Victoria Nicholas is one of many fascinating names in the draw for this week’s much-anticipated FIP RISE event at the National Tennis Centre in London.
The 29-year-old from Cambridgeshire (pictured above, right) has lifted the trophy at the last two LTA Padel British Tour Grade One competitions – and she has now made a big career decision in order to dedicate more time to her burgeoning padel career.
Victoria has been a junior doctor and medical registrar specialising in gastroenterology at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London, for the last six years.
But her notable success since making the well-trodden path from tennis to padel 18 months ago has persuaded her to change roles and cut back on her hours in order to step up her padel training and competition schedule.
In September, Victoria will switch to a part-time teaching fellow role and do locum shifts as a doctor in order to spend more time with her playing partner Aimee Gibson (with whom she won the LTA Grade One tournament at Rocks Lane in mid-July).
“Covid made me realise there’s a bit more to life than working,” Victoria told The Padel Paper. “I feel like I’ve got to give padel a go while I’m still young. Hopefully I’ll get to represent GB at the European Championships – that’s the goal.
“Being a junior doctor can be very stressful and intense but the job gets a lot of undeserved bad press. On the whole, I do really enjoy going to work. But I’ve made the decision to put my medical training on hold a little bit to focus on padel for a while.”
Victoria was a tennis player for her county and Nottingham University and also played football competitively until she was 15. Soon after taking up padel in late 2021, she suffered a bad ankle injury, but has now clearly hit her stride on the 20×10.
“As soon as I started playing, I was hooked,” she says. “I’m really enjoying the improvements I see every time I play. There’s a lot more to think about [than tennis] in terms of your core positioning and tactics. There’s also more choices of shot in terms of spin, speed and placement. That’s something I find difficult but exciting.”
Having won the LTA Grade One at Stratford Padel Club in June with Claire Smith, Victoria followed that up with victory at Rocks Lane a fortnight ago alongside Aimee. For Aimee, it marked an astounding sixth successive Grade One triumph. The pair go into this week’s HOP London Padel Open at the NTC full of confidence.
“It’s taken a while to get my name out there and mix with the top players, but I’ve found a couple of partnerships where we’ve been on a similar level and clicked,” reflects Victoria.
“Aimee and I complement each other because she’s a leftie. We played together out in Belgium but there was more pressure at Rocks Lane because she is undefeated in Grade Ones. We can’t wait for London!”
The draw has pitted Aimee and Victoria against Spanish pair Candela Millan and Aida Sanjuan.
Elsewhere in the draw is the intriguing pairing of former Olympic gold medal-winning hockey player Sophie Bray MBE with fellow hockey-turned-padel star Eloise Tait, both of whom The Padel Paper has interviewed in recent months about their new sporting obsession. They face fellow Brits Amy Cairns and Karen Hunter in round one.
Fresh from her victory at the FIP RISE Al Alemein event in Egypt at the weekend, British No.1 and defending champion Tia Norton and Dutch partner Rosalie van der Hoek lead home hopes but have a tough draw against top seeds Marcella Koek and Stephanie Weterings from the Netherlands.
Catherine Rose, Abi Tordoff, Lisa Phillips and Lizzie Fletcher are amongst the other British names in the main draw.
Get full info on the FIP RISE HOP London Padel Open here.
