The service action and service court

Rule 16 — Position before serving

Immediately before the service motion starts, the server must be stationary with both feet behind the baseline, meaning farther from the net than the baseline. The feet must be within the imaginary extensions of the centre mark and the relevant sideline.

Rule 16 — Releasing and striking the ball

The server releases the ball by hand in any direction and strikes it with the racket before it touches the ground. The service motion finishes when the racket hits or misses the ball.

A player able to use only 1 arm may use the racket to release the ball instead of releasing it by hand.

Rule 17 — Alternating sides and the diagonal target

In every standard game, start serving from behind the right half of the court and alternate halves for subsequent points. In a tie-break, also start the 1st serve from the right half and alternate halves.

The serve must pass over the net and land in the diagonally opposite service court before the receiver returns it.