Playtomic open match not filled? What happens, and how clubs fill them

If an open match on Playtomic does not reach four players, Playtomic cancels it and refunds everyone who paid. Before that it takes the court back in two steps, depending on how many players have joined. Here is the timeline, and what a club can do before each deadline so the match fills instead.

What Playtomic does with a short open match

These are the rules Playtomic's help centre gives for padel open matches:

Two things worth knowing:

• The deadlines move with the headcount. A match that gets its third player stops worrying about the 12-hour mark and starts worrying about the 4-hour one.
• Your club's calendar is the final word. In practice a club can see exceptions, for example matches whose players have all paid keeping their court. Check how your own calendar treats them.

Playtomic's own articles have the details: the cancellation policy for open matches and, for clubs, when open matches occupy calendar slots.

If you are a player: how to fill your match

1. Open it early. A match opened a day or two ahead has the time to fill; one opened that morning rarely does.
2. Share the link. Every match has its own link in the app. Send it to friends and post it in your club's WhatsApp group.
3. Keep the level range realistic. A narrow range keeps out most of the people who could join.
4. Ask the club. Many clubs keep a list of players who want a game, and some will put a coach or a member of staff in as the fourth.

Why a short open match costs a club more than one booking

• The court comes back too late to sell. Released 12 or 4 hours before the start, the slot is gone for most people who might have booked it, and at peak times that is the most valuable hour of the day.
• Players go home without a game. Someone who opens a match and sees it cancelled twice stops opening matches, and players who stop finding games are how a club starts to lose its regulars.
• The best clubs run on open matches. In Playtomic and Strategy&'s Global Padel Report 2026, open matches are 16% of bookings at the top clubs on the platform and 1% at the bottom ones. A club where open matches fill is a club where a member can find a game at any hour.

What a club can do before each deadline

1. Watch short matches against the clock

Every morning and again in the afternoon, look at the next 36 hours of open matches and sort the short ones by their next deadline: two-player matches before their 12-hour mark, three-player matches before their 4-hour mark. A three-player match at 20:00 tonight needs its fourth before 16:00; a two-player match tomorrow at 10:00 needs its third before 22:00 tonight.

2. Message the right members, one at a time

The members most likely to join are the ones who:

• play at that level, within the match's range,
• usually play at that time and on that day,
• are not already playing around then,
• have not been asked about another match in the last few days.

Send each of them one message with the match's own link: "Thursday 19:00, intermediate doubles, one place left in an open match. Join here." Most padel players are on WhatsApp, and a message with a link turns into a booking in two taps.

3. Use the club's WhatsApp group for the last call

A group reaches everyone at once, which is why it is the wrong place for every short match: post them all and members mute the group. Keep it for the last call, the match that is still one player short a few hours before its deadline.

4. Keep a fourth player in reserve

For the matches still one short at the end, a member of staff or a coach who can step in saves the game for three players who would otherwise go home. Some clubs offer it at peak hours only; others turn it into a paid lesson.

5. Make matches easier to fill in the first place

• Encourage early opening. Remind regulars that a match opened a day ahead fills; one opened at noon for that evening often does not.
• Widen the default level range if your matches keep dying one player short.
• Ask regulars to open matches in quiet hours. An open match at 10:00 that four members fill is a court that would otherwise have stayed empty.

The daily routine, on one page

How kortbase fits

This is the routine kortbase runs for a club. kortbase watches the open matches in Playtomic and, before each deadline, messages the members most likely to take the place: the right level, the slot they usually play, nothing else booked at that time. One private WhatsApp chat each, with the match's own link, and the member joins in Playtomic, the same as always. Nothing for your club to replace - it reads Playtomic, or the software you already run.

Questions players and clubs ask

What your empty hours cost

Every cancelled open match is a court-hour your club does not sell. Enter your courts, opening hours, occupancy and price to see what the empty ones are worth in a year.