What is a good padel rating?

On the scale Slams uses, the same as the Dutch KNLTB's, lower is better. A new player starts at 8.999, the beginner level (playing level 9); around 1 is the top level. What counts as a good rating depends mostly on the level in your club: compare your rating with the players you regularly face.

How quickly does my rating change after a match?

With a K factor of 0.4, your rating changes by at most 0.4 per match; beat someone with the same rating and it drops by 0.2. In practice the changes are often smaller. Your rating stabilizes after a dozen or so matches and swings less sharply after that.

What if a new player gets a starting rating that is far too low or too high?

A club manager can adjust the starting rating by hand. That is exactly what the option is there for. The system does correct itself over time, but a realistic starting point saves players a few weeks of calibration.

Do both players in a doubles pair count toward the rating?

Yes. In padel the team rating is calculated as the average of both players' ratings. After the match, both players get an individual rating update based on that same team average versus the opponents' team average.

Can I turn off the rating system for certain competitions?

In Slams you can set per competition whether rating changes are applied. For a social ladder or a beginners' tournament you may not want to update ratings. For a serious ladder competition you simply switch it on.

Market insight30 April 20265 min read

How does a padel rating work? The Slams rating explained

A fair rating system is the difference between a lively competition and one where the strongest players always win and everyone else drops out. Read how the Slams rating works, on the same scale as the Dutch KNLTB.

Coen ReekersSlams.app

Why does a padel club need a rating system?

Picture this: a beginner signs up for their club's ladder competition and gets paired against the number one on the leaderboard in the very first round. It ends 6-0, 6-0 and the beginner walks away. That is exactly what a good rating system prevents.

A rating is a number that reflects a player's skill level. The more accurate that number, the fairer the match-ups and the more motivated players stay. For clubs, a rating system is practical too: you can split players into skill groups, set up competitions more fairly, and see who is improving the fastest.

How does the Slams rating work?

Slams keeps its own rating for every player, on the same scale as the Dutch KNLTB: from 1.0000 to 10.9999, where lower is better. Around 1 is the top level; from 8.999 upwards is beginner level. It is not the official KNLTB rating, but the numbers are familiar to anyone who knows the KNLTB playing levels. The calculation is similar to the well-known Elo system in chess: the result is compared with what you could expect based on the difference in level.

The basic logic is simple: beat someone who is better than you and your rating improves more than when you beat someone who is weaker. Lose to someone weaker and your rating gets worse by more than when you lose to a stronger opponent. So the system takes expectations into account.

How is the rating calculated?

Slams calculates in two steps:

Step 1: the expected result

For every match, the system calculates the expected result based on the rating gap. If your rating is 7.5 and your opponent's is 8.0, you are the favourite, because lower is better. The system expresses this as a number between 0 and 1: in this example about 0.68, or roughly a 68% chance of winning.

Step 2: the new rating

After the match, your new rating is calculated:

A win gives a value of 1 for the actual result, a loss 0 (in a league a draw counts as 0.5)
The difference between the actual result and the expected result is multiplied by the K factor (0.4 at Slams)
That number is taken off your rating: winning lowers your rating, losing raises it

Beat someone with the same rating? Your rating drops by 0.2 (0.4 x 0.5), and that is progress. Win as the favourite in the example above and your rating drops by about 0.13; lose and it rises by about 0.27. A surprising result moves more than an expected one.

In padel doubles, the team rating applies: the average of the two players' ratings forms the team rating that the calculation is based on. Both players on each team get a rating update. A walkover does not count towards the rating.

Why the KNLTB scale?

Many Dutch players know their playing level from the KNLTB, from 9 (beginner) to 1 (top level). Using the same scale makes a Slams rating easy to place: a player rated 6.3 is at playing level 6. A new player without official matches starts at 8.999, the bottom of playing level 9. If a player already has a KNLTB rating, the admin can enter it as their starting point.

Ratings are stored and shown with four decimal places, just like at the KNLTB, so even small differences stay visible.

How Slams implements the rating system

At Slams.app, the rating is fully automated. A competition manager does not have to calculate anything by hand. Once a result is entered, the rating update is processed immediately and the new ratings appear in the player profile.

Every rating change is saved in the rating history: for each match you can see what the rating was before and after, how much it changed, and who was played against. This gives players insight into how they develop over time.

Managers can adjust a player's starting rating. This is handy when an experienced player signs up who clearly does not belong at 8.999. You can place them at a more realistic starting point right away, for example their own KNLTB rating.

Why ratings work for clubs

Clubs that use a transparent rating system see three things happen:

Fairer match-ups: players are paired based on real skill level, not on who happens to be available at the same time.
More motivation: players have a concrete goal, improving their rating. Every match matters.
Less drop-out: beginners are less likely to quit because they are not crushed by stronger players time after time.

Tips for managing ratings in your club

Set starting ratings realistically

Have new members do a short intake or look at their playing experience before you let them start at 8.999. Someone who has played at competition level for years belongs a good deal lower on the scale: ask for their KNLTB playing level and use it as the starting point.

Explain the system to your members

Many players do not immediately see that a lower number is better, or why their rating rises sharply after a loss to a weaker opponent. A short explanation, through the club newsletter or in the app, saves a lot of questions and frustration.

Give the system time

A rating only becomes reliable after a dozen or so matches. In the first weeks of a new season there are always outliers. Communicate this to your members and put early results in perspective.

Use skill groups

At larger clubs it pays to split the ladder competition into skill groups, for example by playing level (5 and 6, 7 and 8, and 9). Players then always face opponents of a similar level and can move up or down based on their rating.

Want to see what the rating system looks like in practice? Request a demo and take a look at the player profile with its rating graph.

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