Tom's GB Debut and British Padel Breakthrough: Euro Cup 2025 Update

Welcome to Madrid for phase two of the Euro Cup 2025 qualifiers. It's an incredible moment for British Padel. Both our men's and women team have gone directly into phase two and now it's time to take on the challenge and try to qualify for that next important stage. For both myself and Tom, this is a really special one. I'm here as the men's GB team coach, which is the first time I will be on the bench with the team played for the last 10 years. And Tom is out representing GB for the first time after training and making his way into the team. So this is a special occasion for both of us. Every year the level is higher in Europe, the pressure is on and there's everything to play for as both teams play for a place in the final eight of the Euro Cup. Let's take you behind the scenes of what it's like at this level for the preparation and match play to the atmosphere here in Madrid. A huge part of performing at our best in the Euro cup is the training days ahead of time. So we have arranged a training match with Sweden, the top seed in this phase two of the Euro cup. And that's really just for the players to challenge themselves and get used to playing a match and in these conditions at this temperature in Madrid, so that they can play their best when it comes to the tournament. Following a favorable draw for the men's GB team, we have in our group we have Monaco, Switzerland and Greece. The atmosphere at the venue is absolutely electric. It's a big club, 17 courts, but nothing is that big when you are cramming in four to 500 players over the course of a week. And so every court has a buzzing atmosphere around it, lots of support from each of the countries in order to help push them through to that next round. One of the best things about going to these events with a men's and a women's team is that each team can support each other while they are playing. So. So the women are supporting the men's team while they're on court and vice versa for their matches. The men's GB team managed to come through Switzerland on the first day. A few tight matches there against you could see some good ex tennis players that are gradually building their game in Padel and all of the players did well. Tom had a great performance for his first outing. 4 GB looking confident on the court already. These quick conditions are definitely suiting Tom's game, where he plays a fast, aggressive net court game with some big smashes. Any opportunity that that lob goes up is either a fast vibra or a topspin kick Smash either going out the three meters or bringing it back to his side. There's no running out of these courts on any of the courts during the Euro cup. So any kick Smash that goes out by 3 meters over the fence is an immediate winner. So that is a huge weapon to have in any of the players. Arsenal GB come through a well fought victory against Greece on day two. A very competitive Greece side. It's a relatively new paddle nation but you can see, see already some of the very good ex competitive tennis players are coming into the sport and already they are producing a great team. So I wouldn't be surprised in years to come to see that team get stronger and stronger. But a solid all round performance from all of the GB players to take us through to the next day.

When you've got a little bit of time. Especially now, what's happening is the big guy, he's trying to anticipate play a lot of Smash.

So he's like already as soon as.

You go like this, he's moving back because he wants to, to get underneath it. I think you can play down to his feet and, and approach the net. I like, like he's starting to save energy basically and move, move back and I think still we got that log.

To the right side. We're just still, you know, putting pressure.

On the him, on him and then taking the net when he can. Let's get it this game now this.

One come a very convincing victory against Monaco for GB men's team to qualify in the top four of phase two. They're now going to join the strongest four teams in Europe which is Spain, Italy, France and Portugal. And that will be at the next phase. So a lot of training needed between now and then to have a chance to take on those top four. Summarizing the play for GB men's all three days. Very solid play from our team. Looking stronger and stronger each day. Yes, we weren't challenged as much as we will be definitely in the next phase of this competition. I think the faster courts suited a lot of our players and that's obviously something to take into account for this next phase. But we're all heading home to the practice courts with plenty to work on and plenty to focus for over the next couple of months while we prepare for the bigger challenge. Coming a fantastic victory from the GB women's team on the last day over Sweden. That was the deciding match to see who would qualify from the group. GB women's have come through and therefore will also finish in the top four of the European Championships in this phase two. And we'll go through to the next round, joining the men's for the challenge in a couple of months time.