Spin Toss Serves and Rules Changes

There has been much discussion about "chainsaw" type serves in online pickleball forums. The discussions have been ...lively. I have not jumped in, but I have read some of the conversations, and I have had conversations with friends about the rules surrounding these new serve techniques. 

For those who are still unfamiliar with what a chainsaw serve is, here is a link to video examples.

This serve technique is called a "chainsaw serve" because the servers use a pulling or ripping motion when they toss the ball to impart extra spin on the ball before they hit the serve. This motion is reminiscent of pulling the pull start cord on a chainsaw. Some of the serves under consideration and discussion involve more subtle motions where players spin the ball using the fingers in their non-dominant hand against their fingers or the handle of their paddle in their dominant hand.

The reason I am bothering to put in my 2 cents on this topic is because I think the conversations are being framed as people who are for innovation and progression of the sport vs people who are stuck in tradition and don't want to see their sport change or become more competitive. While I can't speak for everyone who has concerns about the chainsaw serve, my concerns are not about the sport becoming too competitive. I'm also not appealing to tradition. Those are straw man representations of the concerns I have. To me, it is a question of balance in the sport. There is a reason the serve has limitations. We need to be careful about relaxing limitations. I am not suggesting this is a slippery slope. I think we could allow these serves without it leading to the eventual erosion of all limitations on the serve, but I do think the introduction of these new serves could have a negative impact on the sport in the following ways.

Balance in the game

Imagine that the rules committee decided there was no more service box. The serve can now bounce anywhere on the court. When I posed this question to a friend, he said that would be okay as long as both players on the receiving team could field the serve. Okay, why wouldn't it be acceptable for only one player to cover the whole court? That would be an unfair advantage for the server. We also put limitations on where the serve can be hit from (behind the baseline and between the extensions of the center line and outside line). The serve must alternate between players so that the server cannot only serve to the weakest player every time. I think most of us would agree that changes to those core service limitations would cross the line and fundamentally change the sport in a negative way. The reason we have an underhand serve and the serve is limited to one part of the court is because the serving team already has advantages; they can score points and the serve is the only ball you can hit that your opponents have no influence on. The server is in complete control of where and how s/he hits the ball. Setting limits on the serve brings a balance to the game and evens the playing field between the serving and receiving teams.

I would argue that the ability to apply spin to the ball with something other than a paddle while hitting also confers an unfair advantage to the server that doesn't make sense in the context of the sport. Imagine that someone invented a device that they could operate with their foot with a pedal. When you push down on the pedal, the device pitches a pickleball into the air with rotation rates that would be impossible to impart with hand tossing. Should we consider allowing the use of a device like that to make the game more competitive? Some people might say, no because it involves a device. Okay, why shouldn't a device be allowed to pitch the ball to the server before they hit? Are you so stuck in tradition?

My answer to that question is that, again, it imparts an unfair advantage to the server. This is a sport about hitting a ball with a solid paddle. If you can impart spin on the ball when you swing your paddle, that's great. But we put limits on the paddle technology that limit the amount of spin one can generate with a hit.

The advantage imparted by spinning the ball with one hand isn't huge as long as

1. The receiver has had some experience returning balls that are spun that way
2. The receiver can see the hands of the server so they can at least detect the direction of the spin

I have not scientifically clocked the RPMs a person can impart on a ball with one hand, but I suspect it is comparable to the rotation rate a person can generate with their paddle. This is not that much of an advantage. A greater advantage is conferred on the server if they conceal the spin they have imparted on the ball with their toss by turning their back on the receiver. If you don't know the direction of the spin, the ball can bounce in a very different direction than you expected it to. Adding spin can also make the ball not bounce as high, which means you not only have a decreased ability to anticipate the direction of the bounce, you also have less time to react.

Servers have also been using two hands to impart spin, and, more importantly, they are spinning the ball between the grip on their handle and their other hand. In my view, this begins to cross a line into the fuzzy area of employing a device to impart spin on the ball before the server hits it. I suspect this technique allows players to impart more rotation on the ball than they would be able to with their paddle.

The impact of shorter rallies on spectators

Another consideration I believe is worth taking into account is the appeal of longer rallies in pickleball. Granting these advantages to the server is rendering rallies shorter. There are more aces and more wins on the third shot due to shallow returns. In my opinion, this diminishes the appeal of the game for spectators. Morgan Evans and others have argued that players will adapt. It's true and they already have adapted. The servers have also adapted. That is why Zane Navratil and Morgan Evans have started to initiate their toss facing away from the receiver. Short rallies are just not as interesting to me. I love to see long battles where the offensive advantage changes hands during the rally with resets, smashes, soft and hard shots are all used. Short rallies don't make the highlight reels because they aren't that interesting. You will see montages of these serves because they are novel, but how many times can you watch an ace? An ace is an ace. A rally that ends in three shots isn't that interesting. Granting this advantage to the servers will reduce spectator interest.

Where should the line be drawn?

As I stated previously, the point I was trying to make with my examples serve limitations the rules currently impose on the serve and everyone with whom I have engaged on this subject agrees that there need to be some limits on the serve. The server can't hit overhead, the server must hit the ball into the service area, etc. There is little interest in playing or watching a sport where one person serves from 0-0-2 all the way through 11-0-2. There needs to be some balance between the servers and receivers that makes rallies engaging, fun, and competitive. The question is where do we draw that line? The server has the advantage of complete control over her/his shot. It's the only shot in any rally where the opponent has no influence over how or where the ball is hit.

I would argue that it is an advantage for the server to spin the ball with the toss at all. No one else on the court can catch the ball or use some other mechanism to impart spin on the ball except hitting it with their paddle. The swing path and the motion of the paddle as it makes contact with the ball gives the opponent a clear indication about the direction of the spin. "Reading the spin" is greatly diminished when the spin is generated with hands, and if the server's back is to the receiver, the spin direction is totally concealed. This is too great an advantage in my humble opinion.

I would be more open to the possibility of relaxing limitations on the paddle surface materials so they could impart more spin than the use of these artificial means (artificial because the spin is not being generated by the paddle stroke). If you want to impart spin on your serve, great! Do it with your paddle on impact, not with your hands and/or handle grip before you hit the serve.

My preference would be to shift to an open palm toss that is visible to the receiver and official similar to table tennis serves. However, if we are determined to allow spin on the toss, limit the spin toss to the use of one hand and force the server to initiate the toss where the receiver can see their motion. This helps to balance the equation between the servers and receivers.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.

No Fun David