Francis Langan is hoping he has done enough to retain his place in the British team for their final match of the 2022 XVI World Padel Championships.
After being seated on the side lines for the first two Group A ties against Portugal and Uruguay, the 29-year-old finally earned the nod from Head Coach John Leach to take the court against World Champions Spain in the last pool match.
A former top 150 ranked World Padel Tour player, Langan had mounted a strong case for a late call-up after winning the HOP PRO Tour NTC tournament with GB international Nikhil Mohindra only to come up just short.
However after an injury to Ryan Wyatt, Langan was called up and against the Spanish was given the chance to reprise his pairing with Mohindra only to suffer a 2-6, 0-6 defeat against Jeronimo Gonzalez and Francisco Navarro.
Now as the British team galvanise themselves for the play-off draw, Langan is desperate to go again after impressing Leach with his attitude and energy against a pairing that included a former World No.1 and a current top-10 star.
An unbowed Langan said: “It was really important to me to play in the group stages and it has given me a lot of confidence for the next match if selected.
“I felt like there were a few long games today with plenty of deuces and advantages but we just failed to convert but you have to learn from that.
“So I believe that if Nikhil and I are selected again as a pairing we can make the experience of today count for us.
“Despite the result I was delighted to play and I knew that I was going into the match with no pressure as it was against the ex-No.1 and the current No.4 but I am happy with the way I played in the first set.
“As a pairing we did have a couple of chances but we didn’t take them and against the best in the world if you don’t take these you get punished big time.”
Yet whatever Leach’s call, Langan’s priority is to remain a team player: “I hope I have done enough to get the call for the final tie in the play-off round but we have to respect the decision of the coach John Leach.
“He knows best and he sees us every day on the practice court and you must abide by his decision as he has such a vast experience to draw upon in this regard.”
With Leach ringing the changes GB opened with a pairing of Sam Jones and Louie Harris who faced current World No.1 Alejandro Galan and Alejandro Ruiz.
40 minutes later the Brits had succumbed to a sobering 1-6, 1-6, defeat in which no break points were created and the service return proving particularly problematic.
When it came to first service returns won Jones and Harris were down at 17.9% compared with 56.1% to the Spanish and it was no better on second service returns with the Brits languishing at 16.7% and the Spanish imperious at 50.0%.
Next up the pairing of Mohindra and Langan faced the daunting prospect of matching up against former World No.1 Francisco Navarro and Jeronimo Gonzalez.
Sadly after waiting for three matches to finally get off the bench it was to prove a brutal experience for Langan who earlier this year returned to the professional ranks after a seven-year hiatus.
35 minutes later following a 2-6, 0-6 schooling the Brits were back off court having found the gap in standards too difficult to bridge, following a match which saw just 20% of GB second service points won.
British No.1 Christian Murphy again found himself deployed in the anchor role this time alongside the veteran Richard Brooks and although the first set ran away from the Brits 1-6 there was plenty of British steel on display in the second set.
Facing Javier Garrido and Miguel Yanguas the GB anchor pairing managed to carve out two break points in the second stanza while turning the Spanish overhead game back on the silky señors on more than one occasion as Murphy demonstrated his athleticism both inside and outside the court.
But after 1 hour 15 minutes it was not to be and Team GB found that the last rites had been firmly administered on their participation in the Group of Death.
All of which left Leach to reflect on the class gulf: “In padel there is no tougher challenge than playing Spain in a World Cup, they just have so much strength in depth in their team and this was without Juan Lebron in the side!
“They are superstars and this was an amazing experience for our guys to step on court with them and it was a great experience for all our guys and I feel like the score lines did not reflect the effort our players put in.
“They took their chance and gave it everything against the best side in the world and we are not the only team Spain have punished in this World Cup and we won’t be the last.”
Great Britain will have to wait until later tonight to find out who they draw in their final match in the play-offs and Leach admitted that ahead of this he was pleased of how his shuffle of the playing pack went.
Despite the pain against Spain the GB head coach was keen to underline the positives as he prepared for the play-off round draw.
He said: “We tested a few different combinations in practise and Christian and Richard are experienced players who have played together many times on the tours and also at previous World Cups, so that was a combination we wanted to try against Spain and they didn’t let us down.
“Similarly with Sam and Louie they also played against Spain together last year and I thought they didn’t quite get the reward they deserved in terms of the scoreboard today.
“It was really important to give Francis Langan a debut at the World Cup and I felt like he acquitted himself very well, was very energetic had a great attitude and I was impressed by the way he conducted himself on the court.
“Again I feel like with Francis and Nikhil the score line was not a true reflection of their performance.”
Yet ultimately this was a cruel death knell that also means Leach’s lads must qualify for the XVII World Cup, while no matter who they land in the play-off draw they will also place below last year’s 11th placed positioning.
