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Formula, parameters, and rating movement

VIPR: Tech Details

A transparent look at how the current VIPR pilot calculates team strength and moves player ratings after each game.

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The idea in plain English

Each doubles game creates a small rating adjustment for all four players. Winners move up. Losers move down. The size of the move depends on how strong the two teams were expected to be before the game started.

If two evenly matched teams play, the winner gets a modest increase. If a lower-rated team beats a higher-rated team, the increase is larger. If a heavy favorite wins, the increase is smaller.

Current pilot settings

Algorithm v0.6

The current pilot version shown on the admin page.

Scale 0.02

Controls the normal size of rating movement. Equal teams currently move about 0.0100 per player.

Curve 2.5

Controls how much bigger an upset is compared with a favorite doing what was expected.

CRF 0.40

Adjusts team strength when partners have very different ratings.

Why partner balance matters

Doubles teams are not always two equal players. VIPR uses CRF, short for Compression Rating Factor, to avoid treating a 4.50 player and a 3.50 player as exactly the same as two 4.00 players.

With the current CRF of 0.40, a 4.50 / 3.50 team has a team VIPR of about 3.80, not 4.00. That reflects the reality that a large partner gap usually matters in doubles.

A sample doubles match

Here is a simple example using the current pilot settings. The exact same logic is used in the player audit pages.

Team Players Simple Avg VIPR Team Rating
Team A 4.50 and 3.50 4.00 3.80
Team B 4.00 and 4.00 4.00 4.00
  1. Step 1: VIPR calculates each team's adjusted team rating before the game.
  2. Step 2: Team B is the favorite because 4.00 is higher than 3.80.
  3. Step 3: If Team A wins, it is an upset. Each Team A player gains about +0.0152; each Team B player loses about -0.0152.
  4. Step 4: If Team B wins, it was expected. Each Team B player gains about +0.0048; each Team A player loses about -0.0048.

What VIPR does and does not use

VIPR uses

  • Each player's rating before the game.
  • Which team won and which team lost.
  • The partner pairing on each team.
  • The current scale, curve, and CRF settings.

VIPR does not currently use

  • Score margin as a rating multiplier.
  • Singles results.
  • Age group or gender as a rating adjustment.
  • Manual edits to a player after a game is rated.

How to read your rating

Your player page shows your current VIPR rating, your game history, and a graph of rating over time. Your audit page explains each game step by step, including the rating before the game, the change from that game, and the rating after the game.

VIPR is still a pilot. The settings can be adjusted as TVCPC learns from real league data and player feedback.