What if a player challenges my ruling or wants me removed?

Officiating decision challenge: players may appeal any officiating decision to the Head Referee or Tournament Director.

• If the Head Referee or Tournament Director agrees with your ruling, you assess a technical warning and charge a standard time-out against the challenging player or team (a technical foul if no standard time-out is available).
• If they do not agree, you must reverse the ruling or order a replay of the rally, as appropriate.
• A player may rescind the request after it is acknowledged, but is charged a standard time-out (or a technical foul if none is available).

Removal: when all players agree, they may petition the Tournament Director to have a referee removed. You may remove and replace a line judge for any reasonable cause based on your own observation or the unanimous request of the players. If you disagree with the players' request, you must summon the Tournament Director for a final decision. The Tournament Director has final authority to remove and replace members of the officiating team and resolves player appeals concerning officiating rulings; those decisions are final.

Source: 2026 Official Rulebook, Rules 16.J, 16.O and 20.J-20.L, https://pickleballcanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/2026-Official-Rulebook-EN.pdf