Pickleball glossary: 55 terms as they are said in Mexico

Pickleball reached Mexico speaking English, and you can hear it on court: people say "dink", "drive" or "reset" untranslated, while other words already have a Mexican version, like la cocina (the kitchen) or la reta. This glossary gathers 55 terms as they are used in the country's clubs, parks and sports centres, each with a short definition. The headwords are the Spanish (or Spanglish) words you will hear in Mexico, in alphabetical order; where a term comes from English, the original or the translation you may also hear is in brackets.

A

• Ace: a serve the opponent does not even touch. Rare in pickleball, because the serve is underhand and arrives slowly.
• Altura de la red (net height): 91.4 cm at the posts and 86.4 cm in the middle. That five-centimetre dip makes the shot down the middle the safest one.
• ATP (around the post): a shot that goes around the post instead of over the net. It is legal, and the ball may travel lower than the net.

B

• Bloqueo (block): a defensive volley where you just present the paddle and absorb the opponent's pace, so the ball drops short.
• "¡Bota!" or "¡Déjala!" ("let it bounce"): the shout telling your partner not to hit a ball that will land long. Said before they touch it, never after.

C

• Cambio de saque (side out): when the serving team loses its turn and the serve passes to the other team. Hence the traditional scoring is called side-out scoring.
• Cancha (court): the playing area, 6.10 by 13.41 metres, the same for singles and doubles. In Mexico it is never called a pista.
• Cantar el marcador (calling the score): saying the score out loud before each serve. It is the server's duty, and the serve does not count if the opponent has not had time to hear it.
• Cocina (kitchen): the non-volley zone, 2.13 metres on each side of the net. You can step in, but not volley from there. It is the most used word of the sport in Mexico.
• Cortado (slice): a shot with backspin that makes the ball bounce low and slow down. Useful for dinks and deep returns.

D

• Derecha (forehand): the shot on the side of the hand that holds the paddle.
• Dink: a soft, almost pace-less shot that lands in the opponent's kitchen. Because it bounces there, the opponent cannot volley it and must lift it carefully.
• Dink cruzado (cross-court dink): a diagonal dink, corner to corner. The most used, because it travels further and crosses the low part of the net.
• Doble rebote (two-bounce rule, also doble bote): the rule that makes you let both the serve and the return bounce before hitting them. Volleying is allowed only from the third shot on.
• Drive: a flat, hard shot from the back of the court, meant to pressure the opponent or force an error.
• Drop: short for the third shot drop. See tercer golpe corto.
• DUPR: the most widely used international rating system in pickleball. It assigns a number from 2.000 to 8.000 based on your results.

E

• Erne: a play where a player runs outside the sideline, around the kitchen, to volley next to the post. Legal as long as they never touch the zone.

F

• Falta (fault): any error that ends the point: ball out, into the net, a volley inside the kitchen, an illegal serve or a shot before the two bounces.
• Falta de pie (foot fault): stepping on the baseline or into the court while serving, or on the kitchen or its line while volleying.
• Fuera (out): a ball that lands outside the lines. A ball touching a line is in, with one exception: a serve landing on the kitchen line is a fault.

G

• Globo (lob): a high ball over opponents at the net, to force them back to the baseline.
• Golpe de fondo (groundstroke): a shot at a ball that has already bounced, usually from the back of the court.

I

• Inicio cero, cero, dos (zero, zero, two start): the score a doubles game starts with. The team serving first has only one server on that turn, hence the "two".

L

• Let: a replay of the point because of an interruption, such as a ball from another court rolling onto yours. Since 2021 a serve that clips the net and lands in is no longer replayed: it stays in play.
• Línea de la cocina (kitchen line): the line marking the edge of the non-volley zone. It is part of the kitchen: stepping on it while volleying is a fault.

M

• Marcador de tres números (three-number score): how the score is called in doubles: the serving team's points, the receiving team's points and whether it is the first or second server. For example, "five, three, one".
• "¡Mía!" or "¡Tuya!" ("mine" / "yours"): the shouts that decide who takes a ball down the middle. They prevent paddle clashes and the classic "I thought you had it".

O

• Open play: a session where you turn up without a partner, sign in and rotate with whoever is next. It is the gateway to pickleball at many clubs.

P

• Pala (paddle): pickleball's racket, solid and stringless, usually made of graphite, fibreglass or carbon fibre over a honeycomb core.
• Paleta: another name for the paddle, very common in Mexico among people coming from frontón or padel. Both are understood the same way.
• Partido a 11 (game to 11): the standard format. The first to 11 points with at least a two-point lead wins. Some tournaments play to 15 or 21.
• Pickleball: the sport, created in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington. It mixes elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis.
• Primer y segundo servidor (first and second server): in doubles, both players of a team serve before a side out. When the first loses the point, the second serves.
• Puntuación por saque (side-out scoring): the traditional system, where only the serving team can score points.
• Puntuación rally (rally scoring): a system where every rally scores a point, whoever served. Some professional leagues and quick tournaments use it.

R

• Remate (smash): an overhead shot at a high ball, hit down with full force.
• Reset: a soft shot that turns a fast ball into one that lands in the opponent's kitchen. It gets you out of an attack and restarts the exchange.
• Resto (return): the shot that sends back the serve. Ideally deep, to give you time to move up to the net.
• Reta: an informal match, no tournament involved. "Echarse una reta" is playing for fun; it also names the "winner stays on" format.
• Revés (backhand): the shot on the side opposite the hand that holds the paddle.

S

• Saque (serve): the shot that starts each point. Hit underhand, with contact below the waist, it must land in the diagonal service court.
• Saque con efecto (spin serve): spinning the ball with the hand just before serving. Banned by the rulebook since 2023; spin may only come from the paddle.
• Saque de bote (drop serve): dropping the ball, letting it bounce and hitting it afterwards. It is allowed and makes serving easier for beginners.
• Speed-up: switching suddenly from a soft exchange to a fast ball at the opponent's body. Timing is everything.
• Stacking: a pair's arrangement before the point so each player ends up on their preferred side, without breaking the serving order.

T

• Tercer golpe (third shot): the serving team's first shot after the return. It decides whether that team can reach the net or stays back.
• Tercer golpe corto (third shot drop): a soft third shot that lands in the opponent's kitchen and gives the serving team time to move forward.
• Tiroteo (firefight): a fast volley exchange between all four players at the net. Won by whoever has the quickest hands and the paddle up.
• Torneo (tournament): a competition with entry fees, categories by level or age, and prizes. It may be a club's internal event or part of a circuit.
• Transición (transition zone): the area of the court between the baseline and the kitchen. It is where most balls land at your feet, so cross it quickly.
• Tweener: a shot between the legs, back to the net, to return a lob. More show than tactics.

V

• Volea (volley): hitting the ball before it bounces. Not allowed inside the kitchen or before the third shot.
• Volea de ataque (punch volley): a short, firm volley with little arm movement, to send the ball down or at the opponent's feet.

Z

• Zona de no volea (non-volley zone, NVZ): the kitchen's official name in the rulebook.