Open matches let you book a slot and invite the community to fill the empty seats. Great for meeting new partners, finding doubles opponents, or just playing more often.
What is an open match?
An open match is a regular booking that you mark as "open to others." You set how many seats you want filled (1, 2 or 3), the level you're looking for, and optionally a per-player price share. Padelya then lists the match in the open feed for nearby players to join.
Joining a match
Open the Open matches tab in the player app. Filter by date, distance, and level. When you find one you like, tap Join. Nothing is charged online — you pay your share at the club, same as the host. The host gets notified, you get the same .ics invite as a regular booking.
How levels work (0 to 7)
Padelya places every player on a 0-to-7 scale, split into six bands: Beginner, Intermediate, Experienced, Advanced, Very advanced, Expert. The band is the word you see everywhere — in the filters, on the match cards, on your profile. The number says the same thing with one decimal.
Where your first number comes from. A short questionnaire asks what you actually do on court: do you hold the rally, do you play the ball off the back glass, do you hit a bandeja. It never asks you to name a level, and you never see the number while you answer. The result is written with a confidence of 20% — a starting point, not a verdict.
How it moves. Five things, and nothing else:
- Match results. When a score is entered, your level moves with the result and with the average level of the team across the net: beating stronger players earns you more, losing to weaker ones costs you more. Your partner does not enter your own calculation — only your opponents do.
- Your first ten matches move your level one and a half times as much, so the system places you quickly.
- What other players say. After a match, the others can rate your level. We keep the median and pull your number toward it — a long way when your confidence is low, almost not at all once it is established.
- Confidence runs from 0% (we know nothing about you) to 100% (level established). It rises with every score entered and every rating received. Peer feedback can never push it past 95%, so match results always keep the last word.
- Your own adjustment. You can lower your level yourself from My level on your profile, whenever you were placed too high. You cannot raise it — going up is played on court. Lowering caps confidence at 20%, so your next matches move you quickly.
As long as no match with a score is on your record, you can also simply retake the questionnaire, in both directions.
Cancelling a join
You can cancel up to 6 hours before the match and owe nothing. Inside 6 hours, the host gets to decide: they can free up the seat, or hold you to your share — which you then settle with the host or the club. Since nothing was charged online there is no refund to chase either way. This protects hosts from last-minute drop-outs that ruin a match.
Last updated: 2026-08-03