When Aisha Alawadi returned to the UAE last summer after finishing her studies at Kings College in London, her brother introduced her to padel. One year on, she has become the first Arab player to compete on the World Padel Tour.
Inspired by her father, Aisha started playing tennis at the age of seven and went on to be UAE No.1 at under-16 level.
She went to London in 2020 to study Business Management, during which time padel was going through a significant growth phase back home in the UAE. Whenever she called home, her brother and sister would tell her all about padel and urge her to try. But she found that London’s courts were always fully booked.
As soon as she returned to the UAE in the summer of 2022, her brother took her along for her first padel match. She hasn’t put the racket down since.
Aisha tells us about how her muscle memory from tennis really helped learning padel. She played her first tournament within months of taking up the game and won.
“By this time padel was already well developed in the UAE and no longer just a trend. I was so motivated by the level of play I was seeing and eager to improve,” she tells The Padel Paper.
Aisha went on to dedicate herself to the sport, training and playing full time for a few months before looking for a job.
It didn’t take long for the training to pay off. The World Padel Tour launched a Masters leg in Abu Dhabi in November and announced a UAE Wildcard Championship. Alia Taher, a compatriot, reached out to Aisha to enter together and before long they found themselves in the semi-finals up against the UAE national team sister pairing of Fatma and Mariam Shahdoor.
They won this match and were delighted to be in the finals playing against national team players, Nouf Omar and Shaikha Al Janahi. After a challenging battle they came through to win 10,000 aed in prize money and even more special, a place in the World Padel Tour.
This made them not only the first Emirati players, but first Arab players to compete in the WPT and secure a ranking. She’s now 130th in the world.
“The whole experience was really cool,” she says. “To see the level of the players, from their movements, their skills and how they think. It motivated me so much more to want to pursue padel to get to their level. The players were all so friendly, humble and down to earth. It was very enjoyable to play against them.”
Following this success, she’s now training harder than ever to develop her game, with her sights set on winning the Wildcard Championship again this year and also next year’s NAS Ramadan tournament which she describes as a calendar highlight, another tournament she won in April.
After the WPT Modon Abu Dhabi Master, Bullpadel Spain reached out to sponsor her and she is very proud to represent the brand.
Aisha is now training with coach Claudio Bru Casaseca at the club she is sponsored by, Padel Point, focusing on developing strategies and working on how to break down the game of strong tennis players converting to padel.
Off-court she is currently looking for a fitness coach to improve her mobility and reaction time as she believes this will take her game to the next level.
On the future of padel in the UAE, she says: “I can see padel becoming more and more competitive here. When you look around in the GCC there are many advanced players in Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi. They’re very consistent players, watching them motivates and drives me to keep improving.”
She also says it’s great to be a part of a huge and growing community of women and UAE national women playing padel in the UAE.
It’s a huge step in the development of padel around the world that the WPT are giving female UAE nationals an opportunity to compete in the Abu Dhabi Masters and ensure they have the right support in place. It is clear it’s inspiring younger generations.
Aisha told us how she’s seen “lots of people bringing people directly into padel, whereas back in the day it used to be tennis. Lots of junior players and kids are playing nowadays and the future of padel is only starting now. The level will be remarkable with them starting at such a young age.”
Quick fire round:
What competitions are you aiming for over the next six months?
The next UAE World Padel Tour Wildcard championship — the biggest one I’m looking forward to. Second biggest is the NAS Ramadan tournament next spring. I want to make the national team. I am also aiming to travel to Riyadh in Saudi to play in September which will be my first tournament outside of the UAE. I would also love to go back to the UK to play a tournament there.
Who do you enjoy partnering with the most?
I like to mix up who I play with and it all depends on the tournament. I really enjoy playing with my cousin Maryam Alawadi and Spanish national, Andrea Soto.
What’s your favourite shot?
The Rulo
What racket do you play with?
Bullpadel Vertex 03
If you had to recommend to anyone visiting Dubai where to play, where would you send them?
I can’t say anywhere other than Padel Point, the first ever indoor court built in Dubai and also my club!
