“We’re heading in the right direction” – Aimee Gibson & Alex Loughlan on GB’s results at FIP Euro Padel Cup Final 8
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As the dust settles on the first FIP Euro Padel Cup Final 8 in Cadiz, Great Britain’s women’s and men’s teams have plenty of positives to take away.
Both sides managed to finish third in their groups – claiming wins over Germany and Sweden on the final days to end their campaigns on a high.
The Brits have made impressive progress over recent years and both teams outperformed their results from last year (women’s team finished 10th and men’s 7th).
Having arrived back on home soil after a busy week in Spain, we caught up with British women’s No.1 Aimee Gibson and British men’s No.2 Alex Loughlan to get their reaction to this year’s Final 8.
“Overall, it was a really good week,” said Gibson. “We were drawn against France and Italy on the first two days, who were two of the strongest teams in the draw. Even though we lost, it was a really good experience for us to play such high level players.
“Tia (Norton) and I played against the world No.26 for France and then the world No.24 for Italy, so that’s a very different level to what we’re used to. I thought we fought really hard, learnt a lot from those matches and it’s a great experience to be on the court with them. We put up a good fight and I thought the team showed their spirit and they were performances to be proud of.”
Despite losing out to two of the top padel nations in the world in the opening matches, the Brits came out fighting on day three against Germany in their final match.
A 2-1 victory for Gibson and the rest of the team meant that they finished third in the group and one place away from a semi-final spot.
Having finished in 10th last year, the squad – which now boasts two top 100 players in Gibson and Catherine Rose – are continuing to develop at a fast rate.
“On the last day we beat Germany in very difficult conditions – it was very windy and sunny,” Gibson added. “After having those two days of tough losses we went into it with really high spirits. We won our match in three sets and so did Catherine (Rose) and Lisa (Phillips) and it was really nice to finish on a high and come third in the group.
“I think we can come away knowing that while those top countries are a little bit ahead of us at the moment, given how far we’ve come in such a short space of time, it’s only going to be up from here. We’ve already made so many quick improvements and I think we’re heading in the right direction.”
It was a similar story for Loughlan and the men’s team – who lost out to Spain and Portugal in their first matches before defeating Sweden.
Loughlan and Louie Harris were two of the standout performers for Great Britain, coming within just one point of defeating Portuguese world No.37s Miguel and Nuno Deus, before losing 6-7, 7-5, 7-6 in over three hours.
The duo also got GB off to a winning start against Sweden in the final match and have started to form a formidable partnership that they will be taking to the LTA Padel National Championships later this year.
“I think it was just a great team performance from everyone,” Loughlan said. “The last week has been great being with the team and showing what GB can do when we hit our level.
“We can compete with these other teams that we want to measure ourselves up against. We showed that against Portugal, coming very close and then again facing Sweden and beating them on the last day.
“The most enjoyable thing for me was just being in the team atmosphere. When you’re playing for the national team and have all your teammates cheering you on from the side and getting you through the tough times in the matches, it really makes you play better and feel good on the court.
“The Deus brothers match was crazy – we had a match point in the second set. It’s a bit of a bitter one to swallow knowing we could have won that match, but if you’d asked me at the start of the tournament if I’d win a set off players ranked 37 in the world, I don’t think I would have said yes.
“We have to take the positives that on our day, if we play our best, we can compete with these top players and show that GB can do that. Hopefully in the next couple of tournaments it wouldn’t be impossible to look at trying to make a semi-final spot.”
