Thaddea Lock
Thaddea Lock, 36, is of course amongst the contenders for this year’s title in the women’s singles at the English Nationals 2023.
Thaddea is the reigning English champion, and she is in with a great chance of going back-to-back this time around.
She completed a clean sweep at last year’s tournament, winning the singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles titles to complete a near faultless tournament, not dropping a single game along the way.
She beat Jess Wilson, another of our players to watch, en route to the singles title in 2022, and though not the highest-ranked woman in the draw according to the Gearbox Women’s Singles GPR, her 5.41 rating is far and away the highest of any of our contenders.
Thaddea was beaten by Pei Chuan Kao in the European Pickleball Open this year, falling 11-15 in a tight defeat, but to be beaten by the only European player to medal in the pro categories at the English Open is far from shameful.
Ranked sixth in Europe, and second in the UK, we expect Thaddea to make a deep run in these Nationals, with another win entirely possible.
Mollie Kubrick-Finney
The number 1 ranked UK player in the draw according the Pickleball Global rankings, Mollie has had an impressive year, with her record sitting at 9-2 across two major events.
In her first year as a pickleball player, Mollie was something of an unknown, but has quickly proven her worth across. She does however come from strong racket sport stock, having been a former British junior number 1 tennis player, and appearing at Wimbledon.
She immediately placed in the medal positions at her first tournament, the European Open, and this will be her first taste of English Nationals action.
She may not have escaped the group stage at the English Open thanks to a couple of narrow defeats, but there is every chance she makes a deep run at the Nationals.
Only 26, Mollie has impressed on the Premier Pickleball League tour this season, beating Jessica Wilson in Basingstoke, Hermione Baxter Chinery in Norwich and taking Thaddea Lock to three games in a narrow defeat at Woking.
Mollie is the captain of the Advanced PB team in the Premier Pickleball League, and we are sure she will carry her strong form into the Nationals and introduce herself with a bang.
Jessica Wilson
Already a 4.0 European Pickleball champion after winning the mixed doubles title with partner Anakin Owen, Jessica is the third highest-ranked player in the tournament.
She made it all the way to the bronze final in last year’s Nationals, taking home the medal after a tough three game win; alongside an appearance in the final of the mixed doubles and another semi-final appearance in the women’s doubles, where she and her partner Jessica Danger took home another bronze.
Jessica was beaten by Mollie Kubrick-Finney in the final of the Belgian Pickleball Open earlier this year, but again showed her pedigree in making it that far.
To win the Nationals will be extremely tough, with so many high-level players in this year’s draw, but Jessica has been there or thereabouts plenty across the last few years, and perhaps this year will be the one she breaks through.
She will also be right up there in the two doubles events – and she has shown last year that she is more than capable of competing on three fronts. Jessica is certainly in with a great chance of a medal in all three forms of the game.
