30 Must-Know Racquetball Terms, Phrases and Slang

60 racquetball terms explained, from ace, kill shot and Z-ball to splat, rollout and hinder, plus the slang players use.

Almost all racquetball terminology describes one of two things: where the ball hits the walls, and who is allowed to stand where while it does. The words related to racquetball below cover the serve, the rally and the calls, and the racquetball glossary underneath collects the words associated with racquetball that a first lesson skips, from splat and pinch to the short line and the receiving line.

New to the game? Our guide to racquetball rules explains how a game works from start to finish, which makes most of the terms below fall into place.

👉 Think you know racquetball? Test yourself with our Racquetball Quiz.

Must-Know Racquetball Terms, Phrases and Slang:

Racquetball Glossary: Every Term A to Z

Terms A to C

Term	What It Means
Ace	A serve the receiver cannot touch, worth an immediate point.
Angle Shot	A shot played into the front wall at an angle so it rebounds away from where the opponent is standing.
Around-the-wall ball	A defensive shot hit high off a side wall, then the front wall and the far side wall.
Avoidable hinder	Interference the referee judges the player could have prevented. Unlike an ordinary hinder it is not replayed: the rally is awarded against the offender.
Back Wall	The rear wall of the court. Balls coming off it give the deepest, easiest setups in the game, which is why players try not to leave them.
Backhand	The stroke played across the body on the non-dominant side. Most rallies are aimed at finding it.
Backwall shot	A shot hit after the ball has rebounded off the back wall.
Ceiling serve	A serve that touches the ceiling, a fault.
Ceiling Shot	A defensive ball played up into the ceiling so it drops deep in the back court and drives the opponent off the front.
Center court	The area just behind the short line in the middle of the floor. Whoever holds it reaches everything first.
Cross-court	A shot sent diagonally from one side of the court to the other.
Crotch ball	A ball that strikes the seam where two surfaces meet, such as the front wall and the floor. It dies or kicks unpredictably, and a crotch serve is a fault.

Terms D to H

Term	What It Means
Dig	Retrieving a ball that looked like a winner, usually low and stretched out.
Doubles	Four players, two per side, sharing the same court. Positioning and calling become as important as the strokes.
Down-the-line	A shot driven straight along one side wall from the same side of the court.
Drive Serve	A hard, low serve driven at the back court to leave the receiver no time.
Drive serve line	Lines three feet from each side wall that mark the zone a drive server may not start in.
Eyeguards	Protective lenses. The ball travels fast enough in a closed court that most sanctioned play requires them.
Fault	An illegal serve, such as one that does not carry past the short line or lands out of the service zone. Two faults in a row lose the serve.
Foot fault	A serve where the server’s foot leaves the service zone before the ball crosses the short line.
Forehand	The stroke played on the dominant hand side, the most powerful one for most players.
Front wall	The wall every shot must reach. A ball that fails to carry to it loses the rally.
Game Point	The point that would win the current game for the player who is serving or receiving it.
Half-lob serve	A serve between a lob and a drive, also called a garbage serve.
Handout	In doubles, the loss of serve by one partner. The side keeps serving until both partners have handed out.
Hinder	Accidental interference that stops an opponent playing the ball. The rally is replayed with no penalty.

Terms J to R

Term	What It Means
Jam serve	A serve angled off the side wall so it comes back into the receiver’s body and cramps the swing.
Kill shot	A ball hit so low into the front wall that it bounces twice before the opponent can reach it.
Lob serve	A soft, high serve that drops deep into a back corner, used to slow the rally and take away the attack.
Long serve	A serve that reaches the back wall before bouncing, a fault.
Match point	The point that would decide the whole match rather than just the current game.
Nick	The join where two surfaces meet, wall to floor or wall to wall. A ball landing in it rebounds at an angle nobody can plan for.
Out serve	A serve that loses the rally outright rather than giving a second attempt, such as one that never reaches the front wall.
Pass shot	A ball driven past the opponent, usually tight to a side wall, so they cannot cut it off.
Penalty hinder	Interference serious enough that the rally is awarded to the player who was blocked.
Pinch shot	A ball hit low into a side wall close to the front corner so it comes off the front wall and dies quickly.
Racquet	The strung frame, at most 22 inches long under the rules, with a wrist strap that must be worn.
Rally	The exchange from the serve until one player fails to return the ball legally.
Rally scoring	Scoring in which any rally can win a point, whoever served it. Traditional racquetball scores only on serve.
Receiving line	The broken line five feet behind the short line. The receiver may not break it until the serve has passed the short line or bounced.
Reverse pinch	A pinch shot into the front corner on the opposite side from the hitter’s swing.
Rollout	A kill shot so low that the ball rolls out along the floor with no bounce at all. As close to unreturnable as the sport gets.

Terms Starting With S

Term	What It Means
Screen	A ball passing so close to a player that the opponent cannot see it leave the racquet. It is called as a hinder and replayed.
Screen serve	A serve that passes so close to the server that the receiver cannot see it, a fault.
Second serve	The second attempt allowed after one fault. A second fault loses the serve.
Serve	The stroke that starts each rally, struck from the service zone to the front wall and back past the short line.
Service box	The marked area the server must stand in to deliver, and stay inside until the ball has been struck.
Service line	The line 15 feet from the front wall that marks the front of the service zone.
Service zone	The area between the service line and the short line where the server must stand.
Short line	The line across the middle of the floor. A serve must carry beyond it to be good.
Short serve	A serve that lands in front of the short line, a fault.
Side Out	The loss of serve. The other player or side takes it over.
Skip ball	A shot hit so low it strikes the floor before the front wall. The rally is lost, and it is the usual cost of chasing kill shots.
Splat	A ball struck hard into the side wall very close to it, so it squirts out low and wide along the front wall.
Stroke	The swing itself, forehand or backhand, and the technique behind it.

Terms T to Z

Term	What It Means
Three-wall serve	A serve that hits two side walls before bouncing, a fault.
Tiebreaker	The deciding third game when each player has won one. It is played to 11 rather than 15.
Tin	A squash term rather than a racquetball one. In squash the tin is the out of bounds strip at the base of the front wall. A racquetball front wall is playable all the way down to the floor.
Wallpaper Serve	A serve that hugs the side wall so tightly the receiver cannot get a racquet head behind it.
Z-ball	A shot that goes front wall, side wall, then the far side wall, tracing a Z and spinning off at an angle that is hard to read.

What Is It Called When…? Racquetball Terms by Situation

Know what happened but not the word for it? Find the situation on the left and the racquetball term on the right.

When…	It Is Called
The serve cannot be touched by the receiver	Ace
The serve lands in front of the short line	Short serve
The serve hits the back wall in the air	Long serve
The serve touches both side walls before bouncing	Three-wall serve
The ball hits the floor before the front wall	Skip ball
The ball rolls off the front wall without bouncing	Rollout
The ball hits the crack between wall and floor	Crotch ball (nick)
A player accidentally gets in the way of a shot	Hinder
A player gets in the way and could have avoided it	Avoidable (penalty) hinder
The ball passes too close to the server to be seen	Screen
The serve runs tight along the side wall	Wallpaper serve
A shot goes off the side wall near the front corner	Pinch shot
A shot goes front wall, side wall, then the other side wall	Z-ball
The ball is hit to the ceiling first	Ceiling shot
The server loses the rally in singles	Side out
The first server in doubles loses the rally	Handout
A player retrieves a very low ball just before the second bounce	Dig
The score reaches 11 in the third game	Tiebreaker

#1 Ace

A legal serve the receiver cannot touch, winning the point outright. Most aces come from drive serves that die in the back corner or wallpaper serves the receiver cannot get the racquet behind.

In a sentence: “Another ace down the left side, he’s owning that corner today.”

#2 Back Wall

The rear wall of the court, 40 feet from the front wall. Unlike in tennis it is in play during a rally, and balls that come off it are often the easiest to hit. On the serve, a ball that reaches the back wall before bouncing is a long serve and a fault.

In a sentence: “Let it come off the back wall, you’ll have all day to set up.”

#3 Around-the-wall ball

A defensive shot hit high into a side wall first, so it rebounds to the front wall and then the opposite side wall before dropping deep in the court. It buys time to get back to center court. Against a player who cuts it off early it is easy to punish.

In a sentence: “He’s in trouble, so he throws up an around-the-wall ball to reset.”

#4 Ceiling Shot

A defensive shot hit up to the ceiling near the front wall, so it comes down off the front wall, bounces high and carries to the back of the court. It pushes the opponent deep and gives the hitter time to retake center court. Long ceiling rallies are common between careful players.

In a sentence: “When in doubt, go to the ceiling and get back to the middle.”

#5 Drive Serve

A hard, low serve that hits the front wall and lands just past the short line, then races into a back corner before the receiver can reach it. Lines three feet from each side wall mark a drive serve zone the server may not start in. It is the most common first serve in the game.

In a sentence: “His drive serve is clocking well over 150, nobody’s getting a racquet on it.”

#6 Fault

An illegal serve. Common faults are the short serve, which lands in front of the short line, the long serve, which reaches the back wall in the air, the three-wall serve and the ceiling serve. Under rules that allow two serves, two faults in a row lose the serve.

In a sentence: “That’s short, first fault. He’ll lob the second one.”

#7 Forehand

The stroke hit on the racquet-hand side of the body, the main power shot for most players. Racquetball forehands use a wrist snap at contact, more like a sidearm throw than a tennis forehand.

In a sentence: “Keep it off his forehand, it’s a cannon.”

#8 Game Point

The point that would decide a game if the server wins it. Because only the serving side can score, a player can save many game points simply by winning back the serve. Games go to 15 points, and the tiebreaker goes to 11.

In a sentence: “Game point at 14-9, he needs one more rally.”

#9 Hinder

A rally interrupted by accidental interference, such as a ball hitting an opponent or a player unintentionally blocking the other’s swing. A regular hinder is replayed with no penalty. Players are supposed to call it themselves when there is no referee.

In a sentence: “That’s a hinder, you hit me on the way through. Play two.”

#10 Kill shot

A shot hit so low on the front wall that it bounces twice before the opponent can reach it. Kills are the main way to end rallies. The perfect version, which rolls out flat without bouncing, is a rollout.

In a sentence: “Set up in the back and just kill it in the corner.”

#11 Lob serve

A soft, high serve that floats off the front wall and lands deep, ideally dying in a back corner or sliding along a side wall. It is used as a second serve because it is hard to fault. A half-lob, or garbage serve, is hit lower to rush the receiver.

In a sentence: “He’s gone to the lob serve on seconds, no risk at all.”

#12 Match point

The point that would win the match for the server. Matches are best of three, with two games to 15 and an 11-point tiebreaker if each player wins one.

In a sentence: “Match point in the tiebreaker, 10-8.”

#13 Nick

The crack where a wall meets the floor. A ball that hits the nick on the side wall after the front wall rolls flat and cannot be returned. Hitting the nick is the ideal finish to a pass or kill.

In a sentence: “Right in the nick, there’s nothing he could do.”

#14 Pass shot

A shot that goes past the opponent rather than in front of them, usually along a side wall (down the line) or diagonally (cross-court). It is played when the opponent is near the front, so the ball reaches the back wall before they can turn.

In a sentence: “He crowded the front, so she just went pass down the line.”

#15 Rally

The exchange of shots from serve to the end of the point. The ball must reach the front wall before touching the floor on every shot and may bounce only once on the floor. Fast rallies last only a few seconds, while long ones are built on ceiling shots.

In a sentence: “That was a 30-shot rally, both of them are gasping.”

#16 Serve

The shot that starts each rally. The server stands in the service zone, between the short line and the service line, bounces the ball and hits it to the front wall so it lands beyond the short line. It may touch one side wall but not two.

In a sentence: “Serve to his backhand, that’s where he’s weakest.”

#17 Side Out

The loss of serve to the opponents. In singles it happens whenever the server loses a rally. In doubles, it means the second server of a team has lost the rally, so serve goes to the other side.

In a sentence: “Side out, their serve now at 12-10.”

#18 Splat

A shot hit hard into the side wall near the hitter, so the ball hits the front wall flat and shoots out low across the court with a loud smack. It is most effective from deep in the court when the ball is close to a side wall.

In a sentence: “What a splat, the ball came off the front wall flat.”

#19 Stroke

Any swing at the ball, forehand or backhand. Good strokes come from the hips and the wrist, with the ball hit low at knee height or below. Players drill strokes to make them repeatable under pressure.

In a sentence: “His stroke is so compact, he’s never late to the ball.”

#20 Pinch shot

A low shot hit into a side wall close to the front corner, so it rebounds into the front wall and dies. A reverse pinch goes into the opposite corner. It is one of the hardest shots to read because the ball goes the opposite way from the swing.

In a sentence: “Beautiful reverse pinch, he wasn’t anywhere near it.”

#21 Wallpaper Serve

A serve that runs along a side wall so closely that the receiver cannot swing without hitting the wall. It is usually a lob or a soft drive. The name compares the ball to wallpaper stuck to the wall.

In a sentence: “Wallpaper serve, she just had to flick at it.”

#22 Z-ball

A shot that hits the front wall high near one corner, then the side wall, then crosses the court to the opposite side wall before bouncing. The ball comes off the last wall parallel to the back wall, which makes it hard to hit. It is used as a defensive shot and as a serve.

In a sentence: “He threw in a Z-ball and caught her completely flat-footed.”

#23 Angle Shot

A shot aimed into a side wall or a corner so the ball changes direction, rather than hit straight to the front wall. The pinch and the splat are angle shots. They take the opponent out of position.

In a sentence: “Angle it into the corner and go to center court.”

#24 Cross-court

A shot hit diagonally from one side of the court to the other. A cross-court pass goes past an opponent who is on the wrong side, ideally hitting the far side wall near the back.

In a sentence: “Cross-court pass, he never covered that side.”

#25 Doubles

Racquetball played with two players on each side. Partners usually split the court side by side, with the forehand player taking the right and the left-handed or backhand player the left. Partners serve in turn, and the receiving pair alternates returns.

In a sentence: “In doubles you’ve got to call the ball early or you’ll both go for it.”

#26 Front wall

The wall every shot must reach before touching the floor. A ball that hits the floor first is a skip. On the serve, the front wall must be hit first, before any side wall.

In a sentence: “He skipped it, the ball hit the floor before the front wall.”

#27 Handout

In doubles, the first server of a team losing a rally, so serve passes to the partner rather than the other team. After the second server loses, it is a side out. At the start of each game the first serving team gets only one server.

In a sentence: “That’s a handout, now it’s your turn to serve.”

#28 Penalty hinder

In professional rules, a foul for interference that could have been avoided, such as blocking or crowding an opponent’s swing. It costs the offender the rally rather than being replayed. Amateur rules call it an avoidable hinder.

In a sentence: “Penalty hinder, the ref says he didn’t clear.”

#29 Rollout

A kill shot hit so low on the front wall that the ball comes off rolling flat on the floor without bouncing. It is impossible to return. Rollouts are the most satisfying shot in the game.

In a sentence: “Dead rollout, that ball never left the floor.”

#30 Service box

One of the two boxes at either end of the service zone, 18 inches wide and marked against the side walls. In doubles, the server’s partner must stand in one with their back to the side wall until the serve passes the short line.

In a sentence: “Stay in the service box until the ball goes by, then you can move.”

Racquetball Slang Players and Fans Actually Use

Slang	What It Means
R-ball	Short for racquetball, used in clubs and between regular players.
Garbage serve	A half-lob serve, hit to land around the receiver’s shoulder height.
Crack ball	A shot that hits the crack between floor and wall and dies, also called a crotch ball.
Skip	A ball that hits the floor before the front wall, short for skip ball.
Setup	An easy ball left in the middle of the court, a chance to end the rally.
Dig	A desperate retrieve of a low ball right before it bounces a second time.
Flat rollout	A perfect kill that does not bounce at all.
Avoidable	The call for a hinder that could have been avoided, which costs the rally.
Play two	The call to replay a rally after a hinder or another interruption.
Ceiling game	A long defensive exchange made up mostly of ceiling shots.

Racquetball Expressions and Sayings in Everyday English

The ball is in your court: It is someone else’s turn to act or decide. The phrase comes from racquet sports, tennis above all, and is just as true on a racquetball court.
Off the wall: Strange or unconventional. It is often traced to the unpredictable bounces of a ball off the walls in handball, squash and racquetball.
Control center court: The basic strategy rule of racquetball: whoever holds the middle of the court, just behind the receiving line, wins most rallies.

FAQ

What do you call a tie in racquetball?

Racquetball has no ties. Games are played to 15, only the server scores, and if each player wins a game the match is decided by an 11-point tiebreaker.

Do people call racquetball R-ball?

Yes. R-ball is common shorthand among regular players and in club listings. It means the same sport.

What is it called when a shot rolls out along the floor?

A rollout. It is a kill shot hit so low into the front wall that the ball comes off without bouncing and cannot be returned.

What is a serve that cannot be returned called?

An ace. The serve wins the point outright without the receiver getting a racquet on the ball.

What is it called when the ball hits the crack between the wall and the floor?

A crotch ball or crack ball, and on the side wall a nick. It either dies flat or kicks off at an unpredictable angle.

What is a pinch shot in racquetball?

A ball hit low into a side wall close to the front corner, so it carries into the front wall and dies near the floor. Hit into the opposite corner it is a reverse pinch.

Who invented racquetball?

Joe Sobek, a tennis and handball player, developed it in 1950 in Greenwich, Connecticut, by playing handball rules with a strung racquet. The name racquetball was adopted in 1969.

What are some words related to racquetball?

They fall into serves (drive serve, lob serve, jam serve, wallpaper serve, ace, fault), shots (kill shot, pinch, splat, Z-ball, ceiling shot, pass) and calls (hinder, side out, handout). The racquetball glossary above lists them all.

What are some racquetball terms for beginners?

Start with the court lines (short line, service line, receiving line), then serve, fault, side out and hinder. For shots, learn the kill, the pass and the ceiling shot first.

What are some racquetball slang terms?

R-ball for the sport, garbage serve for a half-lob, crack ball for a shot into the seam, skip for a ball that hits the floor first and setup for an easy ball. The slang table above has more.