A new platform tennis sports complex coming to Clevelands Flats

JEN JONES DONATELLI - Jul 29th 2021

A select group of Clevelanders has already fallen in “love” with the sport of platform tennis (aka paddle)—and now, thanks to a new public facility in the Flats, the rest of Cleveland is set to embrace it, too.

“Right now in Cleveland, paddle is only played in private clubs, and there are no paddle courts at all west of Shaker Square,” shares Hank Stewart, a Cleveland Platform Tennis Foundation board member. “It’s a bit exclusive, and might even be conceived as elitist. We want to bring this game to a whole new audience and remove geographical and financial barriers that are keeping people out."

The Cleveland Platform Tennis Foundation (CPTF) plans to accomplish that goal with the addition of The Flats Platform Tennis Center, a 10,000-square-foot facility encompassing four courts and a warming/gathering hut (as the sport is played year-round).

Set to be substantially completed by end of third quarter 2020, the facility will be located on the property of the Cleveland Rowing Foundation, with whom CPTF has signed a 30-year lease.