The 14-year-old shares first place in this week’s adult-level women’s rankings with UK-based partner Rosie Quirk.
Although these rankings are based on domestic competition and differ to the international tables, where touring professional Aimee Gibson is the top British player, it is another huge milestone for the promising young pairing.
‘It feels really good, although it wasn’t really a goal of mine to be honest,’ she said.
‘I just love playing and want to get as good as I can. I don’t really worry about rankings but I guess it means we’re doing ok.’
Essex’s Quirk is only 15 and they joined forces again last weekend to chalk up their third LTA Grade Two victory so far this year.
The youngsters were not among the seeded pairings at Rocket Padel Bristol but made relatively light work of second seeds Amy Cairns and Sophia Haine in the final, winning 6-2, 6-3.
Their biggest hurdle of the tournament had come in the quarter-finals, where they battled to a 6-4, 7-6 victory against Georgia Lawson and Ceire Mullins, who had just eliminated the top seeds.
This came just a week after placing runners-up in a similar Grade Two at Epsom’s Padel Hub, where they cruised through the rounds only to be stunned by world top-100 players Natividad Lopez Diaz and Aida Martinez. The two Spaniards won 6-1, 6-0.
De la Mare and Quirk, who began competing together a year ago, had already been in the LTA’s top 10 at the start of 2025 but have gone from strength to strength.
They had already climbed into the national top three following victories in Ilford and Stratford.
‘I love playing with Rosie, she’s an amazing player and I know she’s working just as hard as I am. We’ve won 3 tournaments this year and have so much fun playing together,’ said de la Mare.
‘I now want to continue improving and playing competitions in the UK but also if at all possible play some competitions in Europe.
‘I just want to say thank you to everyone who’s helping me like the Guernsey Sports Commission, Hiscox, Sure and Langham Hall.’
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