Padel Rating System

Frindsbury Padel Club - LTA Rating Definition Matrix for Padel
	Beginner	Improver	Intermediate	Intermediate / Advanced	Advanced	Professional
PLAYER RATING	1+	2+	3+	4+	5+	6+
Fitness	Limited physical endurance, affecting shot selection, and execution. Can sustain a short length rally at very slow pace.	Limited physical endurance. Can sustain a medium length rally at a slow pace.	Limited physical endurance. Can defend comfortably in a medium pace, medium length rally.	Can defend comfortably in a medium to long rally. Court movement is fast.	Can sustain high intensity matches with very fast court movement.	Can sustain high intensity matches, with very fast court movement, in fast paced and long rallies.
Groundstrokes	Basic flat forehand groundstroke, with many unforced errors. Struggles to vary their basic shot and will struggle even more on the backhand side. Can sustain very short rallies.	Basic flat forehand and backhand groundstroke, reduced unforced errors. This allows them to sustain longer rallies.	Basic flat groundstrokes, with minimal unforced errors. Attempts at varying placement, power and spin, but inconsistent results.	Flat and sliced strokes consistent. Variation in power, placement and spin with minimal unforced errors. Their groundstrokes allow them to take control of the rally.	Technically solid in flat and sliced shots. Also uses chiquitas and topspin, with some unforced errors. Attempts to open up the court's angles with their groundstrokes.	Flat, slice, topspin and chiquita shots. Changing speeds, pace, effects and angles, all with great accuracy.
Defence	They struggle to defend against walls. The lob's purpose is understood, but shot is inconsistent and underused.	Can defend balls against a single wall, although forehand is stronger than backhand. They have incorporated lobs as a defence tool, but they are inaccurate and inconsistent.	Consistently defending against a single wall, low unforced errors, especially when the ball is at medium height. They understand double wall defence, but struggle to do it consistently or accurately. Lobs are a basic defence tool.	Consistently defends balls against single and double walls, at medium and low height. They cannot pre‐empt shots, just respond. Lobs are high, deep and well‐placed but lacking in variety.	Comfortable defence against single or double walls, with some level of pre‐emption. They cannot yet turn the point around when defending. Consistent lobs, with variation in height, speed and angle.	Perfect control of double wall defence, regardless of the receiving shots' effect (vibora, bandeja…). They can defend in a certain way to obtain an advantage. Lobs can be flat or sliced, low or high, angled or straight.
Net play	Basic flat volley technique, without depth or accuracy. Gives up on volley technique easily, in favour of FH and BH movements at the net.	Sticks to basic flat volley technique, but inconsistent results. Understands how to move sideways at the net to follow their shot.	Can produce medium height flat and sliced volleys with depth and angles.	Consistently produces medium to low height flat and sliced volleys, but some do translate into winners, but not consistently. Transition volleys are well understood and produced with consistency.	Volleys are low and consistent, with variety in spin and angles. They understand the difference between transition and winner volleys, and when to use them. Use dropshots inconsistently.	Can volley in any direction or pace, as a transition or winning shot used accordingly. Can open up the courts angles comfortably and use dropshots to their advantage.
Overheads	No bandeja or smash technique, no understanding of bandeja as a shot.	Bandeja is understood, but they struggle with basic technique. They over rely on power smash as a winning shot.	Bandeja is used regularly, albeit inconsistent execution and not great depth. Flat smash used regularly, and mostly at inappropriate times.	Bandeja is used regularly, with varying depth and accuracy and consistently bouncing against the walls. Bandeja is well placed and used tactically at appropriate times, but the shot does not have much weight. Smash is flat, low understanding of topspin smash.	They use bandeja and smash consistently and safely. The ball carries more weight than at blue level. Top spin smash and vibora show signs of development.	Can alternate between bandeja, vibora, topspin smash, rulo… from any position on the court. Knows when to use each shot.
Footwork and Coordination	Inconsistent footwork. Engage arms rather than core.	Inconsistent footwork. Engage mostly arms rather than core, but shows signs of moving through the shot when hitting.	Well balanced when hitting a shot at slow to medium pace, but footwork and body position loses accuracy when under pressure. They use their core and body coordination to imprint weight into their shots.	Always balanced when hitting a shot at medium to fast pace, but loses accuracy when under pressure. Coordination in body and core movement is consistent.	Weight is always well balanced when hitting the shot, regardless of pace ‐ they can shift their weight and engage their core to varying extents depending on the force and spin they'd like to imprint into their shot.	Always well balanced, can engage their core, leg and arm muscles, and wrist acceleration to imprint varying spins and forces into their shots.
Court Position	Basic understanding of court transition from back to net. Don't come to the net after they serve.	Basic understanding of court transition from back to net. They come to the net after they serve, albeit in wrong positioning.	They always come to the net after they serve, but find themselves in no man's land zone too often. They understand the dynamic of front to back with lobs and bandejas.	They can transition seamlessly between front and back of the court. They will make an effort to prevent losing the net.	Seamless transition from defence to attack and back when appropriate, but not enough position variation in relation to tactics.	Seamless transition from defence to attack and back, when appropriate. Within defence and attack position, they understand there are different variations ‐ i.e. standing closer or further away from the net if necessary.
Partner Work	They understand they need to move in tandem with their partner front to back, but don't do it consistently. They understand they need to cover their side, left or right.	They move in tandem with their partner front and back, but not sideways. They cover their sides and basic communication on middle shots. They start understanding the role of the left and right player and attempt to play the chosen role on court.	They move with their partner sideways and front to back. They attempt to spot patterns and communicate with their partner and design strategy. They show consistency on how the play their role on court (left/right side) and adjust their game in relation to their partner.	Effort to develop tactics with their partner on a consistent basis. They are aware of each others' court position at all times and adjust their individual game and shot selection accordingly.	They adapt their game to compliment their partner, communicate to spot patterns and devise strategy. They will attempt to break traditional court formation. Will cover empty court spaces when their partner is under pressure.	They adapt to their partner, and alter their game to fit their agreed strategy. They can perform in traditional court formation (i.e. front and back) or other patterns to adjust to the opponents game. Will cover any space left by their partner.
Strategy and Point Construction	They don't adjust their game in relation to their cross‐court opponent. Unable to use a lob to turn defence into attack.	They adjust their game in relation to their cross‐ court opponent. Basic use of defence to attack transition using lobs. They can identify stronger players and start avoiding them, rather than neutralise their strengths.	Attempts at basic point construction using lobs. They react to the opponent, but are unable to anticipate, take control and dictate. They understand opponents' strengths but cannot see their weaknesses.	They show basic point construction consistently and successfully by using lobs. They attempt more complex strategy but in a trial and error fashion, rather than coherent thought process. They can see opponents' strengths and occasionally can identify their weakness, but may not be fully able to adjust their game. They can anticipate one move from their opponents, but not further.	Accurate point construction, but rushed at times. They can locate and avoid opponents strengths. They can see opponents weaknesses, but not exploit them. They can anticipate their opponents' reaction by 2‐3 moves in advance.	Player can readjust their strategy as many times as necessary to win the match. They avoid their opponents' strengths and exploit their weaknesses. They can anticipate their opponents moves several shots ahead.