By RJ Mitchell
GB men’s head coach John Leach believes he has concocted the correct blend of experience and youth to help navigate the qualification tournament for the XIV World Padel Championships in Derby at the end of the month.
Team GB are seeded second behind No.1 seeds Germany and will be led by British No.1 Christian Medina Murphy, with Richard Brooks, Louie Harris, Sam Jones, Sandy Farquharson, Nikhil Mohindra, Chris Salisbury, and Ryan Wyatt completing the selection.
All of which means that Leach, a former GB skipper, has opted to go with continuity of selection from last year’s World Championships in which he fielded the same side.
It is a policy which Leach believes will reap rich dividends and also help build on the positive momentum behind padel in the UK following the recent successful FIP Rise London Open.
Leach said: “If you look through the team then all of the guys have a good level of experience but it is also really important that we have the correct blend of experience and youth, with the younger guys hungry and fighting for their spot in the team, so it is a good combination.
“What I like about the team is we have players who are in their early twenties and are developing all the time and for me it is fascinating to see how they develop as time goes on and the more championships they play the more confidence they will get.
“So it is actually the same eight players I picked for Qatar last year and I very much think it is good to have that strong foundation and for me this will only improve the GB Team.”
Dissecting the capabilities and qualities his side boast Leach believes a strong mentality will be very much at the core of Team GB’s quest to qualify for Qatar.
He said: “Christian Medina is based full-time in Spain, playing tournaments and is our No.1 ranked player, so that was a no-brainer and we need his influence.
“But if you look at Richard Brooks he has been around the team for a long time and has bags of international experience and he is the key to our team and the other players feed off his advice and influence.
“Richard obviously has had a very high-level career and historically has played a lot of World Padel Tour events.
“Then we have Sandy (Farquharson) who has again been in the team for the last three or four major events and has a very strong mental approach to the sport, he has a security about him that the other players can feed off.
“Sam Jones is playing full time travelling the world and is in a couple of weeks of intensive training for qualifying in Madrid and that is perfect for us.
“Chris Salisbury was picked for the first time in Qatar last year and is improving all the time. He has a tennis background and has a strong game and a huge smash, so that is where his strengths lie.
“We also have Ryan Wyatt and he was my partner when I played in the team back in 2018 and he is a lefty and also has a powerful game and is based in Qatar.
“Then there is Nikhil Mohindra who is UK-based and recently won the HOP Pro Tour event and has been very strong domestically.
“Louie Harris is again improving all the time and is based in Marbella he is travelling and playing in FIPs and I think he has one in the next week or so in Holland. So he is training a lot in Spain and playing many tournaments and determined to move up the rankings.
“So we have a lot of the players travelling and playing international events and that is what we want.”
Although one suspects Leach knows his best pairings, based on the selection reflecting that from last year’s World Championship, the GB head coach revealed that a series of pivotal training sessions building up to the We Are Padel hosted event, which starts on September 29, will provide him with the ultimate nudge when it comes to his strongest pairings.
He said: “I have an idea of the pairings and the great thing is that we have all played with each other and everyone is happy with each other’s games.
“Obviously some players match up better with others so although I have an idea we will use the lead up to the event to bed that all in.
“We are arriving early at Derby and will already have trained at the NTC prior to getting there, so our preparation will be very solid.”
Although Germany are top seeds, Leach believes that they may not necessarily be the main threat to Team GB’s qualification hopes: “The country’s that stand out for me are Sweden and Portugal. They didn’t play in the World Cup last year and that is why they are in qualifying for Qatar this year and they are very developed, especially Portugal.
“So these are the two teams that are the real dangers in my opinion. They haven’t done the draw but we have been seeded second so we will see how that works out for us but the draw is done one or two days before the event and that will be very interesting.
“When we went to Qatar last year they did the same thing and you found out your groups the day before. Obviously if you knew earlier you could have quite a bit of homework and preparation done but it is great to watch the draw live.
“In Qatar last year all the captains were invited to the draw and it is the same for every team at the end of the day.”
However when it came to the importance of qualification Leach was in no doubt and he said: “It is important for every nation and obviously with the qualification event being at home in the UK we really want to use that as a springboard and platform to get to the World Cup.
“We have a good strong squad and let’s hope that we can come through, as making sure we are at the World Cup will continue the really positive momentum there is about padel in the UK for sure.”
