Weterings and Koek win in the women’s draw. Steffie: ‘From Van Persie to padel’

Pedro Vera and Ignacio Piotto Albornoz in the men’s draw, Stephanie Weterings and Marcella Koek in the women’s. One Spanish and one Dutch triumph in the FIP Rise Rocks Lane in Chiswick, not far from London. While the men’s trophy was lifted by the top seed in the men’s draw, the women’s was won by the no. 2 seeded pair, defeating 7-5 6-3 Spain’s Ana Varo Ramos and Laura Gomez Pando.

Steffie, until two years ago, only played padel for fun: now she’s the best Dutch player. She held a tennis racket for many years and played ITF tournaments all over the world, but “for me it was a lonely existence. I had other interests and that’s why I stopped, even though I was talented”, she told the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper in a recent interview.

With her best friend, Michaëlla Krajicek (sister of Richard, winner at Wimbledon in 1996), Steffie then looked for a padel court near Amsterdam and, that day, there were footballers like Robin van Persie and the De Boer twins at the same club. “They asked us if we wanted to join them, which was a lot of fun” Weterings continues. “We got into a group and agreed to start playing”.

Since then, padel has not only been a passion but an ambition: Michaëlla Krajicek, meanwhile, became a mother, so Steffie started playing with Marcella Koek. “I’m 34 years old“, concludes Steffie, who has two dogs, lots of tattoos and a good following on social media, “so there is time to continue having fun and living my second sports career“.