Our series Padel and Me explores the positive role padel has played in people’s lives. This week, Abigail Tordoff charts her meteoric journey from tennis pro to padel novice, before a rapid ascent to GB international with both the open-age and senior teams inside 15 months.
Abigail Tordoff was a teenage tennis protégé who mixed with the likes of Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova and played on the hallowed lawns of Wimbledon before quitting the game aged just 21, disillusioned that her level of play wasn’t matching her ambitions.
After filling the ensuing years as a sports agent specialising in racket sport, working for the likes of Sir Andy Murray, Tordoff also founded a charity, Give It Your Max, as well as raising a family – yet there was still something missing in her life.
The buzz and adrenaline rush provided by international competition was the itch she could no longer scratch – until her ‘padel journey’ began in October 2021.
Now Tordoff (who will be representing the GB ladies seniors at the first ever Plaza Padel Nations Cup in Amsterdam from 10-12 February) has provided a riveting retrospective on a lifetime in racket sport.
The GB international reflected: “It’s been a really positive journey for me in terms of why I started playing padel and the enjoyment it brings me, so my number one goal is to keep that enjoyment level alive.
“I have really enjoyed partnering Lisa [Phillips] and we’ve had some really fun matches and success on a domestic level, while we’ve also managed to play some of the international events which has been a huge eye opener for us.
“It’s quite easy to think that you are a decent player in the UK but when you put yourself out there and see the level in Spain for instance, you quickly realise where you are and what’s required – it’s both scary and inspiring!”
Tordoff only began playing padel in October 2021 – at that stage, just for fun. “I mixed in everywhere I could get a game. Having played tennis, I didn’t realise how much I really missed learning and competing.”
A former top 50 junior, Tordoff’s highest singles ranking was 242 on the professional tour. She played mostly on the ITF circuit, with her high point being a wildcard appearance at the 1999 Wimbledon Championships, a year before she retired from the game.
With the benefit of handsight, that decision was perhaps premature. She admits: “I stopped playing professional tennis at 21 and looking back I thought I was old! I had grown up playing in the same era as Kournikova and Hingis, so we always compared our level to them.
“I guess it is understandable when there are girls out there winning Grand Slams at 16 – it’s hard to take a step back and understand that they’re exceptions, rare humans.
“In my day there was a lot of pressure on us to be right up there from a young age and if you weren’t then it was easy to think you’d failed and to hit the panic button too soon. You didn’t see players going to college and then starting a career on the tour, or taking timeout and returning. It’s positive to see that it’s changed now, you still get exciting young players breaking through but there is more longevity in the game and that’s healthy.
“To be competing in padel now is just great. I really missed challenging myself physically and mentally in match play. If I hadn’t started playing padel, I’d never have realised that.
“There are quite a few ex-pro tennis players now playing pro padel, like Roberta Vinci, Sofia Arvidsson and Raluca Sandu which is fun to see. I was trying to talk Martina [Hingis] into playing pro padel after we played together last summer and I’ll keep working on her. As you’d expect, her accuracy is insane!”
The British star’s transition to padel – which culminated in her appearance for the GB team which narrowly missed out on qualifying for the World Championships in October – has not always been entirely smooth.
She said: “The last year has been about getting to know the game and having fun, but at the end of the year I took stock, looked at my game and what I had learned from playing at some of the international events.
“Now I am going to have to go through a difficult stage to get better and I need to lose the tennis shots, be really firm with myself and play padel not ‘tadel’! Even if the easy option is to block the ball, I now know you’ve got to let it go to the wall and build a strong defence game.”
The 42-year-old’s anticipation is palpable ahead of February’s Nations Cup in the Netherlands. She said: “There’s a great atmosphere within the British side. [Team manager] Sally Fisher has done an amazing job, not only with establishing the event but also getting the team together.
“It’s always a huge honour to wear a GB top and represent my country, whether it’s in the open category or seniors and I hope I can continue doing that for as long as possible.”
Also in our Padel and Me series:
Alyson Wort: ‘Padel was my lifeline during my sister’s battle with cancer’
