How to split levels in a padel tournament without upsetting anyone

You organise a tournament and the problem is not the bracket: it is a match ending six-love, six-love. Nobody signs up to lose like that, and whoever suffers it does not come back.

The fix has a name —categories— but splitting them right has a trick to it.

Do not ask the level: look at it

Ask someone what level they play at and they go up one. Tell them it is for a tournament and they drop one — to win. Both answers are honest and both are useless.

What does work is looking at who each person usually plays with: a pair's real level is the level of their regular opponents. And if you keep results from past tournaments, previous matchups do not lie.

The level someone claims is an opinion. Who they play with every Sunday is data.

How many categories?

Less is more. The quick maths:

A category of four pairs is not a category: it is a stretched-out final. If you end up with one when entries close, merge it with the one next door — they will play better matches.

The name matters more than it seems

“First, second and third” sounds like a hierarchy, and whoever lands in third starts the day annoyed. “A, B and C” says nothing about anyone and avoids half the problem. It is free and it works.

The three rules that prevent arguments

• An uneven pair plays in the stronger player's category. Always, no exceptions — and say so before anyone asks.
• If someone crushes it, note it down: next tournament they move up. Moving up is a prize too, and it should be said that way.
• If someone loses everything, run a consolation draw within their category. Never drop anyone mid-tournament: it is humiliating and everyone notices.

On the day

Publish the groups before you start, on a screen everyone can see. Complaints in the heat of the moment, racket in hand and opponent in front, are the worst kind; the same complaints twenty minutes earlier, reading a posted draw, almost always come to nothing.

And leave a calm channel for complaints: five minutes with the organiser fixes almost everything. What fixes nothing is arguing about it on court.

Why the half hour is worth it

A well-levelled tournament produces close matches, and a close match is exactly what fills the next one. It is the difference between a tournament that runs every month and one that happens once.

The perfect category does not exist. The one you revisit every tournament almost does.