IRISH No.1 Graham Murray says the experience of playing in the World Championship European qualifiers has only served to whet his side’s appetite for more major tournament padel action.
The fighting Irish went down to a gutsy 3-0 defeat at the hands of no.4 seeded Denmark in their opening Group D contest with Murray and partner Nulty at the apex of his country’s line-up.
But as befits his country’s proud sporting heritage that has left Murray a man in a hurry for more big game hunting and he said: “Unfortunately we have come up against a very strong Danish side who are seeded No.4 and we came off second best. But you know what we loved every minute of it,” said Murray.
He continued: “For me personally this was my first experience of the international environment and I’m glad to say there were no bagels in sight.
“I have only been playing for a year and have played a lot of tennis in the past but after being on holiday in Spain I tried padel and I love it and can’t get enough.
“I play at Bushy Park in Dublin and we have four outdoor courts there and we are at the mercy of the Irish weather.
“When you come to a venue like We Are Padel in Derby, well it is just insane and we need something like this over in Ireland to help kick-start the sport big time.
“When you have outdoor courts it is hard to train but we just don’t have enough courts despite the growing interest in padel in Ireland.
“I would say there are maybe 15-20 courts in the whole country and 90% of these are around Dublin.
“We have Lithuania next as our Saturday match and we are determined to do all we can to take a scalp.
“Obviously we are amateurs and when you see the pros from country’s like Portugal it is just awesome.
“But we will take our knocks go home and reassess and look to come again because after savouring this weekend we all want more.”
