GAME4PADEL Ambassador Tia Norton woke up this morning to find herself a history maker.
The British padel golden girl won the crucial women’s doubles event with partner Ana Paula De La Pena yesterday against the Cancun Waves in her bid to win the inaugural US professional par The Del League’s Las Vegas Smash win played a key role in paving the way to a second-0 win.
Last night’s groundbreaking success was the culmination of five grueling weeks of competition in 35-degree heat and 85 percent humidity at the Sarah Vanderburgh Tennis and Wellness Center in Tampa, Florida, on Sports Coast.
In an exclusive interview with Game4Padel last night, Tia from Leamington Spa, ahead of her Champions Dinner, admitted winning the inaugural US PPL Championship was a unique victory that could not be replicated.
Tia shared: “There will never be a number one again, we (the Las Vegas Smash) have already won it, so I think we are history makers and we don’t take it lightly.
“It has been a privilege to represent Las Vegas the past five weeks and last night was the icing on the cake.
“It’s without a doubt one of the proudest moments of my life, if not the proudest, and I can’t say I’ve cried after winning a game.
“It was amazing, an experience and final moment that I will never forget for the rest of my life.”
The Game4Padel team couldn’t be more proud of our ambassadors, and as Tia reflects on her emotional roller coaster ride, she compares the strong bond she’s built with her Las Vegas teammates to the one she has with us at G4P.
The U.S. PPL champion said: “Smash is a big family, and that’s what we wanted to create from the very beginning. We’ve spent every day of the past five weeks together and honestly, I think we’re the best of all teams. The most intimate group.
“I think we won because we supported each other, everyone supported each other in difficult times, a lot of them every week, and that’s how we got through.
“In many ways this is similar to the close relationship I have with the Game4Padel staff – being a team player has always been important to me.”
However, Tia and her partner “Parilla” had to dig deep after their first-set lead slipped to take the Smash Team to a totemic victory, with the England international admitting: “The real key is to regain momentum. , obviously won the first set 6-1, maybe our concentration level slipped a bit, but when we started the tiebreaker, it was like: “now or never”, we really gave it our all Go, refuse to fail.
“I think we’ve been able to do that because of what we’ve been through in the last five weeks or so and all the tough games with the likes of Kata Tenorio and Marta Marrero.
“Not only did they bring us closer together as a team, but they also gave us a lot of learning points. All of that really helped us through the tough moments and we finished the game really well, which is just amazing. Happy.
“After the game, I got the congratulations, but I thought in my heart it wasn’t over and it was hard to get it under control.
“Thank goodness the boys got the job done afterwards, but that didn’t stop my heart rate from going up to 106! When we won that match point and everyone huddled together, it was pure joy, but there were also some tears – it was It was a historic moment and we couldn’t believe it.”
As Tia admits, she’s excited to be back in the US for the sequel season in 2024 – Game4Padel ambassador says: “I guess it’s all going to take some time to digest, but right now I just want to enjoy winning the first ever US Championship ppl.
“I hope they want me back and if they do, I’ll definitely take the offer – there’s no doubt about it. I’m absolutely eager to come back and win everything again!”
Congratulations to Tia and her family from Game4Padel!
