Britain’s Best Padel Players in European Padel Championships 2021
In the European Padel Championships in Marbella, Spain, GB’s best padel players had mixed fortunes. The men’s team bagged 2 out of 3 group games during the men’s competition, which ran from June 28 – July 4 against teams from 16 different countries.
The British men’s team triumphed against both Lithuania and Finland. But lost to Belgium before being beaten in their quarter-final tie again by the Belgians. The first match ended at 3-0 in the group stage in favor of the Belgians, but the brits put a fight in their second encounter at 2-1.
The British women’s team, however, ran out of luck. The ladies were in a tough group against Spain and Belgium and lost both of their ties – Spain went on to win the women’s tournament.
These top athletes played for the British team this season:
| Men’s team | Women’s Team |
| Christian Murphy Richard Brooks Sam Jones Louie Harris Sandy Farquharson Ryan Wyatt Nikhil Mohindra Alfonso Patacho | Laura Deigman Tia Norton Yusimi Crossley Leanne Raine Hansie Ruddick Hannah Maddock Zuzka Patacho Sofia Govorusa |
Young rising star Sam Jones currently ranks number 4 in the UK is part of the men’s team.
He has traveled worldwide representing Britain in padel and has played 5 times already in international tournaments at his young age. He started playing padel at 14 when in David Lloyd Chigwell. At 16, he moved to Marbella to train and play.
A year after living and playing there, Jones decided to move on to even bigger things and go to Barcelona. Since being in Barcelona, he has been competing in the Catalan circuit, the biggest circuit in the world with over 2000 players all at a very high level, and played the World Padel Tour. He’s currently 90th in the Catalunia rankings and 330th in the world! Quite impressive for someone his age.
Sandy Farquharson, known from his Youtube channel, The Padel School is also part of the British line-up.
10 years ago, this athlete decided to switch from tennis to padel and hasn’t looked back. Aside from professionally competing, Sandy seeks to acquire the maximum knowledge from the best experts to focus on providing the best quality information about padel in English for players who want to improve their game.
Sandy played tennis on ATP Tour, after NCAA Division 1 college, then coached on the WTA and ATP Tours before being introduced to padel. Qualified as a padel coach with a course in Madrid several years ago and go every year to spend time with the best coaches in the world, to learn the trade tricks!
Nikhil Mohindra is also another British player to look out for.
He started playing way back in 2012 in his hometown as a casual player. In January 2017, he began competing in tournaments and improved at a swift rate.
“I wanted to travel for some tournaments, my first being Guernsey in July of 2018, where I lost to the current number 1 seeds in the semi-finals. Being unranked in July 2018 to currently being ranked 6 in the UK is a progression that I hope continues.” Mohindra said in an interview.
The British line-up is full of formidable athletes both old and new. We can’t wait to how they fare this season!
Check out this video to see top players worldwide compete in the CUPRA XII European Padel Championship 2021.
