Third island champs bring ‘real buzz’ about future of padel
Four triumphant juniors were among the multiple new winners at a sunny and successful Rocq Capital Island Padel Championships.
The success of ‘the Laurens’ and the emergence of a new top men’s pairing were also highlights of the third edition of the annual event, which took place in baking sunshine at the Guernsey Padel Club.
Utilising all five of the club’s courts, matches unfolded in seven categories, starting on Friday evening and culminating in some close finals on Sunday afternoon.
For the first time, the event included junior tournaments in open and 14-and-under categories.
WATCH: Sam Gregson and Liam De La Mare we were winners of the first ever junior island padel open
A successful programme to deliver PE to secondary school pupils in conjunction with the Guernsey Sports Commission over the past academic year has seen interest from young islanders surge, allowing the creation of these two new events.
In the first of two very close finals, Freddie Furley and Logan Cherrett defeated Chloe de la Mare and Simon Hearne 3-6, 6-1, 10-3 to lift the 14-and-under trophy.
Liam de la Mare and Sam Gregson beat Luke and Cameron Gomes 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 to win the inaugural event in the main junior open.
GPC committee member Sara Woolland marked the new junior events as a big success.
‘The quality of padel displayed, and the sportsmanship shown by all players in the event, was a complete credit to the players and has created a real buzz amongst the island’s padel community about the future of the sport,’ she said.
A number of juniors also entered the men’s open, with Liam de la Mare joining Callum Gladstone to reach the quarter-final stages.
In the other categories, there were large entries across all events, with new faces entering for the first time and a number of new champions crowned.
In the men’s open, Matt de la Mare and Patrick Ogier took an awesome 6-4, 6-2 win from two-time champion Rob West, who had partnered with Nico Robinson.
They had done so in front of a large crowd of spectators on the club’s new outdoor show court.
WATCH: Men's open winners Patrick Ogier and Matt De La Mare on their maiden title
‘We’ve been playing together now since probably the beginning of the year and yeah, to get this win is fantastic,’ de la Mare said.
‘We’ve been working hard to get there ... I couldn’t live with them on a tennis court, but I can compete with them on a padel court, so to be able to do that is brilliant, which is the great thing about padel – it is a bit of a leveller.’
Ogier added: ‘It wasn’t a three set, last set tiebreak sort of match, but the level was good and padel can kind of run away. A match can run away from you a bit, so I think second set we kind of got on top, and we were quite clinical, I think, throughout the tournament.’
The women’s open final, where Chantelle de la Mare and Helen Polli faced Lauren Barker and Lauren Watson-Steele, proved significantly closer.
In a battle lasting almost an hour and a half, in the end it was ‘the Laurens’ who came out on top, winning 6-7, 7-5, 6-4.
WATCH: The 'Two Laurens', Barker and Watson-Steele, on their women's open victory
The duo have not played together in this tournament before – Watson-Steele is a fairly new arrival to the island – and admitted they had used silly rhymes to gel on court.
‘It feels good,’ Barker said.
‘We haven’t actually played together in this tournament before, even though we’ve played a few tournaments together this year. It was fun.
‘The final was really close, though, which made it quite exciting/nerve-racking.’
Watson-Steele added: ‘It felt good to come through, because it was a tough match, and I feel like they played really, really well, so I think it made it exciting for everyone.’
In the mixed doubles, a popular event which contains a variety of pairings from husbands and wives, to brothers and sisters and friends, Ogier and Woolland regained the title they won in 2020.
They won a very close three-set match against Omar Pitarch and Watson-Steele, with the final score standing at 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
In the women’s veterans’ event, last year’s open champions Chantelle de la Mare and Polli – who have just qualified for the over-45 category – reached their second final of the weekend and proved too strong for Louise Inder and Bridget Podger, winning 6-4, 6-1.
Finally, in the men’s vets, Lester Boscher and Phil Radford easily overcame defending champions Ian Robinson and Andy Privett.
Stuart Perfitt, executive chairman of Rocq Capital, said: ‘The championships continues to grow in quantity and quality, featuring more matches of a higher calibre drawn from an ever-increasing pool of talent as the sport continues to flourish locally.
‘This was highlighted by the inaugural U14 and U18 competitions, which were of a very high standard. Rocq Capital is delighted to encourage juniors taking up the sport.
‘Hopefully we will see a new crop of players as the On Your Marks programme in conjunction with the Sports Commission gains momentum.
‘It was a highly successful weekend with some great padel and worthy winners.’
