In the draw for this weekend’s LTA Padel Grade One event in Jersey is a pair of squash players who are tasting success after transferring into the burgeoning UK padel scene.
Sixth seeds Elliott Selby and Declan Christie take their place in this weekend’s event at Island Padel in St Clement alongside familiar names such as Tia Norton, Louie Harris, Rafael Vega, Spanish duos, up-and-coming amateurs and local hopefuls from the island.
Essex-based Elliot, a former top-200 tour pro, is from a highly successful squash family. His brother Daryl is a three-time Commonwealth Games medallist, while his sister Lauren and father Paul are highly-regarded coaches at the family’s renowned Off The Wall Squash academy.
Elliot, 35, works for the Professional Squash Association as Head of Tour Development. He has been playing padel for five years and is working his way towards the UK top 10.
The younger Declan has been a strong Yorkshire county and Yorkshire Premier League squash player for many years, but has recently developed a passion for padel through playing on the two courts at Harrogate Sports & Fitness Club. He played in his first padel tournament only six weeks ago, but won an LTA Grade Three title recently and is targeting a place in the UK top 20 within the next six months.
Together, Elliot and Declan reached the final of the LTA Grade Two event at West of Scotland Padel last weekend – their first competition together as a pair.
Elliot tells The Padel Paper: “When you get two squash players together on a padel court it’s very different to playing with someone from a tennis background. It’s something about our personalities – squash players hustle a lot, chasing everything down is so ingrained in the way we play.
“Tactically, we play a different way to tennis players. Tennis players rely on the big net shots, but because we don’t have the big smash, we use other strengths.”
Declan agrees with his partner’s analysis. “Tennis players thinks the ball is dead when it’s gone past them, but for a squash player it’s always alive. We love the longer rallies. Tennis players have the great hands and instincts at the net, whereas squash players lack that initiative but are very good at defending.”
Declan, who runs his own luxury flooring business, says he will continue to balance squash and padel, “but I may have to ditch other hobbies like golf!”
Elliot, who plays at Stratford Padel Club, says the squash duo’s nascent partnership has started very promisingly. “It worked really well between us [at the recent Grade 2 in Scotland]. Just because you’re both good players doesn’t always mean it’s going to work personality-wise as a pair, but we really enjoyed it.
“Dec is very chilled, whereas some of the players I’ve played with before have been really intense. He has adapted to padel well so hopefully that will continue this weekend.”
The event carries £6,000 in prize money and has attracted over 100 visiting and local players. It is the second Grade One event in Jersey, with Jorge Martinez Del Campo and Rafael Otaolaurruchi and Lisa Philips and Abigail Tordoff winning last year’s men’s and women’s titles respectively.
In the women’s draw, British No.1 Tia Norton and Dutch partner Rosalie van der Hoek will be among the favourites. Helen Crook and Jo Ward are top seeds and Catherine Rose and Hanna Maddock will be strong contenders.
Play is due to begin at 8am on Saturday, and will conclude with the men’s and women’s open finals from approximately 1pm on Sunday.
Island Padel co-founder Scott Clayton said: “Having top players travel across, from England and Spain, adds to the excitement but it more importantly it gives our local players a chance to compete against and learn from the best. This tournament is for them, as much as it is for the visiting pros, and we’re looking forward to enjoying a family-friendly, community atmosphere on both days.”
