DUPR (Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating), which puts a number on playing ability, now has a new way in. A player who has never played a match can hit against a wall for a few minutes and come away with a provisional rating. DUPR announced a partnership with PIQLZ, the interactive wall system made by US company RAQTS, to systematize skill measurement off the court. The US outlet Pickleball News Asia (dated August 7, 2026) reported the news.
Normally a DUPR rating is built up from actual match results. That first data point requiring a match has been a quiet barrier for anyone just starting. This partnership proposes clearing that barrier, literally, by hitting a wall. Here is what would change if it were transplanted to where the sport is growing in Japan.
Stand at the wall for about five minutes and PIQLZ spits out a provisional DUPR
PIQLZ is an interactive wall developed by RAQTS, headquartered in Boston. A wall that projects images stands where the net would be, and it reacts to the ball you hit. The company bills it as a 360-degree pickleball wall experience, returning feedback on shots through hundreds of modes and targets. It is positioned as an off-court training device for solo repetition.
The substance of the partnership is connecting PIQLZ measurements to a provisional DUPR rating. Pickleball News Asia reported that a new player who steps up to a PIQLZ wall and completes a short assessment can take home a provisional DUPR rating in about five minutes. With no win-loss data at all, the starting figure comes from how accurately the wall drills were completed.
According to the announcement, DUPR CEO Tito Machado spoke of the importance of fairness and accuracy and said the controlled environment of PIQLZ allows new players to be taken in without undermining the system's credibility. Before joining DUPR, Machado helped build UTR, the rating system in tennis. RAQTS founder Alex Johansson, meanwhile, was reported as explaining that PIQLZ was designed to add credibility and structure to off-court experiences. PIQLZ walls are already running across several large club networks, with more installations expected.
No match results, no number: DUPR's entry problem
DUPR expresses ability on a 2.000 to 8.000 scale and has become the de facto world standard, adopted by major events such as the PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball. Its strength is that players anywhere can be compared on the same ruler, but that ruler is made of match results. Turn it around, and no marks are cut for anyone who has not played a match yet.
Until now, the ways a beginner could get a provisional rating were limited. Laid out, they look like this.
| Ways to get a provisional rating | What you need | Hurdle |
|---|---|---|
| Play official or DUPR-registered matches | Opponents, a venue and several matches | You have to get to a match in the first place |
| Assessment by a DUPR coach | Meeting a certified coach in person | A coach is not always nearby |
| Self-reported or estimated starting value | Your own judgment | Loose accuracy, and matchups that feel unconvincing |
| PIQLZ wall assessment (the new option) | One visit to a facility with PIQLZ | A number in about five minutes, no opponent needed |
All three of the older routes assumed either other people or a match to play in. The wall assessment needs no opponent and no referee: stop by a facility once and a number comes out. It helps to read it as handing the friction at the entrance over to a machine. LikeDUPR's move to create a dedicated rating for wheelchair play, it points the same way, widening the base of people who can take part.
What the wall can measure and what it cannot
This is worth separating calmly. What a wall assessment shows is accuracy in placing shots where you aim, consistency in keeping them in one after another, and shot quality on controlled drills. Repeatability of a stroke is indeed easy to put a number on.
Plenty escapes the wall, though. Reading where an opponent stands, choosing to drop or drive on the third shot, trading dinks at the kitchen, timing with a partner in doubles, handling the spin and change of pace a live opponent produces, the pressure when the score tightens. None of that appears outside a match against people. The provisional DUPR a wall produces is therefore not strength in real play but an estimate of a starting point, and that is the accurate way to take it.
That fits DUPR's own design. A DUPR figure moves most in the early days after registration and settles as matches accumulate. With a two-stage approach, cutting a provisional mark at the wall and then correcting it in real play, a starting value that is somewhat off does little harm. Building a foundation for your strokes through repetition against a wall is, likerepetition training to steady your serve, a practical way for a beginner to improve.
Thinking it through for Japan's indoor courts and taster sessions
In Japan, pickleball has spread around taster sessions and indoor courts, and the newest players make up a thick layer. What bites here is the mental barrier of feeling unable to enter a tournament without a rating. DUPR-linked events often split classes by rating band, and beginners with no number tend to hesitate, unsure which bracket they belong in.
If a wall like PIQLZ were installed at an indoor facility in Japan, a provisional number would come out on the same day someone came to try the sport. As a next step, the mental distance to entering an event in a nearby rating band would shrink.The first step of getting gear and rules togethercould connect in one line to walking into organized play with a rating.
ただし現実的な制約を見落とせない。現時点でPIQLZの設置は海外のクラブ網が中心だ。日本の施設が導入するには、壁の設置スペースと機材コストという別のハードルがある。多目的スペースを時間貸しする形の会場も多い日本では、常設の壁は置きにくい。壁が出すのは仮の数値で、実戦での補正が前提になる点も、現場で誤解なく伝えたいところだ。裾野を広げる道具として面白い一方、万能の近道ではない。
An entrance, not a finish line
What this partnership created is a new entrance to DUPR, the world's shared ruler, that can be reached before playing a match. Stand at the wall for about five minutes and a provisional position is cut somewhere between 2.000 and 8.000. That number only approaches the real picture once rallies, third shots and dink exchanges pile up. The wall is a starting gate, not a finish line. Whether the scene becomes real, someone picking up a first paddle at a taster session in Japan, taking home a provisional DUPR that day and thinking about their next tournament entry, depends on whether the equipment crosses the ocean and takes root.
Sources
- Pickleball News Asia, “Skill Assessment In Pickleball Finds New Dimension With DUPR-PIQLZ Partnership” (August 7, 2026)https://pickleballnewsasia.com/skill-assessment-in-pickleball-finds-new-dimension-with-dupr-piqlz-partnership/
- RAQTS「This is PIQLZ」https://www.raqts.com/piqlz
- DUPR official sitehttps://www.dupr.com/
