Padel: ‘Living the dream as Britain’s best player’

Being British number one has its benefits.

Just ask Tia Norton.

"I've seen Stormzy a couple of times," she says.

"There's been occasions where he's been eating breakfast on the table next to me, which is quite surreal."

Tia, 20, is the UK's top female padel player - and she's got some A-List company.

Stormzy plays it in his downtime, as do David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo.

It's said to be the world's fastest-growing sport, with courts popping up everywhere and big money flowing into the game.

Other sport stars like Virgil van Dijk and Andy Murray have invested in it, and there's hope it could become an Olympic sport by 2032.

"In very simple terms padel is a combination of tennis and squash in the same sport," Tia explains.

"You always play it in doubles. It's about three quarters of the size of a tennis court.

"You have a net in the middle but you also have walls all around you. The ball has to hit the floor before it touches any of the walls and then you have to hit it off the wall before it bounces again."

The sport is played in more than 130 countries and some of the planet's best players have recently arrived in UK for an international tournament.

Tia says she's seen first-hand the rapid growth of the sport - not just in terms of recognition but in terms of participation too.

"The amount that it has grown with so many more companies getting involved, wanting to invest in padel courts, which is the biggest thing giving people the access to be able to try it and play it."

Tia was introduced to the sport when she was 12 and spent most of her teenage years travelling from her home outside Birmingham to London for training.

She'd also regularly fly to Spain after school on a Friday and be back again by Monday morning.

Padel was invented in Mexico in the late 1960s and has been hugely popular in Spain for decades, but its boom has really come over the past couple of years.

It means Tia has travelled to Australia, Egypt and the US for major tournaments.

"Being British number one is quite a big thing, most of my friends are at university and whenever I talk about what I'm doing they say: 'Tia you're literally living the dream.'"

Off the court, celebrities are starting to post clips of themselves playing on TikTok and Insta reels.

Tia says Stormzy's been at her gym a few times.

"It shows how inclusive it is, people want to play it in their downtime," she says.

Analysts say the growth of the sport is expected to continue and accelerate.

The leading professional tour, Premier Padel, has just signed a "transformational" partnership with RedBull believed to be worth tens of millions of pounds.

In the UK, it can be difficult to find somewhere to play - more than 200 courts have been built to serve about 90,000 active players.

Some believe padel can be a gateway into tennis, and experts are also predicting it will receive a green light as an Olympic sport in 2032.

"I might join those who got the Olympic ring tattoo," Tia laughs, but says she won't tell her mum if she does.

FIP Rise Rocks Lane takes place in Chiswick, London from 27-30 March.

You can learn more about the growth of padel, and Tia's story, on Business Daily available on BBC Sounds.

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