Krátké podání nezasáhlo ani pole pro podání, ani zadní čáru.

Because podání is a neuter noun. In Czech, adjectives must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

• krátký = masculine form
• krátká = feminine form
• krátké = neuter form

So with podání, you need krátké.

Two things are happening here:

1. ne- is the normal Czech way to negate a verb, so zasáhlo becomes nezasáhlo.
2. The ending -lo shows that the subject is neuter singular.

The subject is krátké podání, and podání is neuter, so the verb matches it:

• masculine: zasáhl
• feminine: zasáhla
• neuter: zasáhlo

Also, in 3rd person past tense, Czech does not use a separate word like English did.

The dictionary form is zasáhnout.

Here:

• za- is part of the verb
• -sáhnout is the verb stem
• ne- makes it negative
• -lo marks neuter singular past

So nezasáhlo means did not hit / did not reach / did not touch, depending on context.

Because this sentence describes one completed event: one serve either hit something or it did not.

Czech normally uses a perfective verb for that kind of finished action, so zasáhnout is natural here.

An imperfective form would suggest something more like an ongoing or repeated action, which would not fit this sports situation very well.

Ani ... ani ... means neither ... nor ....

So:

• nezasáhlo ani A, ani B = it hit neither A nor B

This is normal Czech grammar. Czech often uses what English speakers think of as double negation, but in Czech it is just the standard pattern.

So the sentence is structured very naturally:

• negative verb: nezasáhlo
• paired negative items: ani pole pro podání, ani zadní čáru

Literally, pole often means field, but here it means an area, court, or box in a sports context.

So pole pro podání is not an agricultural field. It means the part of the court used for serving.

It is in the accusative, because it is the direct object of zasáhnout.

But pole is a neuter inanimate noun, and in the singular its nominative and accusative forms are the same:

• nominative: pole
• accusative: pole

So even though the case changes, the form stays the same.

The same thing happens with podání after pro:

• pro takes the accusative
• but podání also looks the same in nominative and accusative singular

So pro podání is accusative, even though you do not see a visible ending change.

Because čára is a feminine noun, and here it is also a direct object, so it must be in the accusative singular.

That changes:

• nominative: čára
• accusative: čáru

The adjective zadní does not visibly change here, because it belongs to a type of adjective whose feminine nominative and accusative singular often look the same.

So:

• zadní čára = nominative
• zadní čáru = accusative

It is the same noun, but used in two closely related ways.

• krátké podání = short serve
• pole pro podání = literally area for serving

So in the first part, podání means the actual serve. In the second part, it means the act of serving more generally.

This is very normal in Czech: one verbal noun can be used both for a specific action and for the general activity.

Yes. Czech word order is more flexible than English word order.

The given sentence is a natural, neutral way to say it. But other orders are possible for emphasis, for example if you want to stress what was not hit.

Still, the original version sounds like a straightforward statement, which is probably why it was chosen.

Because Czech has no articles.

English needs words like a and the, but Czech usually leaves that information to the context.

So Czech simply says:

• krátké podání
• pole pro podání
• zadní čáru

and the listener understands from the situation whether the meaning is definite or indefinite.