Great Britain’s women’s and men’s teams finished eighth and 11th respectively at the FIP Senior Euro Padel Cup — but that barely begins to describe an emotional rollercoaster of a week in Valencia.
GB men’s campaign was overshadowed by a traumatic incident in their first group-stage fixture last Tuesday against the Czech Republic, when 50+ player Steven Wood collapsed on court during the first set.
Wood, who is head pro at City Padel Exeter, was quickly attended to by team physio Brent Gilpin and a doctor. As horrified spectators and team-mates looked on, CPR was administered and Wood eventually came round.
He was awake and talking as he was taken away by ambulance, but later recalled nothing of the horrific incident. A couple of days later, he was passed fit enough to fly home.
“We were in utter shock and turmoil,” GB men’s captain Elliot Selby told The Padel Paper. “It was really, really scary.
“That incident wiped everyone out emotionally. Weirdly, it brought the team together, because everything else became insignificant and we just wanted to make sure Steve was OK.”
The padel barely mattered after that, of course, but GB won the other four ties in that match to record a 4-1 over a team which, incidentally, featured former Borussia Dortmund and Czech international striker Jan Koller (who was across the net when Wood collapsed).
A 4-1 defeat in their next group game against Italy meant GB’s men went into the play-offs for positions eight to 14. After defeating Estonia 5-0, there was controversy before the next game as a minor admin error led to the Netherlands being handed a walkover.
The Dutch agreed to play the match, even though the result wouldn’t stand, and won it 5-0. Some clever line-up stacking by Norway then helped earn them a 3-2 win over GB in the 10th/11th-place play-off tie.
Selby, who was making his debut as captain, described the role as “absolutely exhausting” with so many organisational tasks and selection decisions on his shoulders in addition to playing duties.
However, he added: “I’m delighted with how much effort and commitment everyone gave, especially as it was many players’ first time playing for GB. We came away with a lot to learn but with shared excitement about the team’s potential.”
Both squads paid for their own flights, accommodation, food and other expenses in Valencia, at a cost of around £2000 each (in addition to missing a week’s work). Whilst the women’s team offset this with some highly organised team fundraising, the men’s own funding efforts raised less.
“We need more investment if we want our best teams at these events,” said Selby. “We need more training, a clearer selection process and a decision as to whether we’re treating it as a participation event or want to make every effort to finish as high as possible.”
The skipper did, however, praise the support from LTA-funded coach Alex Grilo, who is head coach at Rocks Lane in London. “Alex being there made a massive difference,” said Selby. “That was very valuable.”
With on- and off-court responsiblities shared around, and some strategic line-up decisions that paid off handsomely, GB’s more experienced women’s side had a successful campaign.
In finishing eighth, they matched their finishing position from the last European Championships in Alicante in 2023 — but came so close to seizing one position higher after suffering an agonisingly close 3-2 defeat to Denmark in their 7th/8th position play-off tie.
The GB ladies’ week began with a 5-0 win over debutantes Austria and 4-1 defeat to a very strong Netherlands side in the group stage, which put them through to the play-offs for 7th-12th positions.
An inspired line-up switch by co-captains Dawn Foxhall and Jo Ward, along with LTA-funded coach Belen Castrillo de la Cruz, contributed to a dramatic 3-2 victory over Germany in the first play-off match which went down to a champions tiebreak in the deciding tie.
“We know them quite well so it was a game of guesswork as to where they’d play their strongest players,” Foxhall told The Padel Paper. “We shuffled all our partnerships around, which some team members were a bit dubious about, but that’s experience for you – knowing when to take the risk.”
Former tennis pro Teresa Catlin came in alongside Sally Fisher in the 55+ position and won 6-2, 6-0; Carol Prado and Angela Crossley won 6-2, 6-4 in the 35+, and after defeats in the 40+ and 45+ it came down to Foxhall and Helen Crook in the 50+.
“Helen and I took on that responsibility, played last and it paid off,” said the skipper, after their 7-5, 4-6, 10-2 win. “I wanted Helen by my side as I knew she wouldn’t fold at all,” said Foxhall. “She almost won that tiebreak alone. It was absolutely flawless.”
After a less dramatic 5-0 win over Ireland in the next round, it came down to the clash with Denmark for seventh place. Again, it went down to the wire, but in the deciding fifth tie, Prado and Crossley lost 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.
“We knew it would be 3-2 either way, we just hoped it would be 3-2 to us,” said Foxhall. “That decider was a fantastic match, a really good advert for senior women’s padel.
“We were still immensely proud because neither Caro nor Angela could have given any more. No regrets. The smallest of margins made the difference.
“We’ve seen that the gap between seventh and eighth is almost nothing, but it might be a bigger gap to sixth, so our plans for 2026 start now to discuss how we can make these differences up.”
Foxhall and Prado were GB’s best performers in the concurrent pairs event, finishing fourth in the 40+ after Prado was forced to withdraw in the 3rd-4th play-off against a Danish pair due to an arm injury.
Add in chaos at the captains’ meeting over teams being asked to live score their own matches at the last minute, and a leaking roof at the Family Sports Centre venue as a storm raged outside, and it was most certainly a week that no-one in GB colours will ever forget.
