Rules Regarding Screens in Racquetball

Screen Serves

• As defined by The Official U.S. Racquetball Association, a screen serve is, "A served ball that first hits the front wall and on the rebound passes so closely to the server, or server's partner in doubles, that it prevents the receiver from having a clear view of the ball." Screen serves count as a single fault. When combined with any other faults, including another screen serve, the serving player forfeits service. Also, balls that pass between a player's legs aren't always faults--it depends on the degree of impairment caused by the passing of the ball between the player's legs.

Screen Serve Faults

• In the case of screen serves, it's the impairment of the defense's tracking of the ball that makes it a screen and a fault. Screen serves in "one serve" matches result in one more attempt by the server, and none after that, though standard faults--like serves that are long or short and don't make it past the "short line"--aren't allowed in "one serve" matches. A screen serve combined with any other fault results in a loss of service and the order in which the faults are incurred makes no difference to loss of service call.

Screen Balls

• Similar to screen serves, screen balls are returned balls that pass too closely by members of the offense, obscuring the defense's view of the ball. Whether intentional or unintentional, a screen ball may result in a penalty. Running in front of an attacking defensive player, blocking a defensive player or failure to move by the offense all result in a loss of a rally. In racquetball, rallies are the short matches that occur between serves, they start with a with a serve and end when there's a dead ball called.