Every player has a ranking / classification: Rookie (Neuling), Semi-Pro (Amateur), Master (Master) or Pro-Master (Elite). I have listed the German words in brackets, in case you come across them elsewhere.

The ranking decides which events a player is allowed to participate in: in general, you can't play a "lower ranked" event – a Pro-Master or Master cannot play the Beginner and Semi-Pro events, and a Semi-Pro cannot play the Beginner events.

The table Who Can Play Which Events gives a detailed list about that.

How Are the Players Sorted into the Different Classification Categories?

• Crucial for the ranking of players is the P4P ranking list. Click on "Player's Gallery" and find your name and classification in the alphabetical list (if you have ever played at one of our tournaments).

• Players who have never attended a P4P tournament, but are listed in the old "Löwen" rankings (of 2000), will be ranked according to that classification.

• Players who are neither in the P4P nor in the Löwen rankings, but are listed in some other ranking system (different country and/or table) will be ranked one category lower than this "native" ranking.*

• All other players who are not in our list will be ranked as Rookie.

* Some additional notes regarding the classification of foreign players:

1. If a player is listed in several ranking systems, P4P reserves the right to decide which of those lists is to be considered his "native" ranking, for the purpose of determining his classification for our tournament(s). This applies e.g. to players from countries where there are several different ranking systems, for different tables; or to players who participate in international tournaments, and are therefore listed in the rankings from different countries.
2. Furthermore, P4P reserves the right to decide on how to classify a player who is listed in some other ranking system, but that system doesn't have any categories comparable to our 4 levels (Elite / Master / Amateur / Rookie). As an example, we will consider the top 16 players of the ITSF-ranking as playing in the "highest category", and thus classify them as "Master" in our system. Of course, if such a player is also listed – differently – in some other ranking system, and we think that other ranking better characterizes his real playing abilities, note 1 above may apply.
3. Finally, P4P reserves the right to correct mistakes in our ranking (even on short notice), i.e. to change the classification of a player in our list, if we come to the conclusion that his classification is wrong, and was caused by some error in applying the rules given above.

In all cases, we try to make the classfication as fair as possible – to the players who are being newly classified as well as to all other players. This is not always an easy task, due to the large number of different ranking systems, many of which are not readily comparable. If you are unsure about which events you will be allowed to play, send a mail to rangliste(at)players4players.de to ask what classification you will have in our system. (Don't forget to include your name, country, and all ranking systems that you know you are listed in already, and with what classification.)

Event	Who can play
P4P Beginner Doubles P4P Beginner Singles	Everybody who is listed as a Rookie (=Neuling) in the P4P ranking list. German players who are not in that list will be ranked as Rookies. Foreign players who are not in that list will also be ranked as Rookies, provided they are not listed in another ranking system (from another country or on another table). In that case, they will be ranked one category lower than that ranking.*
P4P Semi-Pro Doubles P4P Semi-Pro Singles	Everybody who is ranked as Semi-Pro or lower in the P4P ranking list; including the cases mentioned above.
P4P Open Doubles P4P Open Singles	Everybody
Women's Doubles Women's Singles	Every woman
Mixed	Every mixed double (woman and man)
D.Y.P.	Everybody
Pro-Am	A player ranked as Pro-Master (=Elite), together with a Beginner or Semi-Pro player. A player ranked as Master, together with another Master or lower ranked player. A Beginner or Semi-Pro, together with any other player.