Badminton doubles rules: serve, scoring, rotation, and positioning

Badminton doubles rules differ from singles in four places: the serve, the service courts, who rotates, and how wide the court is. Each side gets one serve, the serving pair swaps courts only after winning a point, and the receiving pair never swaps. The rest of the laws are identical.

Badminton doubles rules vs singles rules

Rule	Singles	Doubles
Sidelines in play during a rally	Inner lines, 5.18 m wide	Outer lines, 6.10 m wide
Service court shape	Narrow and long	Wide and short
Serves per side	One	One (two until 2006)
Who serves	The one player on that side	The partner standing in the court that matches their side's score
Change of court after a point	Server switches service courts	Serving pair swaps with each other; receivers stay put
Scoring	21 rally points, win by two, capped at 30	Identical

The doubles court is wider for rallies and shorter for serves

A badminton court is 13.40 m long and 6.10 m wide. In singles the outer 0.46 m strip down each side is out; in doubles it's in, except on the serve. The service box is inverted too: full width, but it stops at the doubles long service line, 0.76 m short of the back boundary — one of the badminton court dimensions worth knowing by sight.

That's the line call that trips up new pairs: a flick serve landing in that back 0.76 m is a fault, but the same shuttle landing on the same spot mid-rally is in play.

Badminton doubles serve rules: one serve per side

Each side gets one serve. Lose the rally while serving and the point and the serve both go across the net. The old system — a first server and a second server, so a pair kept the serve through two innings — went away in 2006, when rally-point scoring replaced the 15-point service-over game. Anyone still calling "second server" learned the game before that change.

The delivery follows the same badminton serve rules as singles:

• Both feet stationary and touching the floor, inside the correct service court, off the lines.
• The racket strikes the base of the shuttle first, in one continuous forward motion.
• Under current BWF laws the whole shuttle must be below 1.15 m from the court surface at contact. Older rule sets and plenty of club leagues still use the waist-height version, judged against the server's lowest rib.
• The shuttle travels diagonally into the service court opposite.

Doubles adds two restrictions: only the designated receiver may return the serve — a partner's touch is a fault — and the two uninvolved players may stand anywhere on their own side, as long as they don't block either server's or receiver's view.

Who serves in badminton doubles

The serving side's own score decides both server and court. An even score — 0, 2, 4, and so on — serves from the right; an odd score serves from the left. At 0–0 the first server starts from the right.

• You win a rally on your own serve. The same player serves again, having swapped courts with their partner. The score changed parity, so you changed sides.
• You lose a rally on your own serve. Nobody moves. The serve goes over.
• You win a rally while receiving. You take the point and the serve, and whichever partner is already standing in the court matching your new score serves it. Still no swap.

A pair only ever changes service courts after winning a rally it served — your positions at 9–6 are a record of who served what. Badminton Scoreboard is a badminton scoreboard app for iPhone and Apple Watch that tracks match scores, which is the one number the serving rule runs on.

Badminton scoring in doubles

Scoring in doubles is identical to singles. Every rally is worth a point to whoever wins it, served or not. Games run to 21, win by two: at 20-all play continues until one side leads by two, and at 29-all the next point simply takes the game, capping it at 30. Matches are best of three, and the badminton scoring rules don't change with the format.

The winners of a game serve first in the next one, and either partner can take it — the score resets to 0–0, so it's served from the right. Ends change after each game, and again in a deciding third game once one side reaches 11. BWF matches carry a 60-second break at that 11-point mark and 120 seconds between games.

Badminton doubles rotation: the serving pair swaps, the receivers don't

The service-court swap above is a rule, and it only governs the serving pair, between points. A separate tactical rotation — shifting between attacking and defending shapes — happens mid-rally with no law attached: either player can hit any shuttle from anywhere on their side, and a rally can legally end with both partners in the same half. Position becomes a rule again only at the next serve.

Badminton doubles strategy: front-and-back to attack, side-by-side to defend

Which shape you're in depends on whether the shuttle is heading down off your racket or up.

Front-and-back is the attacking shape — one player at the net, one at the rear. The rear player hits down (smash, drop, fast drive) and the front player kills whatever pops back up.

Side-by-side is the defending shape — both players roughly level, each covering half the width, rackets up around waist height. Move into it the instant you've lifted or cleared, since a smash is likely coming and the court is easier to cover across than front-to-back.

Weaker pairs pick one shape and camp in it. Permanent side-by-side leaves nobody at the net; permanent front-and-back loses to a smash down the open sideline.

The rotation follows the shuttle, not a schedule

• Lift or clear the shuttle: move to side-by-side before the smash lands, and level up with your partner.
• Force a weak reply: get back into front-and-back, with whoever's nearer the net staying forward.
• The rear player comes forward up the sideline they just hit from; the partner covers the diagonal behind. Both drifting into the same lane is the classic doubles error.

Badminton doubles positioning at the serve

Nearly every doubles serve is a low serve to the short service line. The server stays forward afterward, racket up, covering the net reply, while the partner takes the rear — the pair starts already in the attacking shape. Receivers stand close to the short service line, weight forward, aiming to take the shuttle early and hit down.

Mixed doubles adds a convention, not a law: the woman plays the front court, the man the rear.

FAQ

Who serves first in badminton doubles?

Whoever wins the toss chooses to serve, to receive, or to pick an end. The side serving first decides which partner takes it, and since the score is 0–0, that serve goes from the right.

Do you switch sides after every point in badminton doubles?

Only the serving pair, and only after winning a rally on their own serve — they swap service courts and the same player serves again. Losing the serve moves nobody.

Can your partner return the serve in badminton doubles?

No. Only the player standing diagonally opposite the server may hit it; a partner's touch is a fault and the serving side scores. Once the serve is returned, either player can take any shuttle.

Is the badminton court wider for doubles?

Yes — the outer sidelines make it 6.10 m wide against 5.18 m for singles. The serve is the exception: the doubles service court is wide but short, ending 0.76 m inside the back boundary.

What happens if you serve from the wrong service court in doubles?

Caught before the next serve goes up, it's corrected and replayed as a let — no score change. Caught after, it stands uncorrected: under rally scoring, finished points are never replayed, and the serve is never taken away as a penalty for it.