Great Britain now has joint women’s padel no.1s after Aimee Gibson drew level with Tia Norton in the FIP world rankings at the weekend.
Left-hander Aimee, who turned pro just over a year ago, has put together a string of impressive results this year including her first ever FIP tournament victory in Cairo in March, a runner-up finish at FIP RISE Cordenons in June and four semi-final appearances, including last weekend’s at FIP RISE Koksijde in Belgium.
Aimee and playing partner Maaike Betz’s run to the semi-finals, where they went down 7-6 6-2 against Spanish pair Natividad Diaz and Lucia Trella on Sunday, earned Aimee 11 ranking points.
That put the Essex star on 88 points – lifting her to joint 142nd place in the world with Tia – who herself earned two points in the Koksijde event after losing in the round of 32 with Carmen Mazo.
Tia had been the outright GB no.1 since August 2021 – when she became the first British woman to compete in – and win – a match on what was then the World Padel Tour.
The duo now travel to Cagliari, Italy this week where they will be team-mates and playing partners for Team GB at the European Padel Championships.
Aimee, 32, is widely regarded as one of the most dedicated and hard-working players in the GB squad. Two weeks ago, she received the ‘Female Padel Player of the Year‘ trophy at the 2024 LTA Tennis Awards at Roehampton Club.
Aimee’s former coach, Dan Troy, recently told The Padel Paper: “Aimee is just so coachable. She is aggressive with her learning. If she’s not satisfied with something when we’re on court, she’ll say, ‘Show me again, feed me another ball’ until she’s absolutely happy. It shows how much she wants to get it right. When you’ve got someone with that fighting mentality, it just makes coaching so much easier.
“Wanting to learn is paramount because winning is a by-product of learning. This is what Aimee has really taken to: eating properly, gym work, stretching, recovery, ice baths, watching padel, doing your research, seeing how other professionals approach the game.”
