skipping nature of the ball. There are many other illegal returns that will end the rally.  See the following section on hinders for more information.

Scoring can only be done by the person serving.  If the person serving wins the rally, they score 1 point.  If the person serving loses the rally, his opponent now gets to serve but is not awarded a point.  Here is an example:

Player A is leading Player B by a score of 5 to 4.  Player A hits a serve and has a rally with Player B.  Player B eventually skips the ball (hits it into the ground before it hits the front wall).  So Player A is awarded 1 point because he was serving, AND he won the rally.

Another example:

Player A is losing to Player B, and is in the box serving.  The person who is serving always announces their score first, followed by their opponent's score.  So player A announces that the score is 3 to 5, or 3 serves 5.  Player A then hits a serve to Player B.  Player B hits a shot that Player A cannot retrieve.  Player B gets to serve now, but is not awarded a point because he wasn't serving.  He would now go into the serve box and announce, 5 to 3, or 5 serves 3.

For a complete list of racquetball rules check out the official racquetball rulebook on the USRA website.