Nebraska State Racquetball Association

Racquetball Rules

Two players, each with a racquet, take turns to hit the ball onto the front wall within the large area defined by the red line at the top of the court (‘out of court line’) and the red line marking the top of the tin at the bottom of the front wall.

A rally begins when the server, standing forward of the short line, bounces the ball and strikes it with an under-arm action. For the service to be ‘good’, the ball must go directly to the front wall between the ‘out of court’ line and the tin, and rebound back to land on the floor behind the short line.

The receiver stands between the short line and the back wall. If the service is good, the receiver strikes the ball so that it returns to the front wall. On its way to the front wall, the ball may hit the back or side walls first, but must not go ‘out of court’, hit an opponent, hit the tin or touch the floor before reaching the front wall. The receiver may chose to strike the service ball ‘on the full’.

A match can either consist of three games with each game played to fifteen points, with the player scoring the highest number of points winning the match, or be played ‘best of 3’ games to 21 points, with the player first to win two games winning the match. If the score in any game in the second version reaches 20-all, the winner of that game is the player to first reach 22 points.