How the five racquet sports work, each under its own rule book.

Tennis, pickleball, padel, squash and badminton share a family name and very little else. Each has its own governing bodies, its own rule book, its own court, its own way of keeping score and its own professional tours. This section keeps them apart: every rule named here comes with the sport, the body, the document, its edition and the rule number where the source gives one. A pickleball rule is never a padel rule, and a squash figure is never a badminton figure.

These pages describe how the sports are organised and what their rule books say. They do not teach strokes, serves, footwork or tactics, and they give no training or fitness advice. Those come from a qualified coach on a court. Injuries are a matter for a doctor or physiotherapist.

Which rule books, which editions

Rule texts change. The edition in force, the event's own regulations and the officials on the day always have the final word.

The shortest possible version

• Tennis: the ITF Rules of Tennis 2026 set a court 78 feet long, a net 3 feet high at the centre, and games scored 15, 30, 40 with deuce and advantage.
• Pickleball: the 2026 USA Pickleball rulebook sets a 20 by 44 foot court with a 7 foot non-volley zone each side of the net. Standard scoring gives points only to the serving side. Rally scoring is a provisional rule in 2026 (Rule 14.A), not the default.
• Padel: the FIP's 2026 rules set an enclosed court 10 m by 20 m, played in pairs, with three scoring options: Advantage, Star Point and Golden Point.
• Squash: the World Squash Singles Rules 2025 score every rally, with games to 11 and matches normally best of five.
• Badminton: the BWF Laws score every rally, with games to 21 and matches best of three. BWF members voted for games to 15 on 25 April 2026, but that change does not take effect until 4 January 2027.

The pages in this section

1. What racquet sports are: the five sports side by side, each in its own column.
2. Tennis: the court, net, scoring and formats under the ITF Rules of Tennis 2026.
3. Tennis bodies and tours: the ITF (World Tennis), the USTA and LTA, the ATP, the WTA and the majors.
4. Pickleball: the court, the non-volley zone, side-out and provisional rally scoring under the 2026 rulebook.
5. Pickleball bodies and tours: USA Pickleball, the UPA-A, the PPA Tour, MLP and the APP Tour, and the split between the WPF and the GPF, each side as it puts it.
6. Padel: the enclosed court, walls and net, and the three scoring options in the FIP's 2026 rules.
7. Padel bodies and tours: the FIP, national bodies, and the move from the World Padel Tour to Premier Padel, told both ways.
8. Squash: the court, the tin, scoring and the 2025 rule changes.
9. Squash bodies and tours: World Squash, US Squash, England Squash and the PSA, with the PSA's founding date given each way.
10. Badminton: the court, the net and 3 x 21 scoring, with the 3 x 15 change due in 2027.
11. Badminton bodies and tours: the BWF from its 1934 founding, national bodies and the BWF World Tour.
12. Wheelchair and para play: each sport's rules for wheelchair and para players.
13. The Olympic and Paralympic programme: where each sport stands, sport by sport.
14. Rankings explained: how each tour and body says its ranking works.
15. Shared courts and facilities: tennis and pickleball lines on one court, and one city's published noise rule.
16. How people learn: the coaching qualifications each body publishes.
17. How many people play: participation figures as each body or trade group claims them, with dates.

Rackets, balls, shuttles and eyewear standards are in the equipment section, injuries and medical rules in safety, the stories behind each game in history, and the vocabulary in the glossary. The racket size checker compares a racket or paddle with its own rule book's size limits.