PIC: 2M sport
Hansie Ruddick grew up in Poole, Dorset but moved to Spain 10 years ago, where, she explains, the sport is so advanced that children are playing it as their first sport. We caught up with the GB regular to learn more about her and most importantly…what her favourite shot is!
Name: Hansie Ruddick
Age: 33
GB rank: I’ve never played in England so I don’t have one! All that will change in August though, I’ll definitely be over for the FIP tournament and can’t wait to kick off my UK career. Seriously exciting times for the sport in the UK – Tom Murray at the LTA is doing such a great job getting the sport officially recognised.
Coach: Chemi Batalla
Academy: Pádel 2.0
Sponsors: Cartri
Occupation: Semi-professional padel player as well as being a teacher, translator and interpreter.
Playing partners: My current partner is Ana Cristina Sánchez Pérez (Spain). Previous partners include María Vera (Spain), and Clara Miret Llorach (Spain).
How many years playing Padel: 5 years
Best thing about Padel: Playing padel at the top level has given me the opportunity to travel, represent my country and do what I love the most.
Best Padel memory: That’s a difficult one. I think it would have to be when I made it into the main draw of the World Padel Tour in Calanda, Spain in 2021. It was a real confidence boost as it made me realise that I could make it despite not being able to dedicate myself to padel full-time. I was very proud to be the first Brit ever to make it to the main draw of the biggest competition in the world.
Best country to play Padel in: For the moment, Spain is without doubt the hotspot for professional padel with all of the top players being based here. If you want to make it, for the moment, you have to be in Spain. There is also a very organised infrastructure set up for amateurs to enjoy the game both in individual and team competitions. You can really appreciate that over here it’s just another level: there are children whose first sport is padel rather than coming from another sport first.
Interesting fact about you that nobody knows: I’ve also represented Great Britain at Indoor Volleyball
Favourite Padel shot: Bandeja
Why?
Because it could be considered a defensive play – to maintain court position – but it’s when I feel most comfortable attacking and so I usually win a pot of points for my team with it!
Advice to anyone looking to try Padel for the first time: I would say that if you are able to control the wall-game, your game will improve greatly. Your defence will be solid and you will have more time to play attacking shots even from the back of the court. Also another tip would be not to underestimate the importance of a good lob: it will get the other team off the net and give you time to take control of it. If you use the walls, you will have more time to be able to reproduce a better lob! Simple!
Best tournament result: Reaching the main draw in the World Padel Tour last year in Calanda.
Aspirations for 2022: Work hasn’t been as flexible as I would have liked this year and I have also suffered a few injuries, so I’ve had to change my goals that I set myself at the beginning of the year. My new objective is to stay fit and healthy so as to enter as many top WPT as possible in order to improve on my ranking from last year.
Good luck Hansie, we’ll be cheering you every step of the way…
