GB No.1 Aimee Gibson set two new career milestones last weekend with victory alongside Victoria Nicholas at FIP Rise Manila in the Philippines.
Not only did it mark the first FIP Rise trophy of Aimee’s padel career (having previously finished runner-up in two FIP Rise finals and won one title at the lower FIP Promotion level), it also took her to No.121 in the world on the FIP rankings – surpassing the previous record by a British woman of No.123 set by Tia Norton (although she did reach 117 on the World Padel Tour).
Aimee and Victoria only decided to partner up at the last minute and jump on the long flight to Manila, going in as second seeds. With a day’s practice under their belts to adjust to the intense heat and humidity, they breezed past pairings from the Philippines and China for the loss of just one game in each encounter, then faced a sterner test against Japan’s Kotomi Ozawa and Spain’s Elisabeth Nogueras Lorenz, winning 6-1 6-4.
The final proved something of an anti-climax as Spain’s Carla Fernandez Gonzalez complained of feeling unwell. She and Dutch partner Rosalie van der Hoek did step on court for the final, but the Dutchwoman smashed the first return of serve out of the court in frustration and shook hands with the slightly bemused British pair, handing them the title.
The victory also marked Victoria‘s first ever FIP Rise title and propelled her to a career-high world ranking of 161. The trophy ceremony also included a third British player as Sam Jones reached the final in the men’s draw alongside Julian Prins of the Netherlands. They were defeated 7-5 7-5 by Spanish duo Sergi Nogueras Lorenz and Marc Bernils Garcia in the final.
Aimee told The Padel Paper: “The final was a slight anti-climax but you can’t control what your opponents do – and I think sometimes when you work so hard you deserve a little bit of luck.
“It was so nice to win with Vic. She is such a good player but perhaps doesn’t get to travel as much as some of the rest of us. That will give her a big rankings boost. I was so thrilled to do it with her.”
The 32-year-old added: “At the beginning of the year I was ranked 250 and now I’m almost top 120. I never thought that would happen. When I broke the 150 mark I kept saying to myself, ‘Keep working and striving for consistent results and you never know what can happen.'”
Aimee will next compete in the Adidas HOP Finals at Padium in London’s Canary Wharf this coming weekend before finishing off an exhausting year of travel and competition on the FIP world tour with trips to Qatar and Dubai.
“In the last five months in particular I’ve been travelling a hell of a lot so it’s shown me what the whole of next year is going to be like!” said Aimee. “I’ll rest at Christmas, then go again.”
