How often does calling a time-out “work?”
| January 20, 2026
One of the most common reasons to call a time-out during a pickleball game or match is to try to slow an opponent’s momentum, or to develop your own. We tracked every “time-out” during the all the finals in Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed Doubles in 2025 (excluding video reviews), more than 300 time-outs in total, and applied this simple question: Did the team that called time-out win the next rally?
2025 Men’s Doubles finals
Teams that called time-out won the next rally, 55%.
2025 Women’s Doubles finals
Teams that called time-out won the next rally, 59%.
2025 Mixed Doubles finals
Teams that called time-out won the next rally, 53%.
2025 Collectively:
Teams that called time-out won the next rally 55% of the time.
Within those matches, when the team that eventually won the match called time-out, they won the next rally 61% of the time. The eventual losing team, just 51%.
We do not have “what was the status of the match the moment the time-out was called?” However, this is our best look at whether the conventional wisdom is supported by statistics.
