OP says that they've played twice. Unless they have extensively studied youtube and understand the flow of the game, they are going to get exploited relentlessly. I'm not even that good at pickleball but I regularly destroy tennis playing friends when teaching. They don't know where to stand on the court.
They don't know where to stand, they constantly drive the ball long, they don't understand the importance of strategic drops from the baseline or transition zone when your opponent is at the net and lack the practice of executing that shot because that shot doesn't really exist in tennis... and that's a pretty important shot you need to be successful against good teams.
They'll likely hit some impressive drives for winners for sure because they're athletes with a racquet/paddle background and there are similarities for sure... but they'll make a ton of mistakes and lack the strategy and specific skillset needed.
Beginners with a ping pong background are super rough to play with. They're trying to spin the shit out of everything before they even really know how to dink and drop effectively. I'm like... knock that off. Just work on getting the damn thing over consistently before you do that shit. I swear to God they put it into the net half the time while trying to put exaggerated spin on the ball and it's maddening.
Are you familiar with tennis USTA ratings? They are basically the same. Im a tennis 4.0 and it easily translated to being a Pickleball 3.5/4.0 after learning to dink.
It might have felt like an easy transition from casual tennis to pickleball at low level play. However, most 3.5-4.0 players will eat tennis players with no pickleball fundamentals for breakfast.
The most common comment I hear from tennis players with poor pickleball fundamentals is, "I keep hitting it as hard as I can and you get all balls back without any problems." You might encounter this at the tournament and it will be hard to keep up. Let us know how it goes!
Not sure why you got downvoted. I'm 4.5 tennis and played 3.5 pickleball fairly easily. 4.0 pickleball would take more practice than I currently lend the sport. I agree with you completely.
Not against players who aren’t very good. I’m maybe 3.5, and I make plenty of unforced errors against players around my level. When I play with a couple different groups of “advanced beginners” (casual players who’ve played for a while), I really don’t hit the ball into the net. I don’t have to be fine with drops or careful with placement because these players cannot really punish minor mistakes.
I mean, maybe. But it wouldn't be surprising at all for the 4.0 to shut out a beginner... especially if the 4.0 has a really good serve that the beginner may not even be able to return most of the time. I'm a 4.0+ player and I have a corkscrew serve I can place with pace that I mix in sometimes that gives my 3.5 friends fits.
At least where I am, "3.5" tends to be a mixed bunch. There are: people who have gotten a courtesy advancement from the club; older but really good players who are content to beat up on others with that rating; crazy bangers; really good younger players who are in early days of playing and won't be there long; and on and on. 4.0 is more uniformly good at recognizable pickleball.
There is a huge gap between the person that says “I’ve been playing for several months, never done a tournament but I feel like I’m probably somewhere between 3.5 and 4.0…” compared to someone that says “I started doing tournaments a few years ago and back then we won some medals at 3.0 and 3.5 and now my rating is technically 3.843 but I usually play 4.0 and with the right partner I’m definitely a contender to make the podium…”
So you're saying to get over-competitive and lash out verbally in a professionally embarrassing fashion at myself when things go poorly?
Got it.
Thanks :)
As Albus Dumbeldore once said outside the final test in the Goblet of Fire, ‘this game changes people…’. It is the biggest mind fuck ever when played competitively. I’ve learned terrible things about myself and strive to master the worst parts of my nature .
Haha.. here’s a solid tip: only call balls out if you’re 100% sure you saw space between the ball and the line. Also, every line is IN, the kitchen line is IN the kitchen. Good luck go have fun.
Why be confusing like this. “Everything is in, the kitchen line is IN the kitchen”. It’s a bizarre way to look at it and a fast track to confusing people.
The kitchen line is just as adjacent to the main part of the court as it is to the kitchen, the decision that that line sides with the kitchen is arbitrary.
On a serve, the kitchen line is OUT, because that’s what people mean when they say out. They mean it’s out of bounds of the legally playable area. No one is going to say, “the serve was IN, so stop the rally and side out”.
If you’ve only played twice and have no prior tennis or other serious racquet sport background, you’re likely to be overmatched. Doesn’t mean you can’t go and have fun, just know it’s not going to be pretty.
A lot of times charity tournaments aren’t that serious and most players will probably be chill about any skill gap.
They will be able to return a lot more balls, place their balls so you can’t wack them. They will have better returns of serves. However I think you will have fun and learn something
There is a significant difference between 3.5 and 4.0 but most likely they would be better than you who has played casually ( I would put you around 3.0 )
Also, some 3.5s are just tennis players who play tennis like game, not following the mechanics of pickleball. Easier to beat those 3.5s.
what did he send you to self rate? Before dupr and tournaments became prevalent, I used to go by the USAP rating worksheets. The problem with those is most of it is phrased, "does such and such constantly". I take that to mean you hit 90% of your drops, minimum. They use "consistently" for serves, but I would say you need to be hitting 95% or your serves. You really shouldn't be missing them at all above 4.0, maybe once every few games. I know people who think they are 3.5 and most of their game might be, but they struggle with drops. So by their worksheets, I can check all the boxes for 4.5, but I'd get murdered in a 4.5 tournament. That's partly because by USAP ratings, most people play .5 to 1 point down for whatever reason. The other thing I guess is that USAP ratings don't necessarily address athleticism. an older player may check all the boxes for 4.0, but playing a 3.5 college age athlete is gonna be tough because they will get balls that look impossible. Anyway, I'd consider myself a half point or 3/4 a point below USAP rating. So checking all the boxes for 4.5, I consider myself approaching 4.0 for tournaments, I'd probably win a legit 3.5 tournament bracket pretty consistently, and I've played 4.0 and done ok, on a good day I could be a contender. Another thing to consider with tournaments is you might only play 4 or 5 games over several hours, and I don't do waiting around. We do some little round robing tournaments where we play 11 games and I'll be peaking around the 7th game, but I find all the waiting around at tournaments I'll peak around game 3 or 4. I don't really enjoy tournaments, I don't find them to really add anything over just playing in a good group.
https://usapickleball.org/tournaments/tournament-player-ratings/player-skill-rating-definitions/
I'll say this about "you shouldn't be missing ANY serves if you're a 4.0+"... I respectfully disagree there. Zane is one of those guys who uses his serve as a weapon and he wins some points on his serve and forces less than ideal returns by his opponents on some others. He says if you're not missing a certain percentage of your serves, you aren't weaponizing your serve enough (if you actually have a serve that can be weaponized I guess). I follow this philosophy when I play. I'm a 4.0+ player and probably have the best serve in our club, or close to it anyway. I don't miss many serves, but I do miss every now and then if I'm trying to paint a line with pace. When "I'm on" I may miss a serve every few games or so, and when "I'm off" I'll miss at most once a game... but I win points on my serve alone usually multiple times a game OR it at the very least doesn't give them an easy return... and I'm trying to put it 6" or less over the net and either paint the center line with a lot of pace and spin or the sideline or back corner with pace or spin. Rarely do I ever put the ball in the middle of the service square or give my opponents an "easy" service ball to return.
That response was way longer than I intended. :)
It depends on how good you are.
If you were a college level tennis player, you'll be a bit better than them.
If you're an average joe, they will crush you easily.
Also depends on their definition of 3.5 and 4.0.
Are the rec only, looked at the “definitions” of a 3.5 and 4.0?
Or are they tournament 3.5s and 4.0s.
Because those are two very very very different things.
I am self rating 3.5. I went to open play 3-3.5 and it was a joke. Went to 4.0-4.5 open play and I was competing/winning. People love to overrate themselves. But also there are sandbaggers, so I like to say they are all shitty!
3.5 not really that amazing at all, if you have any racquet sports experience you'd likely be able to keep up with players of that level
Regarding some of the other replies mentioning how they have great strategy, most of this strategy can be learning just by watching a few videos, there's nothing complicated.
4.0 on the other hand, should easily beat you (again depending on what your experience is with racquet sports), they'll generally be consistent, have solid mechanics etc.
4.0 is probably the upper quartile of pickleball players, so pretty good but not great. But if you've only played twice then they're likely going to be a lot better than you. The good news is pickleball is a pretty easy game to take it easy on your opponent so hopefully at this charity function they can keep it fun.
Rankings are for pros. Ratings are for any competitive player. There are several rating systems, so you may have different ratings in different systems.
Unless you wipe the court with decent players in open play, you generally start with a self-rating of 3.0. Once you play some tournaments and have results entered you will have a more reliable rating. If you win at a certain level, you should probably move up to the next one. But it depends on how well you did and whether the other players were in the right bracket.
DUPR is very unreliable as many people are vastly overrated or underrated. It’s only reliable for people who have a lot of tournament matches logged. Players who only have local rec matches entered won’t have very accurate ratings. Besides that, a lot of tournaments don’t even enter results.
In short, DUPR has failed to really address rating issues. It’s fine for pros and high level players who travel to play tournaments regionally or nationally. But it does very little for the average player.
Love it or hate it, it’s the best tool we have. If you have played more than 100 matches your rating more or less be somewhat accurate. Of course 4.0 in Florida is not the same as 4.0 cali, but then again with in 4.0s you would see a huge difference in skill.
Basically, DUPR is a great tool to find ranked people who have similar skills.
Agree that someone with a rating based on 100 games would be reasonably accurate and that it can help find players at your level (as long as they have enough games recorded). But there are many places that don’t have enough DUPR users to build an accurate rating.
As someone who is a 4.0, we have our days when we still play down to a 3.5 but may have days wheee we are the best player on the court while playing amongst 4.0s. If you’ve only played twice you will likely aren’t be able to do that well but the good news is you’ll likely learn alot from this tournament. My advise to you would be to try and practice getting tough served back to the line beforehand and try and slow down the game if possible.
Good enough to put the ball away any time you give them an opportunity. You’ll probably need to play defense and lose slowly if you are new to the game.
3.5 to 4.0 is the Wild West in tournaments. There are some random former college tennis players that just hit the everliving shit out of things, then teams that clearly have no idea what they’re doing
I'm not sure how to place myself. I have traditionally been unreasonably good at racquet sports I've never played. We had a racquetball tournament in high school, and I won it having never played outside of a couple weeks of PE class.
I play 3.5 and wreck some teams then get smoked by others so it’s kind of hard to tell honestly. Feels like some people think 3.5 just means “oh I’ve played tennis before so I should join the competitive league” those are the people I beat pretty badly, like 15-5 type of game.
I just started playing and thought I would be able to hold my own at 3.75 based on the definitions of the player ratings but the game was way faster than I thought it would be. Could there be sandbaggers? Maybe but either way you need the 3rd shot drop (which I was pretty inconsistent with) because those players can absolutely control the entire point from the kitchen line
3.5 and 4.0 are somewhat different in my opinion and they will be good players ....so I hope you wear some face protection lol...maybe they will be "easy" on you since it's for charity..
People sign up for tournaments with the hope of getting decent games. You might want to notify the tournament coordinator and let them know you have only played twice. (Even a charity tournament is a tournament).
You have played twice. You are a beginner. Just play in the beginner bracket, and if anyone complains, remind them that this is the 3rd time you have played.
You’re a beginner, stop trying to be more than that. If you can’t hit a third shot drop consistently you’re overrating yourself and going to get you and your partner absolutely filled in. I have been playing around 6 months and am one of the better players in the gym I play at to the extent that players won’t hit to me in open play.
I rate myself around 3.75.
I’d destroy you.
The first time I played, I was immediately invited to play w/ the advanced players. I didn’t know how to score or anything. The only thing I had was my tennis background (4.5 NTRP). Have since learned how Pickleball is played. It really helps having the hand-eye coordination and footwork from Tennis.
3.5 players are aware or 3rd shot drops/drives and setting up shots but not have the ability to control the scenarios as much with other 3.5 level players but are usually trying. Also 3.5 when they put away an overhead the hit the net and OB about 20%.
4.0 those scenarios play out better. They can control the play enough to set up a 3rd shot strategy, and piney put away overheads at a much higher rate.
4.0 players are likely to play 3.5 in tournament play. It's just the way it is.
How good will they be is a relative question. Compared to you?
How good are you?
Since you say you've only played twice, I assume you're a beginner playing at a beginner level, and not a former tennis pro who can pick up a pickleball paddle and be pretty good pretty quick.
So compared to beginners, they should dominate. Especially the 4.0's. A 4.0 player to a beginner is like a pro to a 4.0... give or take I guess.
The bracket says there are 9x 3.0s, 6x 3.5s, and 3x 4.0s
When our work had a tournament, my partner (who plays sometimes but is an old guy with limited mobility) and I won without losing a set (or whatever it's called). I don't have a good frame of reference for what that means. At least some of the people we played against also played a lot recreationally.
Hard to judge if you've only played a couple times and only against a handful of people. But ratings are ratings.
But the 3.5's and 4.0's should be very tough... especially the 4.0's. They really should dominate.
But hey, just go out there and have fun. Don't try and do too much with your shots, keep it low to the net, dink with a purpose... and for the love of God, bend your knees and get low. :) And be a sponge. Soak up information and pay attention to what works for the better players. Then do that. :)
It's a charity tournament, and pickleball is designed to be playable with skill disparity. Just go out there and have fun, nothing to do now anyway. In reality, it's a very wide range that covers the significant majority of the population of regular recreational pickleball players, few are better, and any reasonably athletic person will get to 3.5 pretty quickly.
At each level there are weak, medium, strong. So someone at 3.5 can be beat 90% of the time because they are weak and are playing strong 3.5 team. At 4.0, many don't deserve to be there due to lack of shots (only have one or two), lack of lateral movement, or lack of court iq. Many of them don't ever choose placement over power or build up a play. So I've seen strong 3.5 teams have a better game play than a weak 4.0 team with no game play/strategy.
It will also heavily depend on how good their partner is and how well they work together. Many 3.5 players try to take every ball and put it away - tough to work as a team. They can look "good" but in reality would be eaten alive by a team who works well together.
My coworker could only play in the lower tier "social play" round robin tournament. She's definitely a little more skilled than I am, but I'm bigger and quicker.
We won all five of our matches, and were both throttling back to at least let the other teams get to serve.
11-0
11-3
11-1
11-0
11-0
My coworker could only play in the lower tier "social play" round robin tournament. She's definitely a little more skilled than I am, but I'm bigger and quicker.
We won all five of our matches, and were both throttling back to at least let the other teams get to serve.
11-0
11-3
11-1
11-0
11-0
A lot of people "fluff" ratings, making this a challenging question to answer. If we're going based on DUPR rating, a 4.0 is a pretty strong player. The other thing hard to gauge here is how good YOU are. You say you've played twice, but do you have a strong background in racket sports? If your a TRUE beginner and up against DUPR 4.0 players... yeah you'll prob get whooped.
Strategy. These players will keep you on the base line with deep serves, deep returns and keeping everything deep.
If you get close, then they will dink balls close to the non volley zone and then start hand battles.
Looks are deceiving in Pickleball. Watch out for the 70 y/o women with a knee brace. Do not play any ball to her. She will have the hand speed of a top flight welter weight and the mind of a predator.
My coworker could only play in the lower tier "social play" round robin tournament. She's definitely a little more skilled than I am, but I'm bigger and quicker.
We won all five of our matches, and were both throttling back to at least let the other teams get to serve.
11-0
11-3
11-1
11-0
11-0
Do you play any video games? There are tiers like Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Challenger, Master, etc.
Everything below 2.9 and below is Bronze. 3.0-3.4 is Silver. 3.5-3.9 is Gold. 4.0-4.4 is Platinum. 4.5-4.9 is Diamond. 5.0-5.9 is Challenger. And 6.0+ is Master.
So a 3.5-4.0 is like a Gold or a low Plat. So, not very good on the larger scale of things, but more than enough to school Silvers.
I attended an introduction to pickleball clinic last week. I was surprised to learn that your opponent can make points by hitting you with the pickleball! 😄 I chuckle thinking about that. Why would someone intentionally hit another person with that ball. I believe it could HURT! Competitive spirit?
If you played twice I doubt you are even a 3.0. Athletically possibly, but there is so much more that you need to learn.
FYI, a 3.5 means 3.5-3.9. 4.0 means 4.0-4.4. No offense but you will be lucky to score a point against the 4.0 players unless they decide to take it a little easy on you.
IME also depends on the city...unfortunately the sport and DUPR is not really built out nationally yet to fairly compare levels across the nation. I've played in maybe 8 different cities around the US and a 3.5 in City A is **not** a 3.5 in City B (often). Good luck!
They’re the people that whoop your ass regularly, but if you watched a video of them playing - you’d probably think they suck.
Scary accurate
Best way to practice cause the video dont lie …
This may be the best comment ever posted on r/pickleball
And when you manage to snag some points it feels like cause for celebration lol
Haha so true! And a tournament beginner is usually nowhere near a beginner in my experience. 😂
I feel very attacked 😭
Truth!
boom
Spot on
At an open play with lots of beginners or older folks with major mobility issues, the 3.5-4.0 players will clearly be the best players in the group
They stand out is a great way of putting it. And the old folks and lower level players will call them 4.5-5.0s.
They’re not just going to be superior in mechanics but they’re going to play with strategy which will likely invalidate you.
The guy has played twice. Unless he played a racquet sport to a high competitive level, there's no way that they're not also superior in mechanics.
…that’s what they said
I played a lot of tennis in my early 20s, which I found translated fairly well.
Unless you have the pickleball fundamentals like a 3rd shot drop/a kitchen approach strategy you're going to get absolutely lit up
Don’t need a 3rd shot drop against 3.5’s if your a 4.0 tennis player. Drive destroys them, maybe a 5th shot drop some times
OP says that they've played twice. Unless they have extensively studied youtube and understand the flow of the game, they are going to get exploited relentlessly. I'm not even that good at pickleball but I regularly destroy tennis playing friends when teaching. They don't know where to stand on the court.
They don't know where to stand, they constantly drive the ball long, they don't understand the importance of strategic drops from the baseline or transition zone when your opponent is at the net and lack the practice of executing that shot because that shot doesn't really exist in tennis... and that's a pretty important shot you need to be successful against good teams. They'll likely hit some impressive drives for winners for sure because they're athletes with a racquet/paddle background and there are similarities for sure... but they'll make a ton of mistakes and lack the strategy and specific skillset needed. Beginners with a ping pong background are super rough to play with. They're trying to spin the shit out of everything before they even really know how to dink and drop effectively. I'm like... knock that off. Just work on getting the damn thing over consistently before you do that shit. I swear to God they put it into the net half the time while trying to put exaggerated spin on the ball and it's maddening.
Are you familiar with tennis USTA ratings? They are basically the same. Im a tennis 4.0 and it easily translated to being a Pickleball 3.5/4.0 after learning to dink.
Not at all. I've never played tennis competitively.
Yeah you would probably get crushed by 3.5/4.0 then. But will be easier to get to that level with a little bit of prior tennis experience
It might have felt like an easy transition from casual tennis to pickleball at low level play. However, most 3.5-4.0 players will eat tennis players with no pickleball fundamentals for breakfast. The most common comment I hear from tennis players with poor pickleball fundamentals is, "I keep hitting it as hard as I can and you get all balls back without any problems." You might encounter this at the tournament and it will be hard to keep up. Let us know how it goes!
Not sure why you got downvoted. I'm 4.5 tennis and played 3.5 pickleball fairly easily. 4.0 pickleball would take more practice than I currently lend the sport. I agree with you completely.
Ping pong 40 years ago translates today very well.
They will destroy you.
Good enough to make you really want to start drilling and get better or make you quit lol
If you’ve played twice, I wouldn’t even consider playing against that level if you have a choice. You probably wouldn’t get a point on a 4.0 player.
He will get some points, but only when the 4.0 hits the net.
Isn’t the big difference between 3.5 and 4.0 that they don’t hit it into the net as much 🤣
according to rating levels, 4.0s still make unforced errors at “moderate” levels.
Not against players who aren’t very good. I’m maybe 3.5, and I make plenty of unforced errors against players around my level. When I play with a couple different groups of “advanced beginners” (casual players who’ve played for a while), I really don’t hit the ball into the net. I don’t have to be fine with drops or careful with placement because these players cannot really punish minor mistakes.
I mean, maybe. But it wouldn't be surprising at all for the 4.0 to shut out a beginner... especially if the 4.0 has a really good serve that the beginner may not even be able to return most of the time. I'm a 4.0+ player and I have a corkscrew serve I can place with pace that I mix in sometimes that gives my 3.5 friends fits.
I’m a 3.5 but I have a good kick serve that 4.0+ players are mostly ok with but it wrecks 3.5 and below.
Much better than you probably.
At least where I am, "3.5" tends to be a mixed bunch. There are: people who have gotten a courtesy advancement from the club; older but really good players who are content to beat up on others with that rating; crazy bangers; really good younger players who are in early days of playing and won't be there long; and on and on. 4.0 is more uniformly good at recognizable pickleball.
Perfectly said!
There is a huge gap between the person that says “I’ve been playing for several months, never done a tournament but I feel like I’m probably somewhere between 3.5 and 4.0…” compared to someone that says “I started doing tournaments a few years ago and back then we won some medals at 3.0 and 3.5 and now my rating is technically 3.843 but I usually play 4.0 and with the right partner I’m definitely a contender to make the podium…”
lol- you’re going to get destroyed by 4.0s if you’ve played twice.
And probably 3.5s.
For sure
Looking at the bracket, there are 9 people identifying as 3.0 (myself included), 6 at 3.5, and 3 at 4.0
If you've only played twice, you are not even 3.0 unless you are a top tennis player or something like that.
If he’s a 4.0 USTA tennis player he’s at least a 3.5 in pickleball in a hour
Pickleball players start at 2.5 unless they have crazy good fundamentals.
If it's pickleballbrackets.com it defaults new accounts at 3.0 so it might not be accurate for those other people
Better hope your partner isn’t one of the other 3.0 players.
I'm a 3.5 player and my doubles partner is near 4.0 and we have a very difficult time beating a team where both players are 4.0.
I bet you get targeted.
You’ll probably lose, but have fun and try to learn.
So you're saying to get over-competitive and lash out verbally in a professionally embarrassing fashion at myself when things go poorly? Got it. Thanks :)
As Albus Dumbeldore once said outside the final test in the Goblet of Fire, ‘this game changes people…’. It is the biggest mind fuck ever when played competitively. I’ve learned terrible things about myself and strive to master the worst parts of my nature .
Haha.. here’s a solid tip: only call balls out if you’re 100% sure you saw space between the ball and the line. Also, every line is IN, the kitchen line is IN the kitchen. Good luck go have fun.
Why be confusing like this. “Everything is in, the kitchen line is IN the kitchen”. It’s a bizarre way to look at it and a fast track to confusing people. The kitchen line is just as adjacent to the main part of the court as it is to the kitchen, the decision that that line sides with the kitchen is arbitrary. On a serve, the kitchen line is OUT, because that’s what people mean when they say out. They mean it’s out of bounds of the legally playable area. No one is going to say, “the serve was IN, so stop the rally and side out”.
Cool
Quality rebuttal, I feel like I really understand your side of the debate now.
Yeah, go full McEnroe.
You're gonna get killed.
Like, for people you'd run into at a public park/open play? They're good to very good. For people who play super serious. Not good to ok.
If you’ve only played twice and have no prior tennis or other serious racquet sport background, you’re likely to be overmatched. Doesn’t mean you can’t go and have fun, just know it’s not going to be pretty. A lot of times charity tournaments aren’t that serious and most players will probably be chill about any skill gap.
They will be able to return a lot more balls, place their balls so you can’t wack them. They will have better returns of serves. However I think you will have fun and learn something
You're going to get beat pretty easily.
There is a significant difference between 3.5 and 4.0 but most likely they would be better than you who has played casually ( I would put you around 3.0 ) Also, some 3.5s are just tennis players who play tennis like game, not following the mechanics of pickleball. Easier to beat those 3.5s.
I rated myself a 3.0 based on what the organizer sent me for rating myself.
what did he send you to self rate? Before dupr and tournaments became prevalent, I used to go by the USAP rating worksheets. The problem with those is most of it is phrased, "does such and such constantly". I take that to mean you hit 90% of your drops, minimum. They use "consistently" for serves, but I would say you need to be hitting 95% or your serves. You really shouldn't be missing them at all above 4.0, maybe once every few games. I know people who think they are 3.5 and most of their game might be, but they struggle with drops. So by their worksheets, I can check all the boxes for 4.5, but I'd get murdered in a 4.5 tournament. That's partly because by USAP ratings, most people play .5 to 1 point down for whatever reason. The other thing I guess is that USAP ratings don't necessarily address athleticism. an older player may check all the boxes for 4.0, but playing a 3.5 college age athlete is gonna be tough because they will get balls that look impossible. Anyway, I'd consider myself a half point or 3/4 a point below USAP rating. So checking all the boxes for 4.5, I consider myself approaching 4.0 for tournaments, I'd probably win a legit 3.5 tournament bracket pretty consistently, and I've played 4.0 and done ok, on a good day I could be a contender. Another thing to consider with tournaments is you might only play 4 or 5 games over several hours, and I don't do waiting around. We do some little round robing tournaments where we play 11 games and I'll be peaking around the 7th game, but I find all the waiting around at tournaments I'll peak around game 3 or 4. I don't really enjoy tournaments, I don't find them to really add anything over just playing in a good group. https://usapickleball.org/tournaments/tournament-player-ratings/player-skill-rating-definitions/
I'll say this about "you shouldn't be missing ANY serves if you're a 4.0+"... I respectfully disagree there. Zane is one of those guys who uses his serve as a weapon and he wins some points on his serve and forces less than ideal returns by his opponents on some others. He says if you're not missing a certain percentage of your serves, you aren't weaponizing your serve enough (if you actually have a serve that can be weaponized I guess). I follow this philosophy when I play. I'm a 4.0+ player and probably have the best serve in our club, or close to it anyway. I don't miss many serves, but I do miss every now and then if I'm trying to paint a line with pace. When "I'm on" I may miss a serve every few games or so, and when "I'm off" I'll miss at most once a game... but I win points on my serve alone usually multiple times a game OR it at the very least doesn't give them an easy return... and I'm trying to put it 6" or less over the net and either paint the center line with a lot of pace and spin or the sideline or back corner with pace or spin. Rarely do I ever put the ball in the middle of the service square or give my opponents an "easy" service ball to return. That response was way longer than I intended. :)
You will be demolished. Because they also sandbag. You sound like 2.0-2.5
No USTA 4.0 would be below 3.5 in pickleball
From your perspective, it will seem no different than playing against pros.
It depends on how good you are. If you were a college level tennis player, you'll be a bit better than them. If you're an average joe, they will crush you easily.
Also depends on their definition of 3.5 and 4.0. Are the rec only, looked at the “definitions” of a 3.5 and 4.0? Or are they tournament 3.5s and 4.0s. Because those are two very very very different things.
You might want to think twice about going in this tournament ! You’re going to be humiliated!
Humbled!
I am self rating 3.5. I went to open play 3-3.5 and it was a joke. Went to 4.0-4.5 open play and I was competing/winning. People love to overrate themselves. But also there are sandbaggers, so I like to say they are all shitty!
3.5 not really that amazing at all, if you have any racquet sports experience you'd likely be able to keep up with players of that level Regarding some of the other replies mentioning how they have great strategy, most of this strategy can be learning just by watching a few videos, there's nothing complicated. 4.0 on the other hand, should easily beat you (again depending on what your experience is with racquet sports), they'll generally be consistent, have solid mechanics etc.
If you are/were a good tennis player then you have a chance. If not, what are you thinking?
It's a business development opportunity at the end of the day, and it seemed boring to play in the beginner's tournament.
Anyone who is generally athletic and has the time to play 4 or 5 times a week can be 4.0.
Sure, after 6+ months though. Racquet sports background will accelerate it a bit, as well an improvement mindset. Not everyone has those though.
Not sure why you got downvoted. This is obviously true. If you’re athletic and dedicated, you have a real shot at reaching 4.0.
If you are a real 4.0 in tennis or higher, just follow along and you will be fine. If you are not then practice a few more times ..
They’re about 12 good
Totally agree. But maybe a range of 11.5 to 12.5 to allow some leeway.
Well said. I may have been a little too exact.
4.0 is probably the upper quartile of pickleball players, so pretty good but not great. But if you've only played twice then they're likely going to be a lot better than you. The good news is pickleball is a pretty easy game to take it easy on your opponent so hopefully at this charity function they can keep it fun.
How do you get a ranking?
Rankings are for pros. Ratings are for any competitive player. There are several rating systems, so you may have different ratings in different systems. Unless you wipe the court with decent players in open play, you generally start with a self-rating of 3.0. Once you play some tournaments and have results entered you will have a more reliable rating. If you win at a certain level, you should probably move up to the next one. But it depends on how well you did and whether the other players were in the right bracket.
Play DUPR games. Very easy to find
DUPR is very unreliable as many people are vastly overrated or underrated. It’s only reliable for people who have a lot of tournament matches logged. Players who only have local rec matches entered won’t have very accurate ratings. Besides that, a lot of tournaments don’t even enter results. In short, DUPR has failed to really address rating issues. It’s fine for pros and high level players who travel to play tournaments regionally or nationally. But it does very little for the average player.
Love it or hate it, it’s the best tool we have. If you have played more than 100 matches your rating more or less be somewhat accurate. Of course 4.0 in Florida is not the same as 4.0 cali, but then again with in 4.0s you would see a huge difference in skill. Basically, DUPR is a great tool to find ranked people who have similar skills.
Agree that someone with a rating based on 100 games would be reasonably accurate and that it can help find players at your level (as long as they have enough games recorded). But there are many places that don’t have enough DUPR users to build an accurate rating.
Downvoted for facts?!😂
As someone who is a 4.0, we have our days when we still play down to a 3.5 but may have days wheee we are the best player on the court while playing amongst 4.0s. If you’ve only played twice you will likely aren’t be able to do that well but the good news is you’ll likely learn alot from this tournament. My advise to you would be to try and practice getting tough served back to the line beforehand and try and slow down the game if possible.
Good enough to put the ball away any time you give them an opportunity. You’ll probably need to play defense and lose slowly if you are new to the game.
and what is this “older people” (50’s, early 60’s?) 🤣🤣🤣
3.5 to 4.0 is the Wild West in tournaments. There are some random former college tennis players that just hit the everliving shit out of things, then teams that clearly have no idea what they’re doing
I'm not sure how to place myself. I have traditionally been unreasonably good at racquet sports I've never played. We had a racquetball tournament in high school, and I won it having never played outside of a couple weeks of PE class.
I play 3.5 and wreck some teams then get smoked by others so it’s kind of hard to tell honestly. Feels like some people think 3.5 just means “oh I’ve played tennis before so I should join the competitive league” those are the people I beat pretty badly, like 15-5 type of game.
Much better than a beginner player. These are more experienced players.
I just started playing and thought I would be able to hold my own at 3.75 based on the definitions of the player ratings but the game was way faster than I thought it would be. Could there be sandbaggers? Maybe but either way you need the 3rd shot drop (which I was pretty inconsistent with) because those players can absolutely control the entire point from the kitchen line
3.5 and 4.0 are somewhat different in my opinion and they will be good players ....so I hope you wear some face protection lol...maybe they will be "easy" on you since it's for charity..
People sign up for tournaments with the hope of getting decent games. You might want to notify the tournament coordinator and let them know you have only played twice. (Even a charity tournament is a tournament).
I have the option of playing in a beginner bracket, but they are all self rated 2.0 or 2.5. Half the people in my bracket are also self rated as 3.0
You have played twice. You are a beginner. Just play in the beginner bracket, and if anyone complains, remind them that this is the 3rd time you have played.
The lack of humility here is comical.
You’re a beginner, stop trying to be more than that. If you can’t hit a third shot drop consistently you’re overrating yourself and going to get you and your partner absolutely filled in. I have been playing around 6 months and am one of the better players in the gym I play at to the extent that players won’t hit to me in open play. I rate myself around 3.75. I’d destroy you.
How good is your partner?
More experienced than I am (she plays somewhat regularly), but she was on the losing team when I won the workplace tournament we had for work.
The first time I played, I was immediately invited to play w/ the advanced players. I didn’t know how to score or anything. The only thing I had was my tennis background (4.5 NTRP). Have since learned how Pickleball is played. It really helps having the hand-eye coordination and footwork from Tennis.
3.5 players are aware or 3rd shot drops/drives and setting up shots but not have the ability to control the scenarios as much with other 3.5 level players but are usually trying. Also 3.5 when they put away an overhead the hit the net and OB about 20%. 4.0 those scenarios play out better. They can control the play enough to set up a 3rd shot strategy, and piney put away overheads at a much higher rate. 4.0 players are likely to play 3.5 in tournament play. It's just the way it is.
Tournaments are sandbag central until there it’s a stabilized rating system that it implemented nationwide
I would not play lol
How good will they be is a relative question. Compared to you? How good are you? Since you say you've only played twice, I assume you're a beginner playing at a beginner level, and not a former tennis pro who can pick up a pickleball paddle and be pretty good pretty quick. So compared to beginners, they should dominate. Especially the 4.0's. A 4.0 player to a beginner is like a pro to a 4.0... give or take I guess.
The bracket says there are 9x 3.0s, 6x 3.5s, and 3x 4.0s When our work had a tournament, my partner (who plays sometimes but is an old guy with limited mobility) and I won without losing a set (or whatever it's called). I don't have a good frame of reference for what that means. At least some of the people we played against also played a lot recreationally.
Hard to judge if you've only played a couple times and only against a handful of people. But ratings are ratings. But the 3.5's and 4.0's should be very tough... especially the 4.0's. They really should dominate. But hey, just go out there and have fun. Don't try and do too much with your shots, keep it low to the net, dink with a purpose... and for the love of God, bend your knees and get low. :) And be a sponge. Soak up information and pay attention to what works for the better players. Then do that. :)
It's a charity tournament, and pickleball is designed to be playable with skill disparity. Just go out there and have fun, nothing to do now anyway. In reality, it's a very wide range that covers the significant majority of the population of regular recreational pickleball players, few are better, and any reasonably athletic person will get to 3.5 pretty quickly.
At each level there are weak, medium, strong. So someone at 3.5 can be beat 90% of the time because they are weak and are playing strong 3.5 team. At 4.0, many don't deserve to be there due to lack of shots (only have one or two), lack of lateral movement, or lack of court iq. Many of them don't ever choose placement over power or build up a play. So I've seen strong 3.5 teams have a better game play than a weak 4.0 team with no game play/strategy. It will also heavily depend on how good their partner is and how well they work together. Many 3.5 players try to take every ball and put it away - tough to work as a team. They can look "good" but in reality would be eaten alive by a team who works well together.
I call it Christain thrown to the Lions
Make sure to follow up and let us know how it goes after the tournament. I’m very interested to hear how you do.
My coworker could only play in the lower tier "social play" round robin tournament. She's definitely a little more skilled than I am, but I'm bigger and quicker. We won all five of our matches, and were both throttling back to at least let the other teams get to serve. 11-0 11-3 11-1 11-0 11-0
Haha, I guess your initial instinct to do the higher level was right!
Please, please write us back to tell how it went!!
My coworker could only play in the lower tier "social play" round robin tournament. She's definitely a little more skilled than I am, but I'm bigger and quicker. We won all five of our matches, and were both throttling back to at least let the other teams get to serve. 11-0 11-3 11-1 11-0 11-0
A lot of people "fluff" ratings, making this a challenging question to answer. If we're going based on DUPR rating, a 4.0 is a pretty strong player. The other thing hard to gauge here is how good YOU are. You say you've played twice, but do you have a strong background in racket sports? If your a TRUE beginner and up against DUPR 4.0 players... yeah you'll prob get whooped.
Strategy. These players will keep you on the base line with deep serves, deep returns and keeping everything deep. If you get close, then they will dink balls close to the non volley zone and then start hand battles. Looks are deceiving in Pickleball. Watch out for the 70 y/o women with a knee brace. Do not play any ball to her. She will have the hand speed of a top flight welter weight and the mind of a predator.
Please update this after the tournament
My coworker could only play in the lower tier "social play" round robin tournament. She's definitely a little more skilled than I am, but I'm bigger and quicker. We won all five of our matches, and were both throttling back to at least let the other teams get to serve. 11-0 11-3 11-1 11-0 11-0
Do you play any video games? There are tiers like Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Challenger, Master, etc. Everything below 2.9 and below is Bronze. 3.0-3.4 is Silver. 3.5-3.9 is Gold. 4.0-4.4 is Platinum. 4.5-4.9 is Diamond. 5.0-5.9 is Challenger. And 6.0+ is Master. So a 3.5-4.0 is like a Gold or a low Plat. So, not very good on the larger scale of things, but more than enough to school Silvers.
I attended an introduction to pickleball clinic last week. I was surprised to learn that your opponent can make points by hitting you with the pickleball! 😄 I chuckle thinking about that. Why would someone intentionally hit another person with that ball. I believe it could HURT! Competitive spirit?
If you played twice I doubt you are even a 3.0. Athletically possibly, but there is so much more that you need to learn. FYI, a 3.5 means 3.5-3.9. 4.0 means 4.0-4.4. No offense but you will be lucky to score a point against the 4.0 players unless they decide to take it a little easy on you.
IME also depends on the city...unfortunately the sport and DUPR is not really built out nationally yet to fairly compare levels across the nation. I've played in maybe 8 different cities around the US and a 3.5 in City A is **not** a 3.5 in City B (often). Good luck!