Genuine question / discussion point on rankings 🤔

I’ve only really noticed this recently, and I think it’s because the adidas HOP in Derby and Junior Nationals were the first Grade 1 junior events — junior events are usually Grade 4 or 5, so the points don’t normally stand out as much.

It looks like juniors who competed at these Grade 1 events were able to gain ranking points across multiple junior age categories (e.g. U16 / U18) in the same weekend, and that those points have then been included in their open ladies ranking as part of their best six results.

Totally appreciate juniors working hard and playing a lot of matches — but it did make me wonder whether this creates an uneven playing field for adult women. We can only enter one category per weekend and don’t have the equivalent opportunity (for example, we can’t play Over-35s and have those points also count towards the open rankings).

I assume this mirrors the tennis system, which works well there because of the huge depth in junior fields. In padel, where junior numbers are still relatively small, it often means the same few pairs collect a large share of the points across multiple age groups, which can inflate open rankings — particularly beyond the very top. With more junior tournaments appearing, it feels like something that may become more noticeable rather than less.

This isn’t meant as a complaint — more a genuine query about how the system is intended to work as junior padel continues to grow. Does anyone know if Grade 1 junior points are intended to feed fully into the open rankings, or whether there’s been any discussion around caps or weighting so open rankings better reflect open-category performance and opportunity?

Interested to hear thoughts 🙌