Exclusive interview with one of the players of the Great Britain team, Richard Brooks. One of the handsome kids on the circuit World Padel Tour answers our questions and lets us know him a little better.

 Padel Magazine :  Hello Richard. Could you introduce yourself to PM readers?

 Richard Brooks:  I was born on June 11, 1981 in Rustenburg, South Africa. I have dual nationality because my father is English and my mother is Spanish. I live in Benidorm, close to Alicante.

 PM:  Tell us about your padel life today.

 RB:  I am currently in 177th place in the WPT. I only had one coach, who is also my best friend, Hugo Cases. We shared the track during my first 3 years on the circuit. Obviously I was playing on the right since I was left-handed.

 PM:  We know that for a professional padel player, earning a living from tournaments is not easy.

 RB:  Indeed, as you say, being a professional padel player is not easy. Few people can earn a living by "playing" padel professionally. The prize money is not high, something that I find hard to understand given that the sport is growing.

I am the owner of a padel club.Padel Indoor La Cala ”which I manage with my partner Alex Tasa, also a WPT player. This is one of my sources of income. I also coach one of the future stars of German tennis.

 PM:  Could you tell us about your story with padel?

 RB:  If I remember correctly, I started playing padel in 2011, leaving aside my career as a tennis player and as director of the Valencian Community Tennis Technical Center. I had the opportunity to work with several tennis players such as Tamira Paszek who was ranked 34th in the world, Jelena Jankovic (number 3), Nicolas Massu's sparring partner, Stephan Edberg's sparring partner at Wimbledon when I was still playing as a junior.

I got to know padel through one of my best friends, Tom Murray. He worked as a bank manager and I worked as a director of the tennis federation. During one of our conversations, we decided to launch the padel federation in Great Britain.

It was at this point that I got in touch with Hugo Cases, who had already dropped out of the professional tennis circuit. We liked our project and decided to play together on the WPT circuit at the same time as we were developing the federation.

3 years later we were still together, rare on the circuit, which allowed us to enter the top 50 and access some final tables after passing through the pre-qualifications and qualifications. I would like to thank Hugo Cases who allowed me to reach the highest level.

Thanks also to Matias Nicoletti for playing with me at the Masters of the Comunidad Valenciana, tournament that we won, which is not easy. Finally I can say that I have been one of the best players in Great Britain for many years.

 PM:  What are your plans for the coming years?

 RB:  I love having projects. I would like to continue in the world of padel, to make it grow all over the world, but my priority is to make it evolve in Great Britain, to make this young tennis player that I train evolve and finally to see my twin daughters grow up, that is the most important.

 PM:  Where do you see yourself in 20 years?
 RB:  To tell you the truth, I live day by day. If I had to project myself to 2039, I would like above all to be a good father, to realize that padel has grown as it should and that the people I have trained have become great players.
 PM:  How do you see padel in Great Britain in 20 years?
 RB:  I think and I hope it is one of the most played sports, and I don't see why it shouldn't be.
 PM:  What is your best move?
 RB:  Without any doubts the backhand volley.
 PM:  What is your best sequence?
 RB:  Buff, I like several, that's why I like padel so much.
 PM:  Thank you very much Richard

 

 

Julien Bondia

Julien Bondia is a padel teacher in Tenerife (Spain). Columnist and advisor, he helps you play better through his tutorials and articles on padel tactics/techniques.

On the same subject

Tags