Singles is pickleball’s well-kept secret: same court, same rules, roughly twice the running. UK club nights are mostly doubles, so singles tends to get played by people who want a workout, practise a weakness, or have arrived to find only one other person in the hall.
How singles is different
In doubles, the kitchen line wins. In singles, you can’t cover the whole width of the court from the kitchen line on your own, so the game opens up: more drives, more passing shots, fewer long dink rallies.
Serve deep, return deep, then decide
The serve and return matter more in singles because there’s no partner to cover a weak one.
- Serve deep, ideally to the backhand. A short serve lets your opponent attack and approach.
- Return deep and approach: as the returner, you’re the one who can move forward first. Hit deep, then come in.
- As the server, expect a deep return. You’ll often hit your third shot from the baseline, so a drive into the corner tends to work better than a drop.
Where to stand
- At the net, stay central, slightly towards the side your opponent is hitting from. Covering both sidelines on your own means giving up a little on the angles to protect the lines.
- At the back, recover to the middle of the baseline after every shot.
The shots that win singles
- Passing shots: when your opponent comes to the net, hit firm and low down the line or cross-court past them.
- The drop as a lure: a short ball draws them forward; the next shot goes deep or past them.
- The lob: more useful than in doubles, because one player can’t guard the whole back court. See the lob.
Surviving the running
Singles points are short but intense. Warm up properly (our warm-up routine takes seven minutes), split-step before every opponent shot, and recover to the middle rather than ball-watching. Skinny singles, played cross-court on half the court, is a great halfway house: all the shots, half the running.
Want to find singles partners? Larger venues with court hire are the easiest place to book a court for two.