Aimee Gibson becomes joint British No.1 in padel
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32-year-old Aimee Gibson has reached British No.1 for the first time in her padel career.
Gibson currently shares the title with long-standing No.1 Tia Norton – with both players currently ranked world No.142 in the FIP rankings with 88 points on the season.
She rose six places in the rankings this week after making the semi-finals of the FIP Rise Koksijde in Belgium with Dutch partner Maaike Betz.
Fifth seeds Gibson and Metz were defeated in the final four against Natividad Diaz and Lucia Trella 7-6, 6-2, but the run secured the Brit an additional 11 ranking points to her tally - drawing her level with GB teammate Norton.
"Reaching British No.1 is crazy for me," Gibson said. "My goal for the end of the year was to be inside the top 140 and I’m 142 now and it’s July so I’m really happy with my progress.
"I wasn’t thinking about being GB no.1 but to reach that goal and to get that position is amazing and I’m just really proud of myself."
Having only picked up the sport a couple of years ago, Gibson’s latest achievement follows a strong campaign during her first full season on the international stage.
Gibson won her first event at the FIP Promotion Cairo back in March, reached the final of the FIP Rise Cordenons and has made four semi-finals since the start of the year.
The Brit’s development has followed a further training at a state-of-the-art academy in Barcelona alongside other British stars such as Norton – supported by the team at the LTA.
Her success in the last 12 months has also led to Gibson being named the ‘Female Padel Player of the Year’ at the LTA Tennis Awards, presented by Lexus.
Next week, Gibson will join up with Norton as part of the Great Britain squad competing at the European Championships in Cagliari, Italy from 22-27 July.
"I’m really looking forward to playing at the Euros – it’s my first time playing for GB," she said. "It’s a massive honour to represent my country and playing alongside Tia is going to be great. We’ve won a lot of tournaments together and played a lot of FIPs together so to be able to play in the Euros with her is going to be a really good experience."
