It has been a truly staggering year for padel in the UK. With courts numbers rocketing, new players flocking, the sport’s profile booming and investors queueing up, we’re heading into 2026 in very rude health indeed.
The Padel Paper has been there every step of the way to keep the sport’s stakeholders, players and fans updated on the latest developments. To end a momentous year, we thought we’d pick out some highlights…
5. GB’s FIP Euro Padel Cup campaign
Great Britain may still trail behind the world’s padel super powers, but our performances at this year’s FIP Euro Padel Cup events offered glimpses that we have the potential to step up the hierarchy in years to come.
Catherine Rose and Lisa Phillips’ dramatic win over Sweden in Phase 2 of the competition in Madrid last summer felt like a decisive moment in GB’s professional padel timeline. Then in the Final 8 in Cadiz in October, GB’s men gave eventual finalists Portugal a massive scare before beating Sweden in the final group game.
Men’s captain Sandy Farquharson called the campaign “a really big step” in GB’s roadmap, while our women’s victory over Germany – and the debut of 16-year-old Rosie Quirk – were also positive takeaways.
4. The Pro Am Padel Tour
This year’s addition of community days, delivered in partnership with the LTA, has elevated the Pro Am Padel Tour even further up the pecking order of UK padel institutions.
Founded in 2023, the Tour pairs Britain’s top players with high-profile celebrities, sports stars and influencers to amplify padel across thousands of social timelines and mainstream media.
Now the Tour is not only raising padel’s profile but nurturing the game’s grassroots by giving thousands of young people, many from disadvantaged communities, the opportunity to experience padel and continue playing the game affordably.
3. The UK Padel Convention
Never before has the burgeoning UK padel industry been united in one place as it was at The Padel Club Gloucester Quays in November.
Founded by recent university graduate George Modler and his Padel Directory co-founder Ben Harris, the UK Padel Convention was nothing short of a triumph.
The value of being able to connect face-to-face with fellow stakeholders was immense. Barriers were broken down, faces were put to names, friendships and partnerships were forged, deals with brokered and Estrella Galicia was consumed with gusto.
2. Launch of the Jason Manford Padel Academy
Whilst it’s been a marvel to see how British padel club infrastructure has exploded in 2025 (reaching the cusp of 2000 courts by the end of the year), one area of concern has been children’s limited accessibility to the sport.
Comedian, actor and padel fanatic Jason Manford has stepped into this void, launching his own padel academy to give thousands of schoolchildren their first taste of padel at intro events and competitions all over the country.
With a particular focus on engaging pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, Jason has become a padel ‘pied piper’ and a vital figure in our sport’s development at grassroots level.
1. Aimee Gibson breaking into the world top 100
We could have picked from so many milestones achieved by the peerless Aimee Gibson in 2025, but breaking into double figures in the world rankings back in January was possibly the most meaningful.
Only Richard Brooks (back in a very different era) had ever before put the GB flag inside the top 100 of the world padel rankings.
Now aged 34, the GB no.1’s work ethic, ambition and indomitable spirit are unmatched and a shining example to the generations of British players that will follow in her footsteps.
