Chris Salisbury heads into this weekend’s FIP RISE Rocks Lane as the new No.1 in the LTA padel rankings and hopes to bloody the noses of a few European heavyweights in west London.
The men’s draw at the Chiswick venue has potential show-stoppers all over it with 17 players in the world’s top 150, including top-seeded Spanish pair Jose Luis Gonzalez (WR78) and Antonio Luque (WR70).
Salisbury (WR689) is teaming up with fellow Alfonso Patacho at Rocks Lane and their campaign begins on Friday after they received a wildcard into the first round. Frankie Langan and Alex Loughlan also got a wildcard, but the likes of Nikhil Mohindra and Jamie Eccleton, Tom and Sandy Farquharson and several other GB pairs will have to battle through qualifying, starting on Wednesday.
Salisbury (pictured above, centre, in practice on Monday) told The Padel Paper: “This is what you really want, to be playing against these full-time guys who have grown up playing the sport and are that bit better than you. That is how you improve and it’s fascinating to see if you can raise your own game to that level that you’re trying to reach.
“This is a particularly high standard draw. It’s definitely a step up when you’re playing against all the Europeans, but having said that, we are used to playing here which is always an advantage. The forecast isn’t great but we won’t mind a bit of cold!”
Former tennis pro Salisbury coaches padel at Roehampton Club 30 hours a week, fitting in training and competitions around his day job. He has won his last three LTA ranking tournaments at Padium in Canary Wharf, Rocks Lane (a Grade Two) and Surge Padel in Harrogate. After this weekend’s FIP at Rocks Lane he is heading to FIP RISE Monaco in early April.
“At the beginning of the year my aim was to reach No.1 on the British National Tour rankings – which I achieved a couple of weeks ago – and to reach top 500 in the FIP rankings, which I hope to do later this year,” Salisbury said.
“I would love to go full-time, but I only started playing padel at 25 and I’m now 33. If I was 10 years younger it might be more of an option. If I was to get the opportunity to travel more I definitely will, but it’s just balancing the financial side of it.”
Chris came to padel slightly later in life, having previously played pro tennis (Chris is the brother of former world No.1 doubles player Joe Salisbury). He feels he brings several advantages from the tennis court to the 20×10.
“We (ex-tennis players) are generally strong on the volley and play aggressively. On faster courts than can be a benefit when big smashes come more into the game. In slower conditions, that is when the guys who’ve grown up with padel have an advantage. You don’t want to get involved in those super long rallies, you want to get to the net as much as you can and use your smash.
“Then again, our inclination to go forward and be aggressive can lead to poor shot selections. One of the steepest learning curves for tennis players on a padel court is playing against a guy you feel you’ve got better shots than, but they understand the game better and how to make your life difficult by putting the ball in clever places.”
In the women’s draw, British No.3 Aimee Gibson teams up with Paula Canivell Varona, with whom she won the recent FIP RISE Cairo title, while British No.2 Catherine Rose pairs up with Victoria Nicholas.
You can follow all the results from FIP RISE Rocks Lane this weekend via the official FIP tournament page.
FIP RISE Rocks Lane 2024 is sponsored by: Playtomic, Savills, DropShot UK, Go Mate Drinks, room2, Lea & Sandeman Wine Merchants, UK CLINIC4SPORT – Sports Injury Clinic, VIBEPADEL, Chiswick Barbell Club, Padelshack and Padel Travel Club.
