UTR Sports x APP Pickleball

From the makers of the world’s most accurate rating system with patented technology, UTR Sports’ capabilities in algorithm development and data science is a strength no other organization in the sport has come close to matching. UTR Sports monitors the rating continuously and refines the analytics around the algorithm to watch for edge cases, inflation, and fraud. We measure our accuracy against pickleball pro points rankings and have statistically significant advantages in predicting winners.

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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!

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.

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

All players can get a FREE UTR-P Rating within minutes. If you're new to UTR Sports, click here.

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More than 100,000 players around the globe, including all APP and USA Pickleball players, already have a FREE rating on the UTR Sports platform. Click here to log in or sign up for a free account, to claim your profile, and get rated.

The UTR-P rating algorithm runs daily and is fully automated - it is a probability-driven, dynamic algorithm that is constantly taking in and optimizing on match results. Ratings cannot be changed through an appeal process. The algorithm will continue to improve, evolve, and strengthen over time to provide you the most accurate rating.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

The UTR-P Rating is free for players and unlike other rating systems, UTR Sports has no plans to ever charge for their ratings.

The rating systems are very different in terms of their approaches and how the ratings are calculated. The UTR-P is an ageless, genderless, and borderless scale from 1.0-10.0, updating every 24 hours. The UTPR is a tournament-only rating system for the United States on a scale from 1.0 to 6.0.

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.

Also, the UTR-P rating has a strong and fast-growing pool of connected players, which provides for an accurate global rating. The UTR-P Rating is also more accurate than points-based ranking systems. It is several percentage points more accurate than today’s pro points-based rankings.

Using the UTR Sports platform, event organizers have flexibility for how open or restricted  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.

USA Pickleball membership verification is integrated into the UTR Sports platform.

Transitioning from the smaller UTPR 1.0-6.0 scale that included limited USA tournaments to the global UTR-P scale of 1.0-10.0 has resulted in players’ ratings naturally moving up and changing as they continue to compete.

The 10-point scale is nearly twice as large as the UTPR 6.0-point scale, so it's expected for players to experience rating movement in this transition. Players may have a higher rating spread from their partners as well.

With the USA Pickleball and UTR Sports partnership, USA Pickleball is sunsetting all UTPR ratings and using the UTR-P Rating. Learn more. 

USA Pickleball and UTR Sports have 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.

Every team can play with their partners. All teams are required to play in the division of the highest-rated partner in doubles or mixed doubles.

Your opponents are moving up as well, so there is no reason to worry that the level of play or competition will be significantly higher if you register in a higher division. You can view more of this movement by looking at your and/or your opponents’ ratings on the UTR Sports website.

Transitioning from a smaller 1.0-6.0 scale UTPR that included limited USA tournaments to the global UTR-P scale of 1.0-10.0, results in players’ ratings naturally moving up and changing as they continue to compete.

The 10-point scale is nearly twice as large as the UTPR 6.0-point scale, so it is normal and expected for our rating to see more movement for players. In turn, players can have a higher rating spread from their partners.

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 Pickleball Rating (UTR-P) is designed to rate every kind of player, whether you're swinging your first paddle or smashing through pro-level tournaments. The 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 one match, the player will receive a projected rating, and after seven matches, the rating automatically converts to a reliable decimal rating on a scale of 1.0 - 10.0 (from beginner to expert/pro).

Results are either verified or unverified scores depending on whether the match or tournament was organized and played according to UTR Sports’ verified rules, or the match or tournament 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 verified events. The UTR-P algorithm takes into account up to 60 of your most recent matches.

A verified UTR-P Rating is indicated by a checkmark badge on a player’s profile. Ratings will dynamically move up and down as new results are factored in.

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