FOLLOWING Great Britain’s 14th place finish at the recent World Padel Championships, the search to locate the next prodigy to break into that national team must necessarily begin.
The doyen of British padel, Richard Brooks – at 41 years old – despite girding his limbs to answer the call of his country in Dubai, can’t be expected to go on forever.
Similarly, 30-something Sandy Farquharson may be approaching the tipping point where an increasingly chaotic business life relegates international padel to a secondary importance.
In a new series we speak to padel clubs across the UK to find the stars of the future.
Before the Derby World Championship qualifiers, 18-year-old Theo Garton was invited to attend Team GB squad training sessions at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton.
The Tennis World Middlesbrough hopeful also attended the European World Championship Qualifiers at We Are Padel to support the British men and women’s teams.
Theo revealed: “There have been a few GB training sessions down at the NTC at Roehampton and I got invited along to join them and train with them as a squad which was really good and – in terms of seeing how it is all done – just invaluable.
“There is the team and then the squad and the squad is very strong considering padel has not been really established in the UK for that long.
“There are around 20 members of the actual squad and it is a very high standard. But for me the target is to be in there wearing the GB shirt, which is what ultimately I am striving towards.
“Obviously I will need to put a lot of hard work in to achieve that as, like I said there are a lot of really strong players ahead of me.
“The big thing stepping up is the power aspect and particularly in terms of the smash and also the maturity and advantage that a lot of the players have over me as they have just been doing it for a lot longer.
“That extra experience can be vital in the big points as they don’t tend to miss so it is a lot more competitive but I really enjoy that.”
Theo added: “Recently I went to Derby to support the team and I think they did very well to qualify and I watched the livestream from Dubai and they competed well but I think the difference is the experience some of the other teams had at that level.
“But the boys did really well and gave a very good account of themselves.”
Young Garton recently won the LTA Grade One event at West of Scotland Padel with trusted partner Richard Love and at six in the national rankings already is starting to come increasingly into focus in the bigger picture.
However he is having to juggle his naked padel ambition with a burgeoning career as a quantity surveyor yet with sponsorship from Royal Padel and Padel Lab it is clear that his promise is gaining increasing attention.
Reflecting on this Theo said: “I would like to play full-time and see what level I can get to. But right now that is not viable as I just don’t have the funding and I have had to get a job as a quantity surveyor which means less time for training but realistically I’d really like to give it a go full-time within the next five years.
“Going forward in 2023 me and Richard want to play a few more tournaments and have a crack at the FIP Rise events.
“Ricky and I lost the first round of qualifying at the London Rise in a very tight match against a Spanish pairing who made it all the way through to the main draw.
“But it was a really good experience and we learnt a lot from that as these type of matches can be invaluable when you are looking to improve and learn the game competitively.”
Theo’s father Nigel was part of the first Team GB to take part in a World Padel Championships back in 1992 in Spain where we finished fourth – our highest ever placed finish by a distance to date.
With his father figure readily masterminding training sessions at Tennis World Middlesbrough it was after one of these rigorous rev-ups that The Padel Paper caught up with the teenaged talent.
Down the line Theo’s gratitude to his father was clear: “Obviously Dad is the one who got me into the sport and encouraged me to play it and he has been the one who has pushed me on and just always been there with encouragement and advice.
“Dad played in the first world padel championships in ’92 when we made the semis so he has a huge wealth of experience to draw on and obviously he is head padel coach at Tennis World Middlesbrough and that is a massive help for me.
“We have just finished a coaching session and hit a few balls and he made some technical points to me that were very helpful and he always picks up on the small things that as a player you can maybe miss.
“I am 18 and I certainly don’t know everything and so to have my dad analysing things is just invaluable and can only help me improve.”
The question then arises just where are the areas young Garton must improve to achieve his dream of national service: “I need to play a bit more and obviously gain more experience but I also must make more shots and improving my consistency is something I definitely need to work on.
“Also I am six foot one and I weigh just under 11 stone so I do have work to do to bulk up and get more power into my game.
“So I will be looking to spend a bit more time in the gym on my strength and conditioning but that will all come in good time.”
At a time when much focus has been on the senior British teams, it’s encouraging for the LTA to know that such excellent work is being done in preparing the next generation.
Ethan bardo is 1 to look out fir
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