Nikhil Mohindra and Sandy Farquharson admit the draw will be critical to GB’s men achieving their target of a top-eight finish at next week’s European Padel Championships in Cagliari.
Nikhil and Sandy were part of the eight-man GB men’s squad led by coaches John Leach and Jordi Munoz that flew to the Italian island of Sardinia early on Thursday morning in preparation for the start of the Championships on Monday (22 July).
The competition is organised into four groups of four, so finishing first or second in the group will guarantee a top-eight finish – which should be enough to secure Great Britain qualification for the World Padel Championships in Doha, Qatar, from 28 October-2 November.
The draw will take place at the opening ceremony on Sunday. Great Britain, who are in pot one, will be in the same group as either Spain, Italy, France or Sweden – but it is Portugal in pot three that GB (and everyone else) will want to avoid.
Portugal did not enter the last European Championships in 2022 and were therefore forced to qualify this time around. That means they’re a big fish in a pond full of relative minnows in pot four (Switzerland, Monaco, Croatia, Hungary and Austria).
Nikhil admits coming up against Portugal in the group stage will make things “extremely tough indeed” but is otherwise bullish about GB’s prospects – particularly due to the spirit of togetherness within the squad.
“One advantage we have over everyone else is our team bond,” the GB No.4 told The Padel Paper. “We’re all very close. The team spirit and morale is the most important thing.
“You can relate it to football, where France and England have the best individuals in the world, but collectively they fell short [at Euro 2024]. It’s more important that we come together as a team rather than our individual performances. I think the chances of our achieving our goal [World Championship qualification] are high. We can definitely do it as long as we all perform well.”
The postponement of the European and World Padel Championships in 2023 means Great Britain hasn’t had a yardstick for its progress on the international stage for nearly two years. Nikhil believes the Euros will “give us a good read on where we are.”
He added: “We’ve got the most full-time players we’ve ever had, which is a massive step. The circuit is getting harder and harder, but I feel like with the backing of the best sports federation in the world, the LTA, we have a big advantage.
“We’re obviously still in the infant stages in the UK as we’ve only got around 400 courts, but as we get more courts, have more people training full time and the LTA get more involved, we’re only going to get better and better.”
All members of the GB men’s squad have played at big team championships before, but Nikhil’s team-mate Sandy Farqhuarson (17 years his senior) is more experienced than the rest by some margin.
“I like to make the younger players feel comfortable and lead by example,” said Sandy. “I like to lead by nature anyway. I’m happy to slot into that role.”
Sandy, too, is looking forward to discovering how Great Britain will fare against the European teams who sit in the tier below the most established nations of Spain, France, Italy and Sweden.
“There are teams who are similar to us – the likes of Netherlands or Belgium,” he said. “It could go either way against them so if we do well against them we can do well in the tournament. It is nice to compete against the stronger teams in Europe, see where we are and what work we’ve got to put in.”
Great Britain’s men’s squad for the European Padel Championships: Christian Medina-Murphy, Sam Jones, Louie Harris, Nikhil Mohindra, Chris Salisbury, Alfonso Patacho, Frankie Langan, Sandy Farquharson
Coaches: John Leach and Jordi Munoz
The European Padel Championship take place from 22-27 July at the Tennis Club Cagliari. The Padel Paper will keep you updated with both GB teams’ progress.
