SCOTTISH padel ace Ali Gordon believes that the publication of Tennis Scotland’s much anticipated plan for padel is crucial to the game’s development north of the Border.
With only around 15 courts in action in his homeland so far and competitive opportunity at a minimum the two-time national titlist has no doubt that the laying out of a competitive pathway is vital to the sport’s hopes of growing in similar fashion to England.
There is no Scottish national team currently in existence and there was also a lack of a veteran version to compete in the prestigious recent Six Nations age group tournament in Finland.
Of course the game’s governing body in the UK, the LTA, will launch padel officially in 2023, and next year is sure to be similarly exciting for the sport north of Hadrian’s Wall as Gordon reflected: “It is really important to have something to aim for and train for and for the generation now taking up padel in Scotland to have a focus for their aims within the game.
“A lot of people, and that includes padel players, haven’t seen professional padel played, so a lot of it will be raising awareness and the level of the game and offering them that pathway to improve and take part in these competitions. That will hopefully be the next step if it is in Tennis Scotland’s plan for padel up here.
“We have clubs like West of Scotland, Edinburgh Sports Club, and Thistle Padel and they are hosting tournaments and that is invaluable to developing padel in Scotland. I played in a Grade One at West of Scotland at the start of the year and it was great.
“I partnered up with a tennis coach called Ross Murdoch from Thistle Padel Club. We came through qualifying and then we drew seeds and lost 11-9 on the third set tie-break, so it was very close and we certainly competed.
“There were lots of competitive matches, you met a lot of new people, and we just need more of these opportunities across Scotland.
“I have thought of playing LTA Grade Two events and also the HOP Tour and I am really keen to compete more.”
In terms of a Scottish team ready to sport the saltire on foreign soil there is currently no representation: “So we don’t have an official Scottish team and I hope that Tennis Scotland will implement that as an extension of the LTA,” said Gordon.
The 26-year-old continued: “So you would hope performance will come into that and that would mean that a Scottish team would be a focal point for that aspect.
“As of yet we have the governing body but we don’t really have things set up with Tennis Scotland yet, so I very much hope that a Scotland Team will happen in the future and that we can filter through some of the younger players into it in maybe the next three years or so.
“When you look at some of the English players just now, who have a bit of a jump in padel (on us), they are going off to play in Spain and we are not at that level having adopted padel that bit later but I think the Scottish team will come.
“Thistle Padel recently went down to Roehampton and represented Scotland at the LTA Club League Finals which was a great first padel team experience for some of the players.”
Despite having won the Scottish Open twice Gordon admits his status at the elite end of padel in Scotland is somewhat uncertain: “It’s a tricky one in Scotland to put your finger on the rankings with few Scottish players, myself included, playing regularly in top LTA tournaments.”
“But a couple of years back in 2017 and 2018 I won the Scottish Open twice playing with Angel Benito Castano, who was a Spanish coach we had over here. He played in UK events with Jorge Martinez and we played together in events in Edinburgh.
“Angel and I played together and it was a strong pairing. In Scotland I was probably one of the earliest to train for padel and I had a bit of a jump on it.
“So I think I could be regarded as one of the top players in Scotland but based on the LTA rankings you might say not!”
Ali was also the man who organised the first inter-university padel match between Edinburgh University and Stirling University, having graduated with a degree in Sport and Recreation Management at the former.
He said: “During my last year at Edinburgh Uni, another student called Sammy McKinney and I started what we believe was the first official UK University Padel Club at Edinburgh and we had various training sessions and social gatherings and then in March of this year we organised a match between Stirling University and ourselves.
“They brought a really strong tennis team, having the GB tennis base there, and it was a really good match with everyone playing everyone and it was a great day made even better by the fact we only lost one match!
“While the tennis players were really good, they didn’t have as much experience of how to deal with the walls and that was an advantage for us.”
Ali is now employing his padel expertise in the role of sales manager for Game4Padel and admits his background has been steeped in racket sports ever since he can remember and he said: “We were all rackets mad in my family and I had two older brothers so I ended up jumping into tennis at four years old. One of my brothers played in Judy Murray’s team when he was a junior.
“So I started with tennis and moved to badminton where I played it at junior international level and I still play on the Scottish circuit and the odd international tournament but largely now I play to county level.
“I have also moved into badminton coaching with the junior national squad and also the Edinburgh Performance Programme although I still play tennis.
“Padel-wise we were frequently on holiday at La Manga Club and always played tennis on the clay and saw padel, gave it a go and in subsequent years we played padel every day and just loved the social nature of it and how easy it was to get going.
“Then in 2016 I probably had my first hits of padel in Scotland at Edinburgh Sports Club. Since Thistle Padel has been open, that has been my home club.”
