The PPA Tour hosts pickleball’s rankings for professional players. These rankings are computed over a 52-week rolling period and automatically drop a certain number of tournaments to account for the fact that all players don’t always play all events. This ensures the most accurate rankings and allows the traditional ranking system to offer a long view of a player’s success.
The Race (similar but different!) is also a ranking system but only compiles points from the start of the year, rather than 52 weeks. Ranking points are earned tournament by tournament, reflecting the players’ performance and success throughout the year. The Race is the yardstick by which we can determine which athletes are performing the best throughout the 2023 season.
You can think of traditional rankings as a marathon and The Race as a sprint.
Besides being an interesting data point, The Race has a functional purpose. At the end of the 2023 season, the top-ranked players based on their accumulated points qualify to compete in the prestigious PPA Finals, which serves as the culmination of the season and features the best of the best in the sport.
How many players qualify?
- Top 8 from men’s singles
- Top 8 from women’s singles
- Top 8 from men’s mixed doubles
- Top 8 from women’s mixed…
