Major League Pickleball Announces Game Play Updates Ahead of MLP Washington D.C.

Major League Pickleball announced upcoming rules changes and clarifications in an announcement on Tuesday.

The key takeaways:

• Teams must once again win on their serve. At MLP Atlanta, Major League Pickleball removed all freezes and "win on your serve" rules. We are now going back to winning on your serve.

My Take: From a player's perspective, this may feel like it is giving the team who is losing an advantage, but overall I think this is a great move. The upside here is for the fans and added drama at the end of games. 

It was anti-climactic for CJ Klinger to win the Dreambreaker for the NY Hustlers on Riley Newman's serve in Atlanta – that won't be happening in MLP Washington D.C.

Side Note: All doubles games will still be played to 25 and the Dreambreaker will be to 21, the same as MLP Atlanta.

• Repercussions for Late Court Arrival. There must have been some late arrivals in Atlanta to cause this rule to be put in place. Teams are now expected to warm up on practice courts and be at their designated court 10 minutes prior to scheduled play, or the end of the previous match.
• If all players are not present within five (5) minutes of starting, that team loses ALL of their coin toss considerations, meaning the other team gets to send out men's or women's doubles first, choose their mixed doubles teams second, and react to the offending team's Dreambreaker lineup.

My Take: MLP usually only uses two courts for matches and they have facilities to allow the other teams to warm up and practice wherever they want – I like this rule for two reasons: It helps MLP stay on time with the broadcast schedule AND losing all coin toss options is definitely a deterrent to teams.

To read the full extent of this rule with every detail (I left some smaller details out), please read the 2024 MLPlay Rules Guide and head to Section 2 of page 4.

• Clarifying the Service Rule. MLP rules for serving are different from both the USAP and the PPA Tour. MLP has said USAP rule 4.A.7.c (contact with the ball must not be made above the waist) is extremely subjective for referees. Instead, MLP has instituted the following verbiage for the serve: The MLP service rule allows the server to make contact with the ball at any height on their body, as long as their arm has an upward arc at the time of contact and the paddle head is not above the wrist joint at time of contact.

My Take: I also love this rule. Even the PPA service rule (ball must be struck below the hip) is a little more subjective. The more we can take the subjective nature out from the service rules, the better. Dekel Bar and James Ignatowich - get those rocket launchers ready for MLP Washington D.C.!