How Your Rating Works
The Universal Badminton Rating is designed to measure how well you perform compared to what was expected in each match. Your rating is not based only on whether you win or lose. It also looks at the score, the strength of your opponent, and how closely the final result matches the expected outcome.
For example, if you are expected to lose a game 21–15 but you score more than 15 points, your rating can still increase because you performed better than expected. The reverse is also true: if you are expected to win 21–14 but your opponent scores 19 points, your rating may go down because the match was closer than expected.
This means every point matters. We have found through years of testing that this makes games more engaging, even when one player or team is clearly favored. Instead of one side simply trying to survive a blowout, both sides have a realistic target to reach.
UBR also calculates a separate Tournament UBR formed from an average of several of your most recent results. This helps prevent sandbagging before tournaments and gives tournament organizers a better picture of how someone has actually been playing recently.
We maintain separate ratings for singles and doubles because your ability in each format can be very different. This gives you a more accurate picture of your skill in both disciplines.
