Hello developers,
Two new things worth building on, and one you need to read before September. Here's what's new:
- 1. Watchability: best match of the day
- 2. Elo ratings and match predictions
- 3. Breaking changes on 14 September
1. Watchability: best match of the day
Every match now carries a watchability field: an integer from 0 to 100 that rates how good a match promises to be, before a single point is played. It combines how good the four players are, how close the match should be, and what is at stake in that round.
Sort a day by it and the best match comes out on top. It is set as soon as both pairs are known, so it works for previews and alerts days in advance, and it never changes once the match is played.
Match of the day widgets, push alerts, stream guides, automated previews. One request, one match, no editor picking it. The field is only available on paid plans.
Read the Match Watchability Index guide
2. Elo ratings and match predictions
The elo field on every player answers what the ranking cannot: how strong is this player right now, updated after every completed match.
On top of those ratings we have rebuilt the simulate endpoint. Send four player IDs and you get a win probability for a matchup that has never happened, with the favourite and the rating gap included.
Those probabilities are calibrated against more than 7,500 professional matches: when the model says 78%, the favourite really wins about 78% of the time.
Padel Elo Rating · Padel Match Prediction Model
3. Breaking changes on 14 September
Two changes to which plan gets what, effective on 14 September.
If you are on Free or Plus, three endpoints move to Pro or higher and will start returning a 402 error: simulate match, head to head by match and head to head by players. This is the one to check: if your integration calls any of them, it will stop working that day.
If you are on Free, three more fields move behind a paid plan and will return the text hidden_free_plan: duration, started_time and started_time_local. This one does not change the shape of the JSON.
If you are on Pro or Business, nothing changes for you.
If the change is a problem for what you are building, reply to this email before 14 September and we will sort something out.
Thank you for being part of the Padel API community.
Your feedback drives what we build next. Feel free to share your thoughts or suggestions at ferran@padelapi.org.
Best regards,
