Picking and choosing which European nations will have the highest growth rate in padel in the coming years, the UK is surely in this group. Growth has already been remarkable in recent years: according to data from the FIP Research & Data Analysis Department, at the beginning of 2020 there were just over 60 courts, rising to 130 in 2021, over 250 in 2022 and over 400 in 2023 (an increase of over 600% in three years). There are currently estimated to be more than 170 clubs (the majority of which are affiliated with the Lawn Tennis Association, the federation that governs padel in the UK), 470 courts and around 120,000 amateur padel players. Although padel is booming in recent years, the sport already has a history in the UK. In 1992, the first federation called ‘The Padel Federation Great Britain’ was created as a non-profit organisation dedicated to the development and promotion of padel. In 2013, it became the British Padel Association, before merging with the Lawn Tennis Association in 2019.
At the level of national competitions, UK has also achieved good results such as a double third place (men’s and women’s) in the 2019 FIP European Padel Championships in Rome and the bronze medal in Boys’ competition in the 2015 FIP Juniors World Padel Championships in Mexico City. The British federation’s membership is around 15,000 and 97 British players are currently listed in the FIP world rankings (37 women and 60 men).
The FIP Rise Rocks Lane scheduled for the weekend will be the fifth tournament in both women’s and men’s CUPRA FIP Tour history (all FIP Rise category) to be played in England and always in London. Tournament winners on this circuit include three British players: Tia Louisa Norton (No. 137 in the world ranking, born in 2003), who won the FIP Rise London in 2022 and the one in Al Alamein (Egypt) in 2023, Aimee Gibson (No. 180 in the FIP ranking) who just triumphed in early March 2024 in the FIP Promotion Cairo and is the entry list in Rocks Lane, and Christian Medina Murphy (currently No. 132 in the FIP ranking and the best British player), who won the FIP Promotion Elche in 2023.