Badminton serving rules.

The badminton serve is one of the most tightly regulated shots in any racket sport. The shuttle must be struck below 1.15 metres from the court surface, the racket shaft must be pointing downward at the moment of contact, and the motion must be a continuous upward swing. These three constraints work together to ensure that the serve is always a defensive, lifting shot — not an aggressive overhead smash.

The 1.15-metre rule was introduced by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) in March 2018, replacing the older rule that required the shuttle to be hit below the server's waist. The problem with the waist rule was subjectivity — different players have different waist heights, and judging whether a shuttle was struck above or below the waist was difficult in real time. The fixed 1.15-metre measurement removed that ambiguity entirely. In professional play, an electronic measuring device can be placed on a tripod at the side of the court to verify the height.

For most players, the practical effect is the same as the old rule: the serve must be underhand, and you cannot drive the shuttle flat and fast over the net. The serve in badminton is a placement shot, not a power shot. You win points with the rally, not the serve — and the serving rules are specifically designed to guarantee that.

The server must stand within their correct service court and remain stationary in a specific way until the shuttle is struck. The stance rules are strict and enforced closely, especially at the competitive level.

• — The server must stand within the boundaries of the correct service court. You cannot touch the boundary lines — your feet must be entirely inside the service court.
• — At least part of both feet must be in contact with the court surface at the moment the shuttle is struck. You cannot jump, hop, or drag a foot during the serve.
• — Your feet must remain in a stationary position until the serve is delivered. You can shift your weight, but you cannot walk, slide, or shuffle into the serve.
• — The service court you serve from depends on your score: even score (0, 2, 4...) = right service court; odd score (1, 3, 5...) = left service court.

The "both feet on the floor" rule is one of the most commonly broken serving rules in recreational badminton. Many casual players develop a habit of stepping or hopping into the serve without realising it. In competitive play, this is a fault — no warning, no second chance, the point goes to the opponent immediately.

The service courts in badminton are different for singles and doubles, which adds another layer of complexity. We cover the specific court dimensions in sections 5 and 6 below, but the stance rules — feet in the court, both feet on the floor, within the correct box — apply identically in both formats.

The serve motion in badminton has three mechanical requirements that must all be satisfied at the instant the racket contacts the shuttle. Miss any one of them and the serve is a fault.

• — The racket must move in a continuous forward and upward motion. You cannot feint, pause, or reverse the swing during the serve. The motion must be smooth and uninterrupted from start to contact.
• — The shaft of the racket must be pointing downward at the moment of contact. This means the racket head must be below the hand holding the racket. You cannot "drive" the shuttle with a flat or upward-pointing racket — the downward shaft angle forces a lifting trajectory.
• — The entire shuttle must be below 1.15 metres from the court surface at the moment of contact. This is measured from the floor to the point where the racket strikes the shuttle, not to the top of the feathers.

The combination of these three rules creates the distinctive badminton serve: a gentle, upward-arcing shot that lifts the shuttle over the net. You will see two main serve types in competitive play. The low serve skims just over the net tape and drops into the front of the opponent's service court, forcing them to lift the shuttle. The high serve (or "flick serve") sends the shuttle high and deep to the back of the service court, pushing the opponent backward. Both are played with the same underhand motion — the difference is in the wrist and the follow-through.

The continuous motion rule is designed to prevent deceptive serving. Without it, a server could feint a low serve and then redirect into a flick at the last moment. The rule ensures that the receiver has a fair read on the shuttle's trajectory from the moment the swing begins.

The serve must travel diagonally over the net and land in the opponent's service court. The specific boundaries of that service court depend on whether you are playing singles or doubles — and this is one of the most confusing aspects of badminton for new players.

• — The serve is always diagonal — from the server's right court to the receiver's right court (from the server's perspective), or left to left.
• — The shuttle must pass over the net without touching it (a net touch during the serve is legal in badminton — see section 8 on lets).
• — In singles, the service court is long and narrow: it extends to the back boundary line but does not include the side tramlines.
• — In doubles, the service court is short and wide: it includes the side tramlines but only extends to the short service line (not the back boundary line).
• — A shuttle landing on any boundary line of the service court is in.

The difference between singles and doubles service courts is the single most important thing to memorise when learning badminton serving rules. In singles, you can serve deep to the back line because the long, narrow court rewards that placement. In doubles, a deep serve is out — the back tramline is not part of the doubles service court. But the side tramlines, which are out in singles service, are in for doubles service. This short-and-wide versus long-and-narrow distinction is unique to badminton and exists to balance the game for different numbers of players on the court.

In singles badminton, the service court is determined by the server's score and uses the long, narrow configuration.

• — Even score (0, 2, 4, 6...) = serve from the right service court.
• — Odd score (1, 3, 5, 7...) = serve from the left service court.
• — The service court extends from the short service line (closest to the net) all the way to the back boundary line (the full depth of the court).
• — The service court does NOT include the side tramlines. The singles sideline is the inner sideline.
• — During the rally after the serve, the full singles court (including the back boundary line area) is in play, and the side tramlines remain out.

The practical implication is that in singles, the server has a very deep court to aim at. A high serve to the back boundary line is a legitimate and common tactic, especially in men's singles, where pushing the opponent deep creates space at the front of the court. The narrow width, however, means that wide serves are risky — the shuttle must land inside the singles sideline, and there is less margin for error compared to doubles.

After winning a rally, the same player continues to serve but switches to the other service court (because their score has changed from even to odd or vice versa). After losing a rally, the opponent takes over the serve and serves from the court corresponding to their own score.

Doubles service in badminton is the most complex part of the game's serving rules. The service court is short and wide, the rotation system is score-based, and keeping track of who serves next requires attention to the score.

• — The serving side's score determines the service court: even score = right court, odd score = left court. This is the same as singles.
• — The service court includes the side tramlines (wider than singles) but only extends to the doubles long service line — NOT the back boundary line. A serve that lands past the doubles long service line is out.
• — After the serve, during the rally, the full doubles court is in play — including the back boundary line area and the side tramlines.
• — After winning a rally on serve, the same server serves again but switches to the other court (the score has changed parity).
• — After a side-out (the serving team loses the rally), the serve passes to the other team. The player in the correct court based on the new serving team's score is the next server.

The doubles rotation can be confusing, so here is a worked example. Team A starts serving at 0-0. Player A1 is in the right court (even score) and serves. They win the rally — score becomes 1-0 (odd), so A1 switches to the left court and serves again. They win again — 2-0 (even), A1 switches back to the right court. They lose — side-out. Team B now serves. Their score is 0, so whichever player is in the right court serves. That player serves until Team B loses a rally, then it goes back to Team A, and whichever Team A player is in the correct court (based on Team A's score) serves next. Players do NOT swap positions after a side-out — they stay where they are.

The receiving side does not switch positions between rallies. The receiver is whichever player is in the diagonally opposite service court. Their partner can stand anywhere on their side of the court.

Badminton gives you one serve per point. There is no second serve, no let replay on a fault, and no safety net. If your serve is illegal — shuttle above 1.15m, racket not pointing down, wrong court, feet off the floor, shuttle landing outside the service court — the point goes directly to the opponent.

Under the modern rally scoring system, which has been used since 2006, every rally results in a point regardless of who served. This means a serving fault gives one point to the opponent, just like any other error during a rally. The old service-over system (where you could only score when serving) was abolished specifically because it made games too long and unpredictable.

The one-serve rule makes consistency the most important quality of a badminton serve. At the professional level, service faults are rare because players have practised the motion thousands of times. At the recreational level, service faults are one of the most common ways to lose points. If you are new to badminton, the best advice is to master a reliable low serve before attempting anything fancy — a simple, consistent serve that clears the net by a small margin and lands in the front third of the service court is far more valuable than a flashy flick serve that faults one time in five.

Let serves in badminton work differently from most other racket sports. The most important thing to know is that a shuttle touching the net during the serve is NOT automatically a let — the rally continues.

• — If the shuttle touches the net tape during the serve and still passes over to land in the correct service court, the serve is legal. Play on. This is not a let.
• — A let is called if the shuttle gets caught on top of the net or remains suspended after crossing the net during a serve.
• — A let is also called if the receiver was not ready when the server served. The "not ready" rule requires that the receiver makes no attempt to return the serve — if the receiver swings at the shuttle, they are deemed to have been ready regardless of the outcome.
• — When a let is called, the entire rally is replayed. The serve is taken again from the same court with no change to the score.

The fact that a net-cord serve is legal (not a let) surprises many players coming from tennis, where a service let is always replayed. In badminton, the reasoning is that the shuttle is so light that a net touch rarely affects its trajectory significantly — the shuttle either clears the net or it does not. If it clears the net and lands in the correct court, the serve is good.

The "receiver not ready" let is an important safety valve. It prevents servers from quick-serving before the receiver has settled into position. However, the burden is on the receiver — if you make any attempt to play the shuttle, you are considered ready, and the serve stands. You cannot swing and miss and then claim you were not ready.

A quick-reference checklist of everything that constitutes a service fault in badminton. Any of these will cost you the point immediately — there is no second serve.

• — The shuttle is struck above 1.15 metres from the court surface.
• — The shaft of the racket is not pointing downward at the moment of contact.
• — The racket does not move in a continuous forward and upward motion.
• — Both feet (or at least part of both feet) are not in contact with the court surface at contact.
• — The server steps on or over a boundary line of the service court before or during the serve.
• — The shuttle lands outside the correct diagonal service court.
• — The server serves from the wrong service court (wrong side based on the score).
• — The server feints or makes a deceptive movement before completing the serve.
• — The server delays unreasonably after both server and receiver are ready.
• — The server misses the shuttle entirely during the serve attempt.
• — The shuttle is hit twice or caught on the racket during the serve.

In professional badminton, a service judge sits at the side of the court near the net post and watches specifically for service faults. They have the authority to call a fault immediately, and their decision can be overruled only by the umpire. The introduction of the 1.15-metre fixed height rule in 2018 made the service judge's job somewhat easier, as they can now reference a fixed measurement rather than trying to judge whether the shuttle was above or below a moving waist.