Rocks Lane Hosts National Padel Tournament

Over 100 competitors play one of the world’s fastest growing sports

Some of the competitors in the tournament in Chiswick

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A sports tournament with participants from across the country was held in Chiswick this month.

The LTA Padel National Tour - Playtomic Open took place at the Rocks Lane Sports Centre on Chiswick Back Common from 21-24 July.

Over the 4-day event, there were over 150 entries, 100 matches, 125 paellas eaten, 500 beers drank, and lots of music and dancing.

Thursday kicked off the Tournament with the Men’s and Women's 50+ Competition, followed by the 40+ on Friday. The Open events started on Saturday and the afternoon saw the Men's and Ladies Senior Finals which were live streamed for the first time in the UK followed by an evening of Spanish music, Paella and drinks at Rocks Lane’s new fully licensed Bar.

The tournament drew to a finale on Sunday evening and the finalists and winners of the Open events were presented with trophies and prizes from sponsors.

The Winners were:

Open Men's: Rafa Vega and Chris Salisbury
Open Ladies: Abigail Tordoff and Lisa Phillips
Men's 40s: Craig De Silva and Nick Yates
Women's 40s: Jo Ward and Helen Crook
Men’s 50s: Chris Warren and Drew Warren
Women’s 50s: Sally Fisher and Anthea Hunt

The winners are congratulated during prize-giving ceremony

Chris Warren said, “This is one of the most exciting and fun events that we have ever organised at Rocks Lane, Chiswick. It’s so satisfying to see so many people with huge smiles on their faces. We will definitely be making this an annual event.”

The event was organised and managed by General Manager, Barry Murray, his assistant Paulina Kita and Rafa Vega and his Padel team.

For anyone new to Padel, it has become one of the fastest-growing sports in the world and is very accessible to all ages and abilities. It is a cross between tennis, squash and beach tennis but using a lighter racket and a softer ball for ease and a more extended rally, its popularity is.

A spokesperson for Rocks Lane said, “We have just celebrated Rocks Lane’s 30th Birthday, and it gave us great pleasure to be able to host such an inspiring event and celebrate with so many of our staff, customers and players who have become so dedicated to sport at Rocks Lane and who are now embracing the exciting new sport of Padel.

“At Rocks Lane, everyone is welcome and it's great to see so many new faces on the Padel courts, individuals making new friends, families playing together, local businesses having staff team-building events and players of all ages coming along to play for fun or to enjoy some healthy competition.

“The future is bright for Rocks Lane with 4 covered Padel courts due to be available for play in September in time for the winter season.

“We look forward to welcoming more up-and-coming players, not only for Padel but our Friday Night 5s football and netball events, adults playing netball and five a side and also tennis coaching. For anyone looking for the children to do during the school holidays, we have Summer Holiday Courses running Monday to Friday throughout July and August, please contact one of our centres for availability at rockslane.co.uk.”

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July 31, 2022