GB no.1 Aimee Gibson shrugged off injury concerns to lift the sixth world padel tour title of her career at the FIP Silver Reap Hong Kong.
The victory — Aimee’s third this year on the FIP circuit and her third overall at Silver level — sees the left-hander from Essex rise to her highest world ranking yet of 84th.
The victory comes amidst a tricky few weeks as she deals with a quad injury sustained at the FIP Euro Padel Cup in Cadiz last month, as well as a few difficulties securing playing partners for recent events.
An offer from world no.68 Alba Perez Momha of Spain to play together in Hong Kong came at the perfect moment.
Arriving last Thursday, the night before their first match, the pair snuck in half an hour’s practice and caught some sleep, before racing through their opening encounters against an Indonesian and Dutch pair for the loss of just a single game.
Jet lag kicked in that night, however, and both were very fatigued for a tough semi-final in sunny conditions the following morning.
“We barely had any sleep,” Aimee told The Padel Paper. “The semi-final was a really tough match considering how we were feeling.”
Nonetheless, France’s fourth seeds Melissa Martin and Camille Siriex were dispatched 6-4 7-5, and Aimee and Alba snatched a half-hour nap before the final.
“I felt much fresher after that,” Aimee reflected. “My headache was gone and my legs felt a bit better. We had a game plan and went out there with full energy. The rallies were still tough but our first tournament together couldn’t have gone better.”
The final saw Aimee and Alba come up against second seeds Ana Varo Ramos and Lucia Micaela Fernandez Lopez of Spain, the world nos.81 and 83 respectively. They sailed through 6-2 6-4.
It was Aimee’s first title since winning two in a row alongside GB no.2 Catherine Rose in Australia in January. In the intervening period, Aimee has reached two finals and six semi-finals in what has been a stellar year.
“I’ve had some really tough losses this year, with a lot of three-set defeats and some where I’ve had match points,” she said. “It’s just a case of ‘keep believing and working hard.’ Those tough losses make you a better player.”
In Hong Kong, Aimee was defending the 31 points she earned in the corresponding week last year for winning the FIP RISE Manila event in the Philippines alongside Victoria Nicholas. This meant she ‘only’ posted 49 of the 80 points for winning Hong Kong, but the win still lifted her up to a career-best ranking of 84th.
Victory in next week’s FIP Bronze Lyttos III in Crete and the following week in Bahrain (both alongside Alba) would be a further boost before she returns to the UK for the inaugural LTA Padel National Championships in Bristol in early December. She then flies to Australia to defend two titles alongside Catherine Rose.
“I’m looking forward to the Nationals… if I’m still alive by then!” joked Aimee, referring to her busy schedule.
“It has been a long year. I haven’t really stopped. Body-wise I’ve been feeling it, especially in the last few weeks. I strained my quad at the Europeans and had two weeks off, but it hasn’t been enough time for me to fully recover.
“I’ve been working on ways to be aggressive, move quicker into the net and try to shorten the rallies. Luckily, Alba is an aggressive player and I was able to set up plenty of points for her to finish. I don’t want to be having long rallies with this leg!”
While’s Aimee’s 2026 schedule will start with those two events in Australia, she is already looking beyond that.
“I would really like to be looking towards qualifying for the Premier Padel tournaments,” she said. “I know if I get 100+ points at those bigger events, it’s going to push me into the late 60s in the rankings, so that’s a goal of mine.”
Best of luck from The Padel Paper to Aimee in Greece, Bahrain, Bristol, Down Under and beyond!
