How does Ladder Rating work?
Ladder Rating (LR) is a number that shows how well you play padel. Matches are judged team against team, and the more you win - especially against stronger pairs and new opponents - the more your rating grows. Here's how the whole system works.
The ladder runs for a season, then resets
The City Ladder is seasonal. Every season everybody starts again on the same 1000 Ladder Rating - nobody is seeded, nobody carries points over, and nobody can buy or import a head start. A finished season is kept as a permanent record, so what you won stays won; the table you are playing on is always the current season's.
Example: you finish a season on 1340. When the next season starts you are back on 1000 - and so is everybody else.
Beating stronger teams is worth more
If your pair beats a stronger pair, you gain more Ladder Rating. If you beat a weaker pair, you gain less - because it was expected. The same goes for losses: lose to a much stronger team and you lose very few points.
Example: you beat a pair that is much better than yours → a big jump. You beat a weaker pair → a small bump.
Both players on a team count together
Every match is judged on the average rating of your pair versus the average of theirs. A 1600 + 1400 team is treated the same as 1500 + 1500. After the match, both teammates normally gain or lose the same amount of LR - there is no separate per-player swing, except when the weekly soft-cap reduces one player's win.
Example: you are 1200 and your partner is 1000 → your team is judged as 1100. The other pair is 1050 + 1150 → also 1100. It's an even matchup.
Play against new opponents
If you keep facing the same people in a short span, those wins earn you less. We only look at each player's last five rated matches - if you haven't faced someone in longer than that, it counts as a first meeting again. Partners don't count for this, only opponents. Our communities aren't big and we don't want to punish you for that.
Example: beat the same opponents three times in one week → the third win is worth less. Beat people you haven't faced in your last five matches → full value.
Convincing wins are worth noticeably more
How comfortably you win genuinely counts. Dominate your opponents and you'll earn considerably more than if you scrape through in three sets.
Example: 6-0 6-1 earns noticeably more than 7-6 6-7 7-6.
A match counts where it's played
The venue you pick decides which ladder the match counts towards. Play in Tuzla and the points go to the Tuzla ladder - no matter where you're from. Whoever creates the match also chooses whether it counts at all.
Example: you're from Sarajevo but play a match in Tuzla → points go to the Tuzla ladder. If the match is marked friendly, nobody gains or loses points.
Open matches count for a quarter
The ladders are separated into men's and women's, so a match anyone can join is not measuring the same thing they rank. It still counts - just at 25% of the usual value, for Ladder Rating and Quarter Points alike, on every ladder. A men-only or women-only match counts in full. Whoever creates the match chooses which it is.
Example: an even, fresh win worth +12 LR in a men's match is worth +3 LR if the match was open to everyone.
Three rated matches a week keep full value
You are expected to play up to three rated matches per calendar week (Monday to Sunday). From your fourth rated match that week onward, wins only give 35% of the usual Ladder Rating and Quarter Points. Losses still cost the full amount. Friendly matches do not count toward the weekly limit.
Example: your first three wins this week move LR and QP as normal. A fourth win only awards about a third of the usual gain - but if you lose that fourth match, you still lose the full points.
Your rating slides if you stop playing
Inside a season, a rating you stop defending starts coming back down. After 30 days without a rated match you lose 2 LR a day, up to 200 in total, and never below the starting 1000 - decay is there to stop somebody banking a high place and walking away, not to punish beginners. Play a rated match and the clock starts over.
Example: you are on 1250 and stop playing. A month later your rating starts sliding; play one rated match and it stops.
Quarter Points (QP) are the same change as your rating
QP reset every quarter and show who is in form this period. The formula is simple: whatever a match does to your rating, it does to your quarter points. A win gives you exactly as many QP as LR; a loss takes exactly as many away. A quarter starts at 0 and never goes below it, so a loss can take at most what you currently have. Some races are reserved for Premium and Pro members: on those, free members still move LR but collect no points. On races open to everyone, everyone collects.
Example: LR shows who you are as a player, QP shows who is best this quarter. Win an even match against new opponents → about +15 LR and +15 QP. Lose → about −15 LR and −15 QP, but if you only have 8 QP you drop the 8 and stop at 0.
On Premium+ races a full paid table is worth full points
A race marked Premium+ is a race between Premium and Pro players, so it pays out in full only when all four players on court are on a paid plan. Every free player at the table takes 20% off the points for that match: three paid players and one free is 80%, two is 60%, one is 40%. Ladder Rating, matches played, wins and losses are never touched by this - only the points on a Premium+ race.
Example: a win worth +15 QP at a full paid table is worth +12 QP with one free player, and +9 QP with two.