By RJ Mitchell
GB seniors international Libby Fletcher believes that her success at the HOP Women Rawdon is the perfect preparation for October’s Four Nations Masters event.
Fletcher partnered fellow masters international Sally Fisher in a fledgling padel pairing that romped to victory at Rawdon on the HOP Women Tour which culminated in a comprehensive straight-sets final victory against Scottish duo Lindsay McCall and Meghan Montgomerie.
The over-40 age group ace was also keen to highlight the importance of the HOP series that saw 16 pairings battle it out in Leeds in what was the fourth instalment of this exciting addition to the women’s padel game.
Yet despite her success with Fisher, Fletcher, who is Middlesborough based, will be resuming her long-standing partnership with regular sidekick Claire Smith and is excited about the ever-expanding opportunities now being presented to female padelers.
The GB international said: “I played with a new partner in Sally who is also part of the GB Seniors squad and although we hadn’t competed together before it was just nice to play with a new partner. It was also just fantastic to see 16 female pairings, some of whom are newer to padel than others, competing and all enjoying the padel at a great host club like Rawdon.
“The two Scottish girls Lindsay and Meghan were very talented players and also a lot younger than us but the key was we got off to a really good start and we actually played better in the final than the semi which was really tight.
“So it was nice to get the win over the Scots but in terms of my partnership with Sally going forward I have a regular partner in Claire Smith who was unavailable this week and it just worked with Sally and I knowing each other through the GB seniors. Also the fact she has been based at my club in Middlesborough this summer while over in the UK from her base in Spain was handy. Our games just gelled.
“But going forward Claire is my regular partner and an ex-tennis player who I play and train with at Middlesborough and she is a great padel player and very competitive and we just really enjoy playing together, she is also a 35-plus internationalist who was also at Vegas last year.
“It’s fantastic to have a HOP Women Tour. Lots of women don’t want fierce competition and Javi Serrats (HOP tournament director) did a great job with 16 couples playing and all different standards at a fantastic friendly club like Rawdon where everyone was comfortable and enjoyed the experience.
“So, you have to be creative about how women compete, not everyone wants to compete against the best men in the country although there are women who do and we have events for them but the HOP Women Tour is growing and it is just giving a lot of us the opportunity to compete outside of the LTA events.”
Fletcher is also excited about the structure and player pathway being put in place for age group players within the GB Women’s Masters set-up as she explained: “Last year we competed in the world championships in Las Vegas and we had a 35-plus, a 40-plus and a 45-plus and this year we are already appealing to the FIP to extend those.
“Within our squad we have not taken any 35 and over players although we are still aware of 35-plus players who are on our radar and played last year at Vegas but we now have a 40s a 45s 50s, 55s and a 60-plus category and we have an initial squad of between 25 and 30 players and we have run an initial squad selection at a great weekend up at Harrogate where we invited lots of players.
“We have created structure where we have a squad which we can pick a team from as we did for a recent friendly with Ireland and we will do this again for other friendlies we have coming up.
“We also have a training camp in Spain coming up in October and really Sally Fisher and Anthea Hunt do a great job with that in terms of all the organising and it has really brought the women together and the teams will be selected from those.
“We also have another group which is our radar group and there will be lots of opportunities for these players but Sally and Anthea have done a great job of setting up a structure as before there was very little structure.
“When we went to Vegas it was a case of who is available and who wants to play? But now we have actually held selection events and we have a really strong base to move forward from.
“Right now we are awaiting confirmation from FIP as to when the next seniors World Championships will be as due to Covid we missed a year and the ’20 tournament was played in October ’21, so we are waiting to hear the confirmation whether it will be March next year or October ’23.”
Next up is a training camp in Spain which will culminate in a Four Nations’ ‘friendly’ face off as Fletcher explained: “We have a training camp in Sotogrande in October and there will be four different nations there. It will be training for two days and then we will have the tournament with the four nations on a friendly basis after that.
“We have just had the friendly with Ireland at Harrogate with two days of competing against them and that was a great success.
“In Sotogrande we have Denmark and Andalucía confirmed and two others also still to be decided on. We have tried to bring some structure to it all and give opportunity to as many players as we can.
“There are opportunities for the squad players and also for players on our radar list which is players who are interested but haven’t played as much and there is just lots of competition but having a sound structure is vital.”
Fletcher was also keen to stress the importance of her Middlesborough training base as she gears up for a busy autumn at the apex of the women’s masters game: “I am head coach at Tennis World and Middleborough Padel Club sits on the same site and although tennis is the sport I have grown up with padel has just given me a new lease of life.
“We have two covered courts that have just been fully-enclosed as Middlesborough winters can get a bit harsh and we have always had a cover on in that respect.
“But we have been open for four years now in October and it was a really bold move for the club to put two padel courts in and we had to raise some money by selling off some land and it has been a fantastic success.
“It is a pay-and-play facility so there is no membership fee for the padel, the courts are busy and at peak time you can’t get a court and within the next 18-months we will be looking to put some more courts in.
“But it is just a great base for me to play my padel and a very friendly one as well.”
“I would say we have around 150 to 200 padel players and we have club nights and classes although not a big coaching programme like the tennis is but the padel is continuing to grow and a free peak-time court is a rarity I can assure you!”
