Hermione Baxter Chinery says Surrey Smash are the perfect team – and she says that when they head into the second match weekend of the 2025 Premier Pickleball League, they’ll be ready and firing.
She admits that the first weekend in Corby was one where they were “still figuring out” partnerships and strategies – although she adds: “It was really fun to play with four different people that weekend!
“I think we will have some of these more settled and fixed now. I know a lot of the team have been playing in competitions around Europe and partnering up, so I’m excited to see what our games have in store!”
Smash team-mate Gail Emms got a warning in the first weekend for tossing her paddle, and joked on social media that she’s “pickleball’s rebel”, and the sport’s answer to Ronnie O’Sullivan – although Hermione isn’t sure that’s accurate.
“Gail is so much fun! Her throwing her paddle in our women’s doubles game was incredibly funny – when she dropped it a second time because she had been hit on the hand she looked so sheepish at the referee.
“[I’m] not sure if she is pickleball’s rebel but she does bring all of the fun, energy and mischief to Surrey Smash.”
Hermione, who works as a programme manager for a fintech company in the city, has a long career in competitive sport. Cricket was her main focus as a teenager, making her county debut at the age of 13. She also played tennis, which gave her an in to pickleball in the summer of 2022. That first session was quickly followed by her first competition, the English Nationals, where she partnered her sister Mercedes in the women’s doubles and her dad Neale in the mixed.
It was the launch of the first PPL that pushed her into more pickleball, with cricket taking a back seat. In fact, she missed the entire cricket season this summer.
But she says: “I’m hoping to be able to get back into playing both next year!”
