The Joy of Padel podcast with Brittany Dubins (JOPS03E01)

Brittany Dubins, the top-ranked female padel player in the United States, shares her journey from tennis to professional padel. She discusses the transition from hobby to career, the intricacies of padel partnerships, and her experiences at the World Championships in Doha. Brittany offers insights into training routines, match preparation, and the challenges of competing at an international level. She also explores the future of padel in the US, emphasizing the potential for growth and the need for more support from the federation. This padel podcast delves into the nuances of the sport, highlighting the joy of padel and the unique aspects that set it apart from tennis, making it a must-listen for padel aficionados and newcomers alike.

To find out more about Brittany Dubins:

• Find or follow on Instagram: @BrittDubins

To listen to the show:

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Send in your questions or reactions:

Please send me your questions — as an audio file if you’d like — to nminterdial@gmail.com. Otherwise, below, you’ll find the show notes and, of course, you are invited to comment. If you liked the podcast, please take a moment to review and/or rate it! ¡VAMOS!

Further resources for The Joy of Padel:

adapting to different partners | Brittany Dubins | critical points in padel | doubles communication | FIP tournaments | glass wall techniques | growing padel in America | lob techniques in padel | mental preparation for matches | Padel Coaching | padel in the United States | padel player mindset | padel player rankings | padel shot improvement | padel shot selection | padel Strategy | padel tournament preparation | padel training routines | padel vs tennis differences | partner dynamics in padel | PPL (Professional Padel League) | professional padel player | Tennis To Padel Transition | US padel development | women's padel team dynamics | World Padel Championships

This transcription comes courtesy of Flowsend.ai, an AI service for podcasters.

Minter Dial: Brittany Dubins, I have been wanting to get you on my show for quite a while. I’ve had a couple of American players, both male. Now finally a female. Not only a. The number one in the United States. Brittany, in your own words, who are you?

Brittany Dubins: Well, I would say I am from Miami. I am a padel player, and I am a good person who has a positive outlook on life and very family oriented. That’s who I am.

Minter Dial: I love it. That’s beautiful. So, tell us your route into Padel. I mean, obviously in the States, it’s beginning to pop up. Miami is kind of the hotbed, I would say, in the United States. But when did you first discover Padel and tell us who was there and why did you start playing?

Brittany Dubins: So, I started Padel five years ago. I was doing a sort of master’s program in Madrid, and it was sort of like a thing that people in the class would do, like, once a week. So, I have a tennis background. I played college tennis at the University of Miami. And so Padel sort of, like, was, like, fun. And it was really a hobby at first until I was like, oh, I think I’m pretty good at this. I started playing in the Federation of Madrid. A lot of the tournaments there started in the third division, worked my way up to the first division.

Minter Dial: And that’s saying something in Spain.

Brittany Dubins: Yeah, and Madrid has a very high level. I mean, you have top 50 players in the world in the Federation of Madrid. So, played the Masters tournament, where only the top eight teams play. And then about a year ago, I said, okay, I want to start playing FIP tournaments. So, it’s been one year of sort of traveling, playing fifth tournaments.

Minter Dial: And so now you can say you’re a dedicated pro player.

Brittany Dubins: Yes, exactly.

Minter Dial: That’s exciting. Did you imagine that would ever happen?

Brittany Dubins: No, I was working. I was working in business development. I have a law background, but my visa was connected to a company, so I was trying to make it work with.

Minter Dial: With work.

Brittany Dubins: Yes. And unfortunately, they weren’t as flexible as I needed them to be to be able to travel and play the tournaments. So, it sort of was like one day to the next. I was like, all right, I’m going to quit my job and just dedicate my life to padel.

Minter Dial: Well, you’re a little bit like the Martita Ortega of the United States. She’s a doctor. You have a law background and business background. Great to have that. And so the transition from tennis, you get to a good level in tennis. I’m always interested to figure out, how do tennis players actually get padel.

Brittany Dubins: How do tennis players actually get padel?

Minter Dial: How do they. How do they understand what is padel?

Brittany Dubins: I think at first, you think of it as just like this. Oh, I can do this. This is easy. There’s a racket. It’s like, smaller. Same ball, same ball. Like, I got this. Like, I can hit my overhead until you start planning points. And there’s like, so much strategy, so much like partner, that you, you know, you really have to understand your partner to win points. And it gets a lot more complicated than what it is like at first sight. I think.

Minter Dial: Yeah, it’s like this. It’s easy to start, but then the more you get into it, the harder it gets. It’s sort of like you see a couple of trees, and the next thing you know, you’re in a jungle and you’ve got so many choices, so many things to learn. I mean, the complication of the communication relative to tennis. What about doubles? I mean, I assume you played some doubles tennis. How do you distinguish or what characteristics do you think Padel is? Padel doubles is different from tennis doubles.

Brittany Dubins: One thing I would say is, like, in Padel, what’s really special about it is the ability that your game has to bring out the best in your partner’s game. Whereas I think in tennis, like, if you have a bad day, your partner can sort of, like, make up for it easier. Whereas in Padel, if you have a bad day, I think it’s harder for, like, your partner to, like, take over the court and win the match because.

Minter Dial: It’s easier to be isolated. In Padel.

Brittany Dubins: Right. So, that isolation thing. So, it’s really like, the partner really has to bring out your best, even if you’re having a bad day or try to figure it out and then. Yeah, I think there’s like, a lot of similarities in terms of communication, you know, coming up with strategy, fight.

Minter Dial: Yeah, well, I’ve talked with a number of excellent players and talking about the desire, the need to get to know each other off the court, not just on the court. To what extent is that true for you?

Brittany Dubins: Oh, that’s so true. Like, I want to not be best friends with my partner, but feel like we have, you know, that confidence in each other and just. Yeah, I like to have bonding outside the court. And also, I was thinking another thing. In Padel, you kind of want a different style of game than your partner. Whereas in tennis, you can have two amazing baseliners and doubles or two amazing net players, and, like, they have the same exact game, and you guys dominate. Whereas in Padel you know, the left players going to be the aggressive player, the finisher, and the right player is going to make a lot of balls. So, it’s like finding that matchup as well is kind of different.

Minter Dial: All right. So, Brittany, it seems like you’ve had a very good tournament here in Doha. I don’t know what your record was, but it looked like it was very good. Despite playing really good players. What was your experience here? What was the big insight or learning that you made while playing here at the World Championships?

Brittany Dubins: So, yeah, I think overall is a very positive tournament. We had a very tough group, so we played Argentina and Portugal.

Minter Dial: Who are they?

Brittany Dubins: Yeah, they’re both semi-finalists. You know, like, I feel like. And honestly, against Portugal, we had, like, opportunities as a team, so I think my takeaways are, like, really positive. I feel like we can compete with the best players in the world. We don’t get to do it as often as I would like, you know, so that would be, like, a dream to be able to do that on a weekly basis. And it’s just been a lot of fun, like, adapting to different conditions. In the beginning of the week, it was very windy. Towards the end of the week, you know, we’re playing in the morning a little hotter, you know, different. You’re, like, sort of adapting the whole week. I’ve played with three different partners this tournament, so there’s been a lot of, like, obstacles, but it’s been super fun. I really. This is my second world championship, and I feel like I was coming into it with this mindset of just having a lot of fun and fight on the court. And I think overall, it’s. It’s worked out this week.

Minter Dial: One of the things that’s fascinating, especially when you just said you. You switched partners three times, basically, a lot of the people who are listening will be playing, you know, amateur padel, and they. They show up at a game and. And the new player they pick on, platonic. They don’t even know the person. I’m interested to see. How do you sort of arrange your partnership with someone who’s new to you? What’s the process that you might go through in the preliminary? How I’m saying, Brittany, I’m playing with you. My name is Minter. You know, of course you know each other, but how do you deal with that sort of first steps to get the motion of the partnership going?

Brittany Dubins: Yeah, I think when you’re starting, just starting out with a partner, like, honestly, today with Dani, we have never played a match together before. I’ve Seen her play the entire week. She’s seen me play, but we haven’t played a match together. I think we wanted to start the match just making a lot of balls because we’re feeling each other out. And we also want good communication in middle shots, you know? Yeah, and just like mine, yours and just like, not over communicate, but make sure that, you know, you know, they feel like we’re on the same page. So, yeah, I think that’s how I sort of approached it. Make a lot of balls in the beginning, and then you can sort of start coming up with a little bit of a plan because you start feeling.

Minter Dial: Out the opposition, opponents as well. You start figuring them out. What’s interesting, what you said is that part of your communication strategy was actually about communicating to them that you guys are solid.

Brittany Dubins: Yeah, exactly. And also I did have to adapt because, like, for instance, Carla on her team is a very good defensive player. She loves the walls, can be back there all day. And Dani, who I played with today, is a very offensive player. She wants to get to the net. So, for me, I have to make sort of adjustments as well. Like maybe with Karla, I could be the one rushing the net a little more and let her back there defend, pick him up. Whereas with Danny, maybe I was the one trying to mix in more of the chiquita so that she could pick off the next shot. So, it’s been adapting to those sort of parts.

Minter Dial: Well, I love that. What about your. Now that you’re a pro player, you’re dedicated to Padel. Tell us about your routines with regard to training. What’s key to helping you progress in this sport?

Brittany Dubins: Yeah, so that’s been a challenge because at I didn’t feel like I had like an academy over this year where I had like the confidence with my coach. So, this last month I’ve been working at diagonal. The main coach is Ago Silingo. I have a great relationship with him and I feel like it’s really helped. They’ve got a lot of girls there, and I feel like I’ve made a jump even in this last month of training. So, it’s really like every day do fitness and try to set up matches during the week. Just playing a lot of padel, but also taking care of your body. Because it is a lot of tournaments, a lot of travel. So, it’s finding that balance of not overdoing it, but still like finding your rhythm and working on the things that you need to to get ready for the next tournament.

Minter Dial: It must be very helpful. To have someone like Silingo coaching you because he’s got so much experience playing pro, what does it take? Looking at the mindset, does he come with you to the tournaments now or who accompanies you when you play the tournaments?

Brittany Dubins: Honestly, because I’m playing FIP tournaments, a lot of the time, my bench is empty. Someone in the academy sometimes can watch the match and give me some pointers there. But I think until you get to the premier level, that’s when you usually have the coach. This week, though, with Richie on our bench, it’s been wonderful. Like, Richie has really stepped into this role of kind of getting these girls to get thrown in together. All of us have different personalities, different games, and it’s a very short week. And I’m not kidding, like, an hour and a half on the court with Richie on, I guess it was like, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. The three days we had to train was really helpful. He came up with awesome drills for us to really just get to know each other. And I think that’s probably one of the toughest roles there is, to be the head coach of the U.S. women’s padel team.

Minter Dial: Well, I would say I have another great friend who’s a trainer for a very good team, and I talked with him about the difference between training or coaching women versus the men’s team, and he did say that the women’s team, there is a lot more about relationships in the women. It’s sort of intrinsic to your gang, whereas men tend to be a little bit more transactional, I would say. I don’t know how you relate or react to that.

Brittany Dubins: Yeah, I think that’s true. I think women can be a little more, like, emotional and stuff like that.

Minter Dial: Thankfully, I would say.

Brittany Dubins: Yeah. And I feel like Richie does a good job. You know, there are times in the match where maybe, like, we kind of can go away for, like, a couple of games, and he’s able to, like, just give us a couple pointers, stay on track, snap us back in. So, I really have so much appreciation for him this week. I think he, you know, lineups are difficult, dealing with different personalities.

Minter Dial: And you’re not having to say to somebody, you’re not playing this game this round. That’s tricky.

Brittany Dubins: It’s tricky. And I also think as a team, it’s never easy not to play, but overall, everyone had a great attitude, and the reality is everyone matters and everyone makes a difference. And even if you don’t play that day, like, having your support on the side makes a difference. Getting to warm up with us Makes a difference. So, that’s also been really nice.

Minter Dial: My son played squash for Trinity College in America and they had a 13 year winning streak. Not bad, 252 straight matches. Shout out to Paul Asante, but talked about how the bomb squad, which is the people who weren’t playing in the top team in squash, it’s up to nine. So, from 10 to 24 was the bomb squad and how important they played in many of the championships that they won. So, what about when you were preparing for a match? Your match is coming up in an hour or two. Do you have any quirks, particularities in the way you sort of prepare for the game?

Brittany Dubins: I definitely like a good warm up, jog around, stretch. I kind of do the same warm up routine and I’m actually someone who likes get a lot of balls. If I can hit on the court for like 45 minutes, like I’d want to do it.

Minter Dial: Just because you’re in shape too.

Brittany Dubins: Yes. And I also like to do like a random lob drill to go like lob, lob, lob. So, I can like feel the, I don’t know, like the distance, like you sort of measure it. So, it’s kind of funny to just watch me and my, I’m like can we just do some lobs back and forth and. But that’s kind of like one thing I like to do.

Minter Dial: I love that. And I think it’s also a great insight into padel. I mean Gabo Loredo, who I’ve had on my show, he talks about his favorite shot being the lob. I mean and in padel relative to tennis, the lob is such an important shot. People think of it as typically just a defensive shot if you come from tennis. But it can be a very, you know, offensive shot, the short one or the la bomba, you know, for sure.

Brittany Dubins: So, I. And also here it’s windy on one side you have to go after the lob, you hit it as hard as you can and it still goes in. On the other side you have to have such tight touch. It’s better to like hit it high and then it like the wind brings it. So, I like to feel that before the match starts, which on the other.

Minter Dial: Side when you’re receiving those lobs when they once they sort of stops in the wind and you, if you don’t have your feet, keep them moving. That’s a tricky shot to move. And if it’s keep on going back, same difference now you got to get your weight back into it even though it’s Sort of going over your head.

Brittany Dubins: Yes, 100%. So, try the lob drill.

Minter Dial: Exactly. Love that. What do you think it takes for you to pierce into the top teams, the top levels? I mean, you’re obviously a very top player certainly in the United States. What do you think is going to need for you to get to the next level?

Brittany Dubins: So, I think it’s one of these things where it would just be nice to be able to play some of these tournaments, like, get a wild card into these tournaments. You know, as of right now, there’s no premier or no FIP tournaments in the US So, it’s hard to get enough points. Points in order to get into these bigger tournaments. You know, in this tournament, we were playing against Portugal. They have a top 30 player in the world.

Minter Dial: She’s top 10.

Brittany Dubins: With an N. I can’t pronounce the last name.

Minter Dial: Araujo.

Brittany Dubins: And I feel like we were battling. We were up 5-2 in the first set, and I think it was like, if we got to play that level more often, who knows? And it’s about building that sort of confidence also, like, I don’t feel like I have that steady partner. So, I’ve played some tournaments with Marta, and I really enjoy playing with her. I love her fight. I’ve played some tournaments with Carla [Rodriguez], but I’m also in a lot of these fib tournaments. Like, Marta lives in the U.S. Carla lives in Denmark. It’s not like I’m practicing with my partner, so it’s different. So, I don’t know what the exact formula is. I think it’s like a lot of things have to link up and just going for the opportunity when it comes.

Minter Dial: What’s your favorite shot?

Brittany Dubins: Definitely my por tres is my favorite shot.

Minter Dial: Hitting it out. Love it. Yeah.

Brittany Dubins: I feel like that I’m tall. I, like, go for it.

Minter Dial: You got some spring in the legs and you got that tennis serve feeling to it. Right? That action. What about the shot that you feel you need to improve on? Which one are you. Where. Where do you want to get better?

Brittany Dubins: I want to get better on the double glass. Like when people do bandejas or vibora into the glass and really getting. Preparing side glass, back glass, and like double glass, and then hitting a deep cross court lob. I think that could create more opportunities for me.

Minter Dial: So, in this case, what you’re saying is that you tend to back out because I see you doing a backhand movement, so you’re backing out the double line as opposed to going around with it, right?

Brittany Dubins: Yeah. Or I do like what they say, bote pronto, and I block it before it hits the glass, which I do pretty well. But there are times where I need to let it hit the glass, so I give myself more time and slow the pace down. So, that’s what I want to work on.

Minter Dial: Yeah, well, you know, you’re looking at Carolina Ordicy. She’s a tall woman, she plays left, but the way she sort of just approaches the ball, it’s always relaxed and let it time, just time. And where she could have hit a hard shot, she just strokes it back. And it’s interesting how we in tennis, we tend to want to take the early shot, the half volleys, rush into the net. Taking your time is such a different mindset for tennis players.

Brittany Dubins: Yeah, 100%. It’s like sometimes slowing it down. And the touch is way more effective than the pace.

Minter Dial: Well, lots to learn. I love it. Thank you for coming on the show. Brittany, the future of padel in the United States, how do you view it?

Brittany Dubins: I think we have a lot of potential. I also think that if we can get some tennis girls come over to the padel side, especially like 22-year-olds, it would be so nice because with some training, two years of training and some tournaments, I think that we coming from college tennis, have a lot of fight, a lot of great athletes. Great athletes. We know pressure situations and I think we can really develop a lot of players. Also, it would be nice to have, you know, more support from our federation as well in terms of providing training camps or scholarships for some players that we could train. And I think that will help grow us padel. I think there’s a lot of excitement in the U.S. there. There’s the U.S. open happened this year. There’s hopefully some premier tournaments. So, there’s a lot of exciting things. The PPL also brings a lot of players.

Minter Dial: Did you play in the ppl?

Brittany Dubins: Yeah, I was on the San Diego Stingrays team. Yeah, it was really fun. I mean, we had Lamberti on our team, Maxi Sanchez, Lucia Sainz. So, just amazing.

Minter Dial: That’s fun to play with them. Lucia. I’ve had her on my show actually as well. Just last question, because you’re talking about the tennis, bringing them in. I wonder about those critical points. Sometimes I watch a match and it’s a break point or it’s a critical match point. And it’s amazing how we say in French, un petit bras. You have a moment where everything’s tentative. Do you feel that is more or less the case than in tennis in those critical situations.

Brittany Dubins: I think there’s more. Why you know what it is? I feel. Well, also, in fib tournaments, there’s still golden points, right? So, that also, every point is important. Here we had a little more cushion because there’s the deuce and add. I do feel like that makes it, like, a little more tight.

Minter Dial: Every point, every shot almost becomes sensitive. And here’s why I think that is, is because you have so many more choices. In padel, the ball’s up in the air. It’s a big lobby. Or what am I going to hit here? Last time I hit a bandeja. Now I’m going to hit a vibora. And this time I’m going to go down the middle, I’m going to cross. You kind of have that in tennis, but not when it’s up. You just got to hit the ball, hit the hit, smack it. Whereas in padel, you got to think about it. What are we going to do here? It’s three more four, five more shots here. So, is this. Shot two, shot three, shot four. Where are we in the point? How’s my partner feeling? You have so much more time to think about things, and I think that is what gets under the skin. If you’re not confident with your partner, not confident in you, there’s so many. And even if you hit the shot in, you didn’t hit it like you wanted to. So, you’ve got much more time to mull over everything all the time. That’s my thinking.

Brittany Dubins: 100%. Yeah. You answered that better than me.

Minter Dial: Well, I’ve been playing, but I’m always interested to hear other people. Brilliant. I loved having you on. Thank you so much. What’s the last word for padel?

Brittany Dubins: Oh, well, have fun. Play, Enjoy. And thank you so much.

Minter Dial: My pleasure, Brittany. Thank you. Vamos.