UTR Pickleball Rating

Equipped with over a decade of expertise as the creator of the gold-standard UTR Rating for tennis, UTR Sports offers the most accurate and reliable global rating for pickleball. 

The UTR-P is designed to rate every kind of player, whether you're just swinging your first paddle or smashing your way through pro-level tournaments. UTR Pickleball Ratings (UTR-P) includes both provisional and numerical ratings for singles and doubles players. 

Players without match results logged will receive a provisional rating (P1-P5) based on a questionnaire. After a few matches, the rating automatically converts to a reliable decimal rating on a scale of 1 - 10.0 (from beginner to expert/pro).

Keep checking back for the most up-to-date FAQs as more information is added.

1 = Beginner: New to the game with minimal racquet sports experience (provisional rating equivalent of P1)

2 = Social/Casual: Plays on occasion for fun and can maintain rallies (provisional rating equivalent of P2)

3 = Intermediate: Has a solid understanding of basics and strategic knowledge with an interest in competitive play (provisional rating equivalent of P3)

4.0-4.9 = Advanced: Consistent shot maker who can compete in advanced-level tournaments (provisional rating equivalent of P4)

5.0-10.0 = Expert/Pro: Master of all shots and strategies who participates at the highest levels of competition (provisional rating equivalent of P5)

The algorithm counts singles, doubles, verified, and unverified ratings separately and it changes dynamically, updating every 24 hours, to keep your rating as accurate as possible.

Results are either verified or unverified scores depending on whether the match or tournament was organized and played according to our verified rules or was a player organized/social/recreational for which scores are unverified. 

All USA Pickleball-owned events, all APP events, and all UTR Sports events are included in verified events. The algorithm takes into account at least a year of results or the past 60 games. 

A verified UTR-P Rating that is fully reliable is indicated by a checkmark badge on a player’s profile. The reliability indicator means the UTR-P algorithm is highly accurate for this player. Ratings will dynamically move up and down as new results are factored in.

USA Pickleball and UTR Sports recently entered into a landmark partnership to connect, grow, and unite the pickleball community. Part of that partnership is establishing the UTR-P Rating as the new standard rating for the sport.

More information on this transition and the status of UTPR will be communicated in the coming weeks as we transition to the UTR-P Rating. UTPR is not expected to be used in the future. We will carefully manage this process every step of the way.

USA Pickleball is transitioning from UTPR to UTR-P Rating in the coming months and will be working to ensure all players are competing in the most accurate division possible. This information will be communicated to players well in advance of Nationals in November.

More information on the 2024 Biofreeze USA Pickleball National Championships can be found here.

Examples: If a player has been a 3.0 UTPR, they will be approximately a 4.0 UTR-P; if a player has been a 3.5 UTPR, they will be approximately a 4.5 UTR-P; and if a player has been a 5.5+ UTPR, they will be approximately a 6.5+ UTR-P.

Using the UTR Sports Platform, organizers of events have flexibility for how open or restricted their divisions are set up. It will be up to the organizer’s discretion and it is possible to have open divisions where players may be placed into groups within a division using their rating as a guide to ensure level-based play. For an organizer wanting to sanction their event with USAP, the event will be reviewed for approval by USA Pickleball. USA Pickleball membership verification is integrated into the UTR Sports platform.

The UTR-P Rating is and always will be free for players and unlike other rating systems, UTR Sports has no plans to ever charge for it.

The rating systems are very different in terms of their approaches and how the ratings are calculated. The UTR Pickleball Rating consists of an ageless, genderless, borderless scale from 1-10.0, updating every 24 hours. The UTPR is a tournament-only rating system for the United States on a scale from 1 to 5.5+ (learn more here).

The DUPR is a global rating system on a scale from 2.00 to 8.00.

The UTR-P Rating is generally one point higher than the UTPR you may be used to.

Examples: If a player has been a 3.0 UTPR, they will be approximately a 4.0 UTR-P; if a player has been a 3.5 UTPR, they will be approximately a 4.5 UTR-P; and if a player has been a 5.5+ UTPR, they will be approximately a 6.5+ UTR-P.

The UTR-P Rating has several advantages over the other rating systems. One key element is that UTR-P separates self-reported scores from organized/verified match results. This unique feature provides reliability to competitive play and helps drastically reduce sandbagging. 

The UTR-P Rating is very stable and accurate for many reasons. It was specifically developed with doubles and even mixed doubles front of mind. Other rating systems where they struggle to be truly genderless and finding a good mixed doubles partner can’t really be in a level-based way with finding a player of equal rating. This then forces organizers to look at rankings too. For UTR-P it is simple. If you want to find a partner near your level in doubles, look for a rating around your level in doubles, male or female. The UTR-P Rating reflects how you play as a doubles unit, not how you play in a 1 vs. 1 scenario.

Also, the UTR-P rating has a strong and fast-growing pool of connected players which provides for a highly accurate and stable global rating. The UTR-P Rating is also more accurate than points-based ranking systems. It doesn’t matter which format the player chooses, nor the partner they play with. The UTR-P rating predicts the outcome in ALL cases. It is several percentage points more accurate than today’s pro points-based rankings.

Not necessarily. In order to provide the most accurate rating, the UTR-P algorithm calculates your rating based on your performance vs. the expected outcome of a game. For example, if you are victorious over a lower-rated player, but only by a slim margin, your rating may not increase.

Both! UTR-P Ratings are separate for singles and doubles. Partners are not averaged. UTR Sports considers each doubles game as two individual games which allows for connection across genders and more accuracy.

When you see “Reliable” along with the player’s UTR-P Rating, there are enough results provided to the algorithm to have full confidence in the rating being a highly accurate indication of a player’s true skill level.

When you see “Projected” then it means there are not yet enough results to have complete confidence in the rating, but there are enough results to display a projection. Approximately 4-6 results are needed before a rating becomes fully reliable.

A social or recreational player may have a fully reliable numeric rating if they have played enough verified matches for the algorithm to have full confidence in the number being a highly accurate indication of a player’s true skill level. 

A Projected rating is merely an indication that the player does not yet have enough scores submitted in order to determine an accurate numerical rating. It will disappear after scores are counted on approximately 4-6 matches.

If you see a P1-P5, then it is an estimate of the player’s eventual rating based on self-reported answers to our pickleball questionnaire. The different categories are P1 - Beginner; P2 - Social/Casual; P3 - Intermediate; P4 - Advanced; P5 - Expert/Pro.

The UTR-P Rating is built on large volumes of high-quality score data. The algorithm does not factor in self-reported results for its verified ratings, and players must be close enough in level for the match to count (ie. if ratings differ by 1.0 or more, it will almost certainly be a blowout). Players with fully reliable verified ratings are not impacted by playing against players with partially reliable ratings.

The UTR-P rating was specifically developed with sophistication around the data science needed to provide for an accurate genderless doubles rating. Meaning, you can rely on the UTR-P double ratings for gendered or mixed doubles.  This way, finding a good mixed doubles partner is simple — just look for a person with a UTR-P rating around your level in doubles either male or female. The UTR-P Rating reflects how you individually play in a doubles match.

You are welcome to reach out to the UTR Sports Support team to inquire about or request an investigation. The UTR Support team will be happy to review your rating with our data scientists and ensure you’re rated accurately. Contact support by emailing usaphelp@utrsports.net.

Tens of thousands of players around the globe, including all APP players, already have FREE pickleball ratings on the UTR Sports platform. Click here to log in or sign up for a free account, to claim your profile or get rated.

All players can get FREE UTR-P Ratings within minutes. If you're new to UTR Sports, click here or download the UTR Sports app to get started.

If you already have a UTR Rating for tennis, get your UTR-P Rating for pickleball by clicking here.

In addition to being the rating standard of USA Pickleball, UTR Sports and the UTR-P Rating is also the official rating of the APP (Association of Pickleball Players). This includes the APP Tour, APP Next Gen, and all other APP pickleball play.

Players can search and find pickleball events around the world by visiting the USA Pickleball and UTR Sports websites at usapickleball.org and utrsports.net. Players can also use the UTR Sports mobile apps on iOS and Android. There are several different types of events including USA Pickleball tournaments, APP tournaments, UTR Sports Flex Leagues, as well as the UTR Sports Pickleball Amateur Series, which includes two Golden Ticket Qualifier events!

UTR Sports is thrilled to be the rating for USA Pickleball and the APP (Association of Pickleball Players). Both of these leading pickleball organizations objectively selected the UTR-P Rating after considering and researching all the available options. 

USA Pickleball and the APP do not hold any ownership stake in UTR Sports. While the UTR-P Rating is a little newer than DUPR, we believe it is the strongest, most accurate rating and will elevate and unify the sport, free of ownership complexities or self-interest.

From the makers of the world’s most accurate rating system with patented technology that has withstood the test of time, UTR Sports’ capabilities in algorithm development and data science is a strength no other organization in the sport has ever come close to matching. UTR Sports’ is on a mission to support and promote fair, fun, and competitive play across the pickleball world. 

With hundreds of pickleball events run on and off the UTR Sports platform, contributing thousands of scores from around the world each month, UTR Sports has a wealth of pickleball data to support the accuracy of the UTR-P Rating. We monitor the rating continuously and refine our analytics around the algorithm to watch for edge cases, inflation, and fraud. Our team of experts and our automated tools are continuously focused on the rating. We measure our accuracy against pickleball pro points rankings and have statistically significant advantages in predicting winners.

Keep checking back for the most up-to-date FAQs as more information is added.