Performance and national teams
National teams
If an individual shows talent, they should be identified by their local coach or venue and be referred on to one of our National Coaches. Alternatively, you can direct any queries below:
Following assessment, we will recommend the best route for player development; this may be to join one of our national training days, or it could lead to individuals representing Great Britain as part of our GB National Team.
Our aim is for talented players to develop their skills in a performance environment leading to potential selection onto our GB National Teams. Selected GB players get the opportunity to compete internationally at annual events, representing Great Britain at World Championships and European Championships.
Eligibility
Eligible to represent Great Britain, players must hold, or be eligible for, a British passport.
Evaluation of players
Players have many opportunities for recognition, which are available in a variety of categories and age groups (from juniors to adults and seniors both male and female):
- Invitations to National Camps
- Domestic tournament results (LTA Padel Tour)
- International Competitions (FIP, WPT)
- Selection by a National Coach
Selection process
Final team selections are made by the National Coach for each category and age group. To find out who the National Coach is for a particular category please contact us.
Performance players
Performance players must:
- Be eligible to represent Great Britain or be committed to becoming eligible to represent Great Britain and have a reasonable prospect of doing so.
- Adhere to the LTA Code of Conduct at all times and complete necessary anti-doping and anti-corruption training as required.
National Tennis Centre access
The National Tennis Centre (NTC) will act as a performance player base whereby players from around the country will be invited to on-going sessions throughout the year. Subsidised training sessions will be available in a variety of categories for selected players.
Performance players will be able to train weekly from the NTC (subject to individual player agreements and availability). Performance players will also be able to stay at the accommodation on offer at the NTC, subject to availability. National players can also benefit from discounted rates. Players should contact the NTC directly for any enquiries and rates: ntc.enquiries@lta.org.uk.
Performance coaching staff will provide guidance to performance players for training and competition, and encourage players to compete in sanction tournaments (Grades 1 & 2, and FIP events).
LTA Padel (National Tour)
The LTA Padel National Tour provides a circuit of tournaments designed to give up and coming players the opportunity to gain experience in their quest to become professional padel players. It provides competition for professional players in the UK in-between competing in professional events both in the UK and abroad, as well as providing a national level open competition circuit. The tournaments are grade 1 and grade 2 and therefore primarily aimed at performance players with a rating of 5.0 or better, although any rating may enter.
As of 2022, these higher graded events will be strategically scheduled around the domestic GB FIP-Tour events. This is to allow players to compete for the reward of feed-up Wildcards into the relevant swing of Pro-Series events.
For further information and full schedule, please see the Compete section of the website.