Tia Norton, Aimee Gibson, Nikhil Mohindra and Louie Harris will be the star attractions for the home crowd in a stellar field at this weekend’s FIP RISE Stratford 2023.
Hosted at the five-court Stratford Padel Club in East London, the competition is the third Cupra FIP RISE tournament to take place in Great Britain this year. FIP RISE is the fourth tier of competition on the Cupra FIP Tour, with FIP Platinum at the top level and FIP Promotion as the fifth and lowest.
GB’s top two in the women’s rankings, Tia and Aimee, are back with their regular partners in Stratford having teamed up at the recent FIP Promotion Beniganim in Valencia.
Tia will play alongside Dutchwoman Rosalie van der Hoek, with whom she won the FIP title in Al Alamein in July and the LTA Grade One title in Jersey in September. Aimee, who turned pro in June and has won five LTA grade One titles this year, teams up with France’s Elodie Invernon.
Elsewhere in the draw, GB will be represented by Lisa Phillips, Sophia Haine, Catherine Rose, Victoria Nicholas and Abigail Tordoff.
Spanish-Portuguese combination Julia Polo Bautista and Patricia Ribiero will be the top seeds in the women’s draw at the Stratford Padel Club. Dutch team Marcella Koek and Stephanie Weterings return to British soil as the third seeds, having lifted the trophy at Rocks Lane in April.
In the men’s draw, Nikhil will be the top seeded Brit with Rayane Akram Hamou, while Welshman Louie is set to challenge with Miguel Matin Cano.
Brits Chris Salisbury, Alfonso Patacho and Francis Langan will also compete in the men’s tournament. Main draw wildcards have been awarded to Sam MacNeil, Cameron Dollimore and Theo Garton.
Spanish duo Cayetano Rocafort Lores and Pedro Vera head to Stratford as the top-ranked pairing. Vera – who is the highest ranked player in the tournament at world No.89 – was also crowned champion at the FIP RISE Rocks Lane Chiswick earlier this year.
Keep an eye out for Belgian second seeds Clement Geens and Maxime Deloyer, who won their home event in Mol this year, as well as third seeds Gonzalo Perez Arbona and Manuel Rocafort Lores.
Matt Stanforth, LTA Padel Performance Manager said: “It’s brilliant to have another international event taking place which offers a great competitive opportunity for our leading GB players on home soil.
“The field of players looks strong, with the winners from the last FIP event held in the UK last August, so this will be a positive test for the players. The support from the fans that we had in August was fantastic and I know from speaking with the players how much this is appreciated, so we hope to see as many people as we can in Stratford to cheers the GB players on.”
Full draw and results for FIP RISE Stratford 2023 are here.
Watch live streaming of the event here.
