Meet Tia Norton. Tia, aged 18, is the biggest name in British Padel. She made headlines last year when, at only 17 years of age, she became the first British woman to compete on the world Padel Tour. The Padel Paper spoke to Tia to learn more about her experience, aspirations, and who has supported her on the journey.
Name: Tia Norton
Age: 18
GB rank: 1
Coach: Juan Alday
Academy: Alday-Marrero Padel Elite
Sponsors: NOX, Game4Padel, MATCHi, Padelshack and Bynx
Occupation: Professional padel player
Playing partners: My current partner is Carla Fitó (Spain). Previous partners include Ares Llobera (Spain), and Amanda Girdo (Sweden)
How many years playing Padel: 6 years, I began playing padel at 12 years old
Best thing about Padel: Over the years I’ve had the chance to meet so many incredible people, and travel to some amazing places, all whilst still being so young.
Best Padel memory: My first match on World Padel Tour that I won with my partner Amanda Girdo. We received the Wild Card into the Malaga Open last summer and went into the tournament with no expectations and no pressure. After this match I knew that padel was for me and it’s what I wanted to do!! The feeling was surreal.
Best country to play Padel in: Sweden, padel in this country has reached a new level with the amount of people involved, events held, spectators, atmosphere, everything 🙂
How do you feel about your chances of doing well in Stratford: I’m feeling very excited to begin playing in this tournament, as I haven’t competed in a women’s event in the UK for a couple of years now ! Myself and my partner have been training really well together in Barcelona, so we’re feeling really good going into this event 🙂
Interesting fact about you that nobody knows: I played for the England rounders team for 3 years 🙂
Favourite Padel shot: Drop Shot 🙂
Advice to anyone looking to try Padel for the first time: Teamwork makes the dream work, it’s as simple as that 🙂 The most important thing is to enjoy and have fun, padel can be played by anyone of any age. One top tip is to be patient with the walls, it’s one of the most difficult aspects of the game to understand for many people to begin with, but stick to it!
Best tournament result: Reaching Previa in the World Padel Tour last year in the Malaga Open.
Aspirations for 2022: A real goal is to break into the world Top 100 but ultimately, to keep loving the sport and journey as much as I am!
