National Padel County Championships

Over the weekend of 15^th & 16^th November, the Buckinghamshire County Padel squad headed to Bristol for the biggest UK Padel County Championships ever - spread across two top-tier venues, including Rocket Padel Bristol, the largest padel facility in Britain with 12 double courts.

With 34 counties represented and 300+ players, including top-10 ranked athletes, the competition was fierce and with some fixtures streamed live on YouTube, it made for an electric atmosphere. Bucks arrived ready to compete in the mixed, men’s, and women’s events, proudly sporting their brand-new kits.

The format for all competitions is a 2 pair match, with the 1^st pairs playing each other and the 2^nd seeds playing each other. It’s best of 3 sets, with the final set being a championship 10 point tie-break. If the fixture finishes with one win for each team, the tie is decided by taking one player from each pairing to play a 10-point ‘super tie-break’ shootout to decide the match.

The mixed competition kicked off on Saturday in a fast-4 knockout format (first to 4 sets, with a tie-break at 3-3), so it was high stakes from the very first point! Pair 1 (George Weller & Tabitha Reid) and Pair 2 (Caroline Saker & James Gregory) faced rivals Berkshire after they’d moved past Northumberland in the first round.

Berkshire decided they would have the best chance by ‘stacking’ their second pair with stronger players, and hoping for a shootout. Bucks first pair got the job done quickly with a good victory, then were able to watch a dramatic showdown for the second pairs. Bucks battled back from a set down to force a deciding 3^rd set tiebreak. In front of a packed crowd of around 50 roaring fans, two powerful smashes sent the ball flying out of the court for the last points of the tie-break, sealing a thrilling Bucks win and sending the squad into the quarterfinals. Although Surrey proved too strong in the next round (and eventually lifted the trophy), Bucks had already delivered one of the weekend’s most memorable matches.

Sunday brought more battling performances from both the men’s and women’s squads. The men’s team (Jared Robinson & George Weller as Pair 1, and James Gregory & James Saker as Pair 2) dominated their early group matches against Leicestershire and Somerset, so went into the Sunday with everything to play for. They faced a very strong Channel Islands team, with some of their players training full-time in Spain. They narrowly missed out progressing to the next round but showed some excellent skill taking the team close and finishing second overall in their group.  

Meanwhile, the women (Pair 1: Caroline Saker & Diana Pavon Garrido; Pair 2: Tabitha Reid & Ella Widdowson, with support from sub Amy Kenworthy) were in a group of 5. They had a great win against Wiltshire on the first day across both pairs, then faced seeds Gloucestershire. Unfortunately, the first pair lost a third set tie-break with the second pair just losing out in two close fought sets. On Sunday we faced Lancashire and took two great victories across both pairs, but then just came up short against a strong unseeded Northumberland side, ending on a super tie-break with Caroline Saker and Tabitha Reid falling short 8-10.

From iconic smashes and nail-biting super tie-breaks to loud cheers and standout hoodies, there’s no doubt Buckinghamshire brought the best team spirit, the biggest energy, and the most stylish kit of the Championship! Huge thanks to Bucks County Tennis for their generous support in funding the entry and outfitting the squad - we couldn’t have done it without you. With solid performances against top-ranked counties and unforgettable moments along the way, the squad is already fired up for next year’s goal: make it out of the group stages and cement Bucks among the elite of British padel. Game on!