While British padel’s best domestic players are still weeks from their national championships in Bristol, a different GB squad is already on a plane to Argentina. LTA Padel has named 27 players across its men’s and women’s squads for the FIP Senior World Cup, which runs from 14 to 19 September 2026 in Buenos Aires – the fourth edition of the event, and the first held in South America.
This is not the same competition as the LTA National Championships or UK PADEL’s Masters Series. It is padel’s official senior world championship, run by the International Padel Federation (FIP), and it pits national teams against each other across five over-40 age divisions. If you have never heard of it, you are not alone – but for the players involved, this is the biggest stage British seniors padel has.
What the FIP Senior World Cup is
A team competition for national squads aged 40 and over, organised by FIP and held every two years, expanding this year to its largest field yet.
The FIP Senior World Cup is the World Championship equivalent for senior padel players, run directly by the sport’s international governing body rather than a domestic federation. Buenos Aires hosts the fourth edition, and it is the biggest yet – 32 men’s national teams and 26 women’s squads will contest best-of-five ties across five age divisions: 40+, 45+, 50+, 55+ and 60+. The age brackets have shifted since the last edition in La Nucía, Spain, which ran 35+ to 55+; the addition of a 60+ category and the removal of the 35+ bracket reflects how the competitive senior game is developing internationally.
Countries qualify or accept invitations to enter full squads across the age categories, then select their strongest pairs for each division. For GB, that selection sits with LTA Padel, which runs its own domestic GB Seniors Tour as the pathway into the national squad – separate from UK PADEL’s Masters Series, a different over-35 competition run by a different governing body.
The GB squad
LTA Padel has confirmed 27 players across the two squads, the largest senior contingent the country has sent to a FIP event.
Women’s squad
- 40+: Angela Wood, Sophie Cousins
- 45+: Sarah Lochrie, Susie Azoulay, Libby Fletcher
- 50+: Victoria Davies, Desni McIntosh
- 55+: Helen Crook, Teresa Catlin
- 60+: Sally Fisher, Ashley Mears, Rosemary Dennis
Men’s squad
- 40+: Mike Tolman, James Southwood
- 45+: Javier Etayo Fernandez, Ben Gudzelak
- 50+: Andrew Warren, Craig Wijekoon De Silva, David Thomas
- 55+: Adrian Ezra, Keith Frith, Kingsley Harris
- 60+: Chris Warren, John Byrne, Michael Thorpe
Drew Warren captains the men’s team in Buenos Aires, his fifth Seniors tournament in GB colours. “This is the strongest team we’ve had so far,” he said of the selection. “We’ve got quite a few established pairs who practise and play together.”
The story behind the selection
Desni McIntosh’s place in the 50+ squad, partnering Victoria Davies, marks her first official GB appearance – and comes after a skiing accident serious enough that amputation was discussed as a possibility. McIntosh picked up padel in 2017 and has played her way back through Edinburgh Sports Club, the same club that produced 60+ pair Ashley Mears and Rosemary Dennis, who travel to Buenos Aires together in the oldest women’s category.
Three players from one club making a national squad says something about where the depth in British seniors padel is coming from: clubs where a strong group of older players push each other over years, more than any single elite programme.
GB’s recent form gives context for what a good result looks like. The women’s team finished ninth of 22 at the 2024 FIP Seniors World Championships in Alicante, then eighth at the 2025 FIP Senior Euro Padel Cup in Valencia – steady progress rather than a breakthrough, and the kind of trajectory a squad this size is built to continue.
Why this is worth following
Senior international padel gets a fraction of the coverage of the Premier Padel tour, but the standard is real and the stakes for the players involved are not diminished by the lack of a TV deal. These are competitors who have often played the sport for years at club and county level before reaching an LTA Seniors squad, and a World Cup call-up is the ceiling of what most of them will achieve competitively.
For a casual player wondering what’s above club tournaments and county championships, this is the answer for the over-40 age groups: a structured pathway from local competition through to representing your country. If you’re weighing up whether a competitive route exists for you as you get older, the LTA ranking system is where that pathway starts, long before anyone is thinking about Buenos Aires.
Results from the group stage are expected to filter through via FIP’s official channels as the week progresses, with the knockout rounds following before the tournament closes on 19 September.