The Rating Change Every Pickleball Player Needs to Know About

A new rating shift, a smarter shot, and tools that make finding games a whole lot easier.

Author

Empower Pickleball
December 09, 2025

USA Pickleball finally made a move that players have been waiting for. By adopting DUPR as its official rating system, the entire competitive structure is about to feel very different—from Golden Tickets all the way to your local events.

What this actually means for players goes way beyond a cleaner number next to your name. Tournament placements, rec play, league structure, and how your rating follows you from place to place are all about to shift in ways most players haven’t felt yet.

Inside:

  • The middle dink that wins more points

  • Pickleheads’ upgrade for players and organizers

  • The wildest courts pickleball players are using right now

🌟 USA Pickleball Just Made a Big Call on Ratings

Pickleball in the United States finally has one official rating system behind its biggest events. USA Pickleball is adopting DUPR for all USA Pickleball-owned tournaments, including Golden Tickets and Nationals. If you’ve ever wondered why your rating changes depending on where you play, this is the first real move toward consistency.

One System, Not Five

Players have spent years bouncing between different rating systems without any real alignment. That meant messy brackets and unpredictable divisions. Now every USA Pickleball-sanctioned match feeds into your DUPR profile. Your history travels with you and finally carries weight everywhere.

What This Changes for Tournament Players

Brackets get cleaner. Seeding becomes clearer. A “4.0” means roughly the same thing across events instead of being a local guess. Directors get better data. Players see fewer mismatched rounds. Your results build toward one unified picture instead of disappearing into separate systems.

What Rec Players will Notice

Even if you never play a sanctioned event, the ripple effect hits your weekly games. More clubs and leagues will sync with DUPR now that it’s tied to the national structure. Expect more organized ladders, fewer chaotic open-play groups, and divisions that actually make sense.

👉 Read the full breakdown (and what players should do with their DUPR profiles) in our deep dive.

🌎 Around the Picklesphere

💥 How to dismantle a banger without out-hitting them
💚 Inside the women’s conference that filled our cup
🥤 Why cold weather tricks you into thinking you’re hydrated

🎯 The Simple Shot You Didn’t Know You Needed

BRING THIS TO THE COURT: The cross-court dink rally is a tradition as old as the game itself. When all four players reach the kitchen, it becomes a competition to see who can out-dink or outlast the other team. But what if there was a better way to break the pattern?

If you're caught trading backhand dinks with a stronger opponent, break out of the cycle with a middle dink. Change your target to the left foot of the player on the right side. 

A well-placed middle dink will do three things:

  • Force the right side player to back off the line

  • Take away any aggressive attack angles from your opponent

  • Reverse the direction of the rally

It’s not flashy. It won’t land you on any highlight reels. But it will force your opponent to make mistakes, and that leads to more points in your favor. 

Instead of settling into another cross-court dink rally, flip the script by attacking the middle and be ready to jump on the pop-up or errant speedup that follows.

🔧 Pickleheads Plus and Pro Just Got a Big Upgrade

Finding courts and finding people is still the hardest part of pickleball. Pickleheads is trying to fix that with two major updates: Plus, a $1-per-month subscription for players who want better game discovery, and Pro, a toolkit built for the organizers who keep local play running smoothly.

These updates cut the chaos on both sides. Players get smarter tools to find games that actually match their level. Organizers get formats, automations, payments, and score reporting without juggling spreadsheets or group texts. If you’ve ever struggled to find your group or run a clean session, this update solves real problems.

👉 Learn all about Pickleheads Plus and Pro (and use code EMPOWER30 to unlock a free 30-day Pro trial before January 9).

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Where USA Pickleball’s Ambassador Program Began

Contributed by Jennifer Lucore, Pickleball Hall of Famer and historian — author of History of Pickleball — More Than 50 Years of Fun! • Visit allpickleball.com 

🏝️ The Wildest Places People Are Playing Pickleball Right Now

Pickleball is showing up everywhere it shouldn’t: rooftops, beaches, abandoned malls, cruise ships, stadiums, even an old manure tank in Pennsylvania. Players are proving that if there’s a flat surface and two paddles, it’s officially a court.

From Costa Rican jungles to Fenway Park, this is the side of pickleball that refuses to stay traditional. It’s creative and downright fun—and it says a lot about where the sport is headed.

👉 Take a tour of the strangest and most unexpected courts in pickleball.

🏡 The Court That Turns Your Backyard Into a Hotspot

Forget hot tubs and fire pits—a VersaCourt is the upgrade that actually gets used. The cushioned tiles stay cooler, protect your joints, and hold up game after game without the cracks and upkeep of concrete.

And it’s not just for pickleball. From basketball to shuffleboard, VersaCourt turns your space into a true neighborhood hangout—the kind of place where friends show up with paddles and kids stick around longer.

👉 Exclusive for Empower Pickleball readers: Use code EMPOWER for 10% off Pickleball Performance Tiles.

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