Carolina Navarro believes that the We Are Padel hosted World Championship qualifiers in Derby have provided the perfect platform to power padel’s relentless growth in Great Britain.
The Spanish-born ace was world No.1 for nine years up until 2013 and at 46 has opted to see out the twilight of her top-level career under the flag of her mother’s homeland of Sweden.
Indeed it was Navarro’s pairing with Amanda Girdo that finally consigned Team GB Ladies hopes of qualifying for Dubai to the dustbin when they beat Tia Norton and Lisa Phillips 6-1, 6-2 after Anna Akerberg and Louise Ida Jarlskog had earlier defeated Hansie Ruddick and Claire Smith 6-2, 6-2, which saw the Brits suffer a gut-wrenching defeat at the semi-final stage.
But Navarro believes that the Brit Girls will only benefit from this set-back and that they should use it as a launchpad to bounce back even stronger
The longest reigning World No.1 in the history of the women’s game said: “I know Tia as she is playing World Padel Tour and she is playing well and she will only get better with the more matches she plays and the more competitions she enters as she is still very young at 18.
“I think she spends time in Spain and plays WPT and FIP there and I also know Hansie and she plays well and is regularly competing on the tour and again that is very important.
“I think for the British girls then the World Championship Qualifiers will have been very important in terms of letting them see where they need to improve and that type of experience in match play is only good for your level.
“But maybe before Great Britain did not have so many players but now they have a bit more depth now and they have a good mixture of more experienced players who have maybe come to padel through tennis and also some younger players.
“What is important for them is that they take what has been positive for them from Derby and they use that as a platform to build on and keep their focus on going forward and continuing to improve.
“It was a great venue in (We Are Padel) Derby and I very much enjoyed playing there and this has been a big moment for the sport in Great Britain and I am sure padel is here to stay now in the UK and will only get bigger and more popular.”
When it comes to Sweden’s hopes of success in Dubai in just 21 days’ time Navarro’s experience, tactical guile and sheer class is sure to prove fundamental to her side’s hopes of enjoying the ‘swede, swede’ taste of success.
Projecting forward to a draw that could position her adopted nation against the country of her birth the Malaga born padel legend reckons a top six placing is not beyond the Scandinavian side: “There are a lot of great teams like Spain of course, Italy, Argentina, and France but I think we can fight for around sixth position.
“If we could achieve that I think we would say that has been a success. But the main thing for us was to make sure that we qualified and in the game with Great Britain we were maybe the favourites and that brings pressure so we were very pleased to get through that.
“It is a great feeling to be able to look forward to the World Championships now and particularly at this stage in my career these are moments you must enjoy.
“But at the same time we are going to Dubai to do our best for Sweden and make the country proud of us.”
Navarro added: “For me half of my family are in Sweden, I love to go there, and it has always been something I wanted to do and I am definitely proud to be playing for Sweden at the padel World Championships.
“So it is my hope that with my experience I can help the padel Swedish to go ahead and also help build a good national team. Making the World Championships was a big part in that.”
Navarro, whose full name is Carolina Navarro Björk, has had an amazing longevity at the top and the 46-year-old is still ranked No.26 on the World Padel Tour and No.25 in the FIP ratings and says she will continue to play competitively for a minimum of a further year.
The great Navarro said: “I have been playing 28 years and I love padel and I enjoy it and while my body is okay to play and I am competitive I will keep playing.
“Maybe that will only be for one year more but I am determined to keep playing for as long as I can and as long as I can do myself justice and just now my passion for the game is still very strong.
“Around Derby I was playing in Amsterdam and then had to fly in to Derby for the qualifiers and then afterwards I was competing at Santander and it was just a crazy week but I still enjoy it.
“I have been playing padel for so long competitively that it is just part of my life and I want to keep that going for as long as I can.”
