Her latest history-making feat involved a detour to Kazakhstan, where she became the youngest British player to win a main-draw match at a FIP Gold tournament.
She had joined adult Great Britain player and junior coach Lisa Phillips at relatively short notice for the FIP Gold Almaty, with the duo overcoming Russia’s Ksenia Sidorova and Sofia Salimova 7-5, 6-3 in the round of 32. It was also her debut at this level.
‘It felt really good once we won our first match,’ the Guernsey teenager said.
‘It was a really good experience becoming the youngest-ever British player to do it.’
Speaking of her opponents, who had to come through a qualifying match to reach that stage, she said: ‘They were good tennis players and they were good at padel as well and they knew how to play.
‘We had the toughest qualifiers probably, but we just managed to stick to our game plan and then we got the win.’
They could not back that up in their round of 16, where they lost 6-2, 6-1 to Spain’s Jessica Castello Lopez and Lorena Rufo Ortiz, but even that proved an excellent experience.
‘It was a really cool experience to play that high level because they’re both world number 26, so I’ve never played anyone with that high a rank before,’ de la Mare added.
Phillips previously coached her at the FIP Junior World Cup, and de la Mare has trained with her in the past, leading to the 29-year-old contacting her on the entry deadline to see if they could join forces in Kazakhstan.
The Sarnian had played three prior FIP tournaments – two English and one French – but this marked a real step into the unknown.
She tuned up en route by joining Spain’s Ainhoa Rico Martin to win a Home of Padel Grade Two event in Fleet.
Despite the ongoing Middle Eastern crisis, the youngster felt safe to travel out to Kazakhstan and came away thinking it was a ‘really nice country’.
‘When we were there, we looked around a little bit and it was a really cool experience to go further and definitely somewhere I never would have thought I would have gone on a holiday or something.’
Her showing on court lifted her to 418th in the international adult rankings, a position that she now hopes to build on by competing at more FIPs.
‘I’ll see if we can play a few more, get it up again, and then by next year try and actually really get it up to as high as I can really.
‘Maybe top 200 or something by next year and then maybe top 100 in a couple of years – but not quite yet.’
Other goals include making the senior women’s team for the ‘Europeans’ in November.
By then, however, de la Mare may be living a quite different life.
She is currently preparing for GCSEs but with the potential of doing her A-levels online and stepping up her training, perhaps even with a spell in Spain.
This is all with the aim of progressing to a full-time player.
‘That would be my goal.’
Currently, she is receiving support from the Guernsey Sports Commission, Langham Hall, Hiscox and Head towards her off-island padel ambitions.
She also has a supportive padel family behind her.
Her elder brother Liam has his own big ambitions and is also hopeful of heading out to Spain later in the year, after his A-levels, while parents Matt and Lucienne have great pride in her success.
‘It’s amazing to see how much she’s developed in padel over a short period of time,’ said mother Lucienne after watching her shine in Almaty.
‘When I saw her playing in Kazakhstan, I’d not seen her playing at that level.
‘She trains at that level, but I don’t really see her that much.
‘Watching her in a tournament, being able to properly rally with some of the world’s best padel players, was quite a moment for me.
‘I thought actually maybe this clearly is realistic that she can, in the next few years, get into the top 50, top 30 maybe in the world.
‘It’s possible. From what other people are telling us as well – people think a lot of Chloe and think that she’s got a huge amount of potential.'
