In France, points earned in mixed tournaments directly contribute to the individual men's and women's rankings. This simple system is regularly challenged by some competitors: does mixed tournament play out in the same way as men's and women's draws? And should a performance achieved with a partner of the opposite sex have exactly the same value in the individual ranking?

A single ranking per gender, regardless of the event contested.

The French regulations leave no room for ambiguity: there is a men's ranking and a women's ranking, calculated from the twelve best results obtained over the last twelve months.

Mixed competitions do not have their own rankings. Points earned by a player are therefore added to their male ranking, while those earned by their partner contribute to their female ranking. The FFT explicitly states that  All mixed events are taken into account in the calculation of both rankings. .

When a pair wins a mixed P250 tournament, each member receives 250 points. The male player adds these 250 points to his score, and the female player adds them to her score, exactly as if they had won a men's P250 and a women's P250, respectively. The category determines the maximum number of points, regardless of the number of pairs entered.

Administratively, the system is very clear. From a sporting perspective, the equivalency raises more questions.

The problem is not the mixture, but its automatic equivalence.

Mixed padel is obviously not a secondary version of padel. It requires a specific tactical approach, adaptations in the choice of zones, and a true complementarity between partners.

But a mixed competition does not necessarily produce the same power dynamics as a men's or women's competition.

In a pair, the relative skill gap between the male and female players can be significant. A male competitor might play with a partner who is clearly superior to the other women in the draw and greatly benefit from this dominance. The opposite situation also exists, of course: a female player might be supported by a partner who is much stronger than the men she faces.

It is still a collective performance. However, the points are then used to individually measure the level of the player among men and that of the player among women.

This is precisely where the controversy lies:  Should a victory achieved in a mixed-pair match be valued exactly the same as a victory achieved against exclusively male or female opposition? 

The P250, the most visible symbol of the paradox

The issue concerns the entire mixed circuit, but the P250 is the focus of most of the criticism.

The FFT organizes mixed competitions in the P25, P50, P100 and P250 categories. The P500, P1000, P1500 and P2000 categories do not have mixed events under the current regulations.

In the first three categories, limitations exist:

  • In mixed P25, men from the Top 30,000 and women from the Top 3,000 cannot participate;
  • in mixed P50, the limit concerns the male Top 10,000 and the female Top 1,000;
  • In the mixed P100 tournament, the tournament is closed to the Top 3000 male and Top 300 female players.

But the  P250 mixed has no classification limitations At the same time, a male P250 is banned from the Top 800 and a female P250 from the Top 100.

A player ranked 300th in France, who is ineligible to play in the men's P250 tournament, can therefore participate in a mixed P250 tournament. A female player in the Top 50, who is no longer eligible to play in the women's P250 tournament, can also register. Each player can then earn up to 250 points in their usual ranking.

The regulations therefore allow players who are too highly ranked for a classic category to obtain the same number of points through its mixed version.

Identical points for different access conditions

The FFT explains that it has introduced restrictions from the P25 to the P250 for men and women in order to homogenize the levels However, the P250 hybrid precisely escapes this mechanism.

This doesn't necessarily mean that the mixed P250 tournaments are weaker. The absence of a limit can even attract very good players and make some draws particularly challenging.

The problem is rather their lack of comparability.

A mixed P250 tournament can bring together several members from the top 1000 French players and offer a high level of competition. Another tournament might have a less competitive field or be based on a significant disparity in skill level between partners. In both cases, the winner will receive 250 points.

This variability also exists between two male P250 tournaments or two female P250 tournaments. No two tournaments have exactly the same player density. But the mixed format adds an additional variable: performance depends on the combination of two rankings from different groups.

An aggregation of the rankings that remains very theoretical

To rank mixed pairs, the FFT simply adds the male player's ranking and the female player's ranking.

A man ranked 1000th paired with the 100th French woman thus obtains a pair weight of 1100. A team composed of the 500th player and the 700th female player has a weight of 1200 and will theoretically be placed behind the first.

This calculation has the immense advantage of being simple. But it assumes that a male rank and a female rank can be added directly.

However, the two rankings are not necessarily based on the same number of competitors, the same density, or the same depth of athletic ability. Therefore, being 500th among men does not automatically represent the same relative level as being 500th among women.

The French Tennis Federation (FFT) uses an equivalency grid when a female player is allowed to participate in a men's competition. A female player ranked 23rd, for example, is considered equivalent to 1023rd in the men's rankings for the purpose of calculating the pair's ranking. However, in a true mixed competition, no conversion is applied: the two rankings are simply added together.

The pair ranking therefore remains a practical organizational tool, but not necessarily a scientific measure of its actual strength.

Can you improve your ranking using mixed results?

The system inevitably opens the way to a form of optimization.

A competitor may seek out mixed tournaments in which their association will be particularly advantageous, especially with a partner who has a significant advantage over opponents of the same sex.

There's nothing irregular about that. The players are simply following the existing rules. Winning matches is also essential: an unbalanced or poorly organized pair doesn't automatically win a tournament.

But in a ranking based solely on the twelve best results, a few mixed performances can replace weaker results and produce a significant progression.

For a player who wins several mixed P250s, the points obtained can therefore contribute significantly to his male ranking, even if he has never achieved a comparable performance in a male P250.

The same logic applies to female players.

The ranking is not entirely artificial, however: the results were indeed obtained on the field. But there may be a discrepancy between  the rank achieved  et  the level demonstrated in the category used to establish this ranking .

Does tennis offer a better model?

The parallel with tennis needs to be qualified.

At the professional level, tennis clearly distinguishes between singles and doubles rankings. The ATP and WTA publish these two rankings separately, and results obtained in doubles do not improve the singles ranking.

However, there is no major independent professional mixed doubles ranking comparable to the ATP and WTA doubles rankings. Mixed doubles results are primarily linked to the specific competitions involved, particularly the tournaments of the Grand Chelem.

The comparison also has a fundamental limitation: tennis distinguishes between two disciplines, singles and doubles, whereas padel is played exclusively two against two. The French Tennis Federation (FFT) also points out that padel is only played in doubles.

The tennis model therefore cannot be reproduced mechanically.

However, another sport managed by the FFT offers an interesting example: pickleball now has separate rankings in singles, doubles by gender and mixed doubles.

This shows that a separation of mixed sports is not technically impossible within the Federation.

Why maintain the current system?

The regulatory documents explain the operation, but do not detail the reasons that led to retaining the mixed results in the two main rankings.

Several lines of reasoning can nevertheless be put forward.

The first is simplicity. French padel already has a men's ranking and a women's ranking that are understood by all competitors. Adding a third ranking would require a sufficient number of mixed tournaments to be representative.

The second point concerns the attractiveness of the competitions. Distributing points that contribute to the rankings encourages registration. A separate ranking system or a significant reduction in points could make mixed tournaments less appealing.

The third reason relates to the philosophy of the French system. Points are not calculated based on each opponent defeated, but primarily according to the tournament category and the final ranking achieved. The FFT therefore already accepts that the same P250 tournament can have different skill levels while still awarding the same maximum number of points.

The mixed approach now fits into this general logic.

Do mixed tournaments completely distort the rankings?

To call the ranking "completely skewed" would probably be an exaggeration.

Mixed results generally only represent a portion of the twelve performances counted, especially for the most active players. A single victory is not enough to permanently change a competitor's ranking level.

Mixed doubles remains a true sporting discipline, requiring technical, tactical, and interpersonal skills. The points awarded are not arbitrary.

However, there is indeed a  potential distortion .

It becomes particularly visible when a player banned from P250 in their category can win a mixed P250 and add the same 250 points to their individual ranking.

The debate therefore does not concern the legitimacy of the mixed system, but the automatic equivalence of its results.

What developments would be possible?

Creating a separate, mixed ranking system immediately would be the clearest solution, but also the most cumbersome. In some regions, the number of tournaments might still be too limited to produce a truly representative hierarchy.

Intermediate solutions could be considered:

  • apply a specific coefficient to the mixed results;
  • limit the number of mixed performances counted among the twelve best results;
  • establish a classification limitation in P250 mixed;
  • adjust the points to the actual strength of the table;
  • retain the men's and women's rankings while simultaneously creating an indicative mixed ranking.

The most immediate measure would probably be to correct the exception of the P250. Since restrictions exist in mixed P25, P50 and P100, but also in men's and women's P250, the total absence of a limit at the highest level of amateur mixed seems difficult to justify from a sporting perspective.

A question of values, more than legitimacy.

Mixed competitions have a vital role to play in the development of French padel. They allow for a diversification of partners, offer a different tactical perspective on the game, and bring together audiences who don't always meet in traditional tournaments.

But recognizing their importance does not mean that their results must necessarily be treated in a strictly identical manner.

 The real question, therefore, is not whether mixed tournaments should award points. It is whether these points should continue to contribute, without any weighting, to the men's and women's rankings. 

Antoine Tricolet

I discovered the Padel I stumbled into Spain at a campsite. I was instantly hooked; passionate about padel, I follow international and regional news with the same excitement as the sport itself.

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