Pickleball enters social matchmaking era as DUPR joins forces with fellow tech giant Playtomic

The two preeminent tech firms, from America’s most disruptive racquet sports, have partnered today, bringing world-class matchmaking technology to pickleball for the very first time

On the eve of RacquetX, the industry's flagship conference, Playtomic, the world's largest racquet sports platform, and DUPR, the global standard for pickleball player ratings, have announced a landmark partnership. 

It has been announced today that two of racquet sports’ most innovative brands, DUPR and Playtomic, are integrating Playtomic's transformational, signature Open Matches matchmaking technology into U.S. pickleball for the very first time.

The announcement marks the coming together of two of the most community-driven technology companies in modern sport, and it could fundamentally change how millions of Americans play and experience pickleball.

Two Tech Giants. One Transformational Moment.

With both pickleball and padel harboring Olympic ambitions, the two sports have, in recent years, exploded from niche communities into mainstream phenomena. Both sports thrive on accessibility, sociability, and the hunger for connection that traditional sports have often failed to satisfy, which is what makes today’s announcement so significant.

Playtomic has been at the centre of padel's global rise. With over 4.7 million players, 6,500 partner clubs, and a presence in more than 66 countries, the Spanish-born tech brand has become the definitive digital infrastructure for racquet sports. Following its successful $65 million investment round in early 2025, Playtomic has been on a rapid rise across the U.S. securing over 50% market share, equating to around 150 padel facilities across the country.

Since its launch in 2021, DUPR, meanwhile, has become the operating system of choice for competitive pickleball players across the U.S.. Trusted by USA Pickleball, the PPA, Major League Pickleball, Life Time, The Picklr and dozens of other leading organisations, its dynamic rating system, running on a 2.0 to 8.0 scale, has unified the sport across age, gender, and geography in a way no previous system has managed.

With today’s announcement, both Playtomic and DUPR are now pointing their technology at the same target: the 36 million Americans who play pickleball.

Open Matches: The Feature That Changes Everything

At the heart of the partnership is Open Matches. As Playtomic's most distinctive and powerful feature, Open Matches has consistently driven community growth wherever it has been deployed, bringing together strangers of the same level onto the padel court. As Playtomic Co-Founder, Pablo Carro puts it: “People book courts, then they meet, build friendships, business relationships, and in some cases, couples form. Padel has become a social platform for how people connect in their free time, and now, Playtomic is determined to replicate that dynamic in pickleball.”

By embedding verified DUPR ratings directly into the platform for pickleball, that matching becomes not just convenient, but genuinely accurate. 

A Platform Built for Growth

The ambition of today’s landmark partnership extends far beyond matchmaking technology, however. Playtomic's platform covers the full lifecycle of a player's experience: discovering and booking courts, joining Open Matches, accessing coaching, participating in tournaments, and building a local playing network. For club operators, it offers professional-grade management tools that drive occupancy, generate new demand, and deepen player engagement.

“What we've consistently seen around the world is that demand follows infrastructure”, adds Carro. “When courts open, players come. And because pickleball is such a social sport, those first players quickly introduce it to their networks, creating strong local growth.”

The DUPR - Playtomic alliance will be formally showcased this weekend at RacquetX (March 13–15).