Peer-Rated vs. Self-Reported: How Rally Calculates Your Level

Every rating system we've written about, NTRP, padel levels, SquashLevels, USR, eventually runs into the same wall: someone has to self-report at some point, and self-reporting is unreliable. Rally skips that step entirely. Instead of asking what level you think you are, Rally builds your rating from what actually happens when you play against other Rally players.

Your rating moves based on match outcomes: who you played, how competitive the match was, and how that compares to what your rating predicted going in. Beat someone rated well above you and your number jumps. Lose a close match to someone near your level and it barely moves, because that's roughly what should have happened. It's closer in spirit to how SquashLevels and computer-generated NTRP already work within their own sports, applied across all three that Rally covers.

A fixed rating goes stale the moment you start improving, or the moment you stop playing for a season and lose some sharpness. Rally's rating updates continuously as you play, so it reflects where you actually are right now, not where you were when you first signed up or filled out a self-assessment form.

Because Rally rates you the same way in squash, padel, and tennis, based on real match outcomes rather than three separate self-reported numbers, you get one consistent sense of your level that travels with you regardless of which sport you show up to play. No conversion charts, no guessing, no starting over at a new club.

If you're curious how this compares across sports, read our cross-sport Rosetta Stone guide, or why self-rated levels don't hold up in the first place.