Jo Ward & Dawn Foxhall’s bronze medal match headlines British performances at the 2024 FIP Seniors World Padel Championships

The FIP Seniors World Padel Championships saw over 600 players come together to compete in a team event as well as individual competitions across different age groups from 35+ to 55+.

Women's results

The standout result of the week came for Great Britain women’s co-captains Jo Ward and Dawn Foxhall who finished in fourth in the 45+ women’s individual event. This was the best performance by a British women’s pair in the history of the competition.

Ward and Foxhall came through four matches to reach the semi-final before narrowly losing out 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 against top seeds Roberta Zandarin and Sabina Da Ponte.

The British duo progressed to the bronze medal match, but were defeated by Argentina’s Maria Cicceralli and Natalia Evaristti 6-2, 6-1.

"For a nation that is still very new to padel, to come here and finish ninth is a fantastic achievement," Ward said. "Given the only countries we lost to were second seeds Italy, and padel veterans Argentina, many of whom were former professionals, this shows how far we’ve come.

"On a personal level, for Dawn and I to reach the semi-finals was such a great experience and has given us the confidence to know we can compete at the highest level. Our GB team mantra is that nobody will out-improve us, and I’m so proud of how much everyone has progressed in such a short period of time. We are already planning for the European Championships next year."

British players also made the third round in the 40+ category and the second round of the 35+, 50+ and 55+. All pairs at least won their opening round matches.

In the team event, the GB women’s team were drawn against Italy and Norway in Group B. The Brits opened with a resounding 5-0 sweep over Norway in their opening match but lost out to a strong Italian side 4-1 to finish second in the group.

GB went into the draw for positions 8-14, starting off with a tie against Denmark. Three straight wins for Sally Fisher and Louise Baker, Helen Crook and Victoria Davies, as well as Ward and Foxhall gave them a 3-2 victory, setting up a clash with Germany.

This British trio of pairings set the tone once again with three wins against the Germans without dropping a set.

In the eighth-ninth place play-off however, they were defeated by Argentina 5-0 – giving them a ninth-place finish overall.

Men's results

The GB men’s team were dealt a tough hand in Group H up against Mexico and tournament new-comers Finland.

Despite victories for Richard Brooks and Michael Tolman, as well as Ben Gudzalek and James Asensio, the British side lost to Finland 3-2, before a 5-0 defeat against Mexico.

Therefore, the Brits went into the draw for positions 17-24. Up first were the Czech Republic, where the team recorded their first victory of the competition.

Tim Webb and John Byrne opened with a 6-1, 6-2 win in the 35+, before Gudzalek combined with Berislav Bobus to get his second of four victories in the team competition. Brooks and Tolman closed out what would eventually be a 3-2 win by defeating Dalibor Ptak and Marek Svejnoha 6-2, 7-5.

After a loss against Urugauy in the semi-finals, the Brits sealed their 19^th place finish having come back from one match down to clinch a 3-2 victory over Egypt in their final play-off.

In the individual events, standout performers included Asensio and Richard Love making the third round of the 35+.

Co-captain Gudzalek said: “This was the third Senior World Championships, at the last event the men had been playing for the wooden spoon on the final day, so our aspirations ahead of these championships was to do better than that!

“There was a great team spirit by the end of the event. I’m proud of the commitment everyone showed, and effort given by those playing on the court and those supporting off court.

“It would be great if we could build the squad and use this as momentum to make improvements for the Europeans next year."