A new racquet club venue has opened in Loudoun County — but it’s dedicated to a sport that may be unfamiliar to many area residents.
Padel Up has opened in the building that used to house the Summit Ropes indoor ropes course. That’s at 44810 Old Ox Road in Sterling just off of 267.
Regular readers may recall that Summit Ropes closed back in April.
The signage at Padel Up has at least some passers-by thinking the venue is a spot for pickleball — an enormously popular racquet sport here in Northern Virginia. However, it’s not pickleball.
Instead, Padel Up is billed as “the first and only padel facility in the DC area.”
Padel is described as a sport that is a mix of tennis and squash, played on an enclosed court with walls that players bounce the ball off of.
Padel is usually played in doubles and uses a solid, stringless racquet and a ball that is smaller than a tennis ball.
Online sources say padel got its start in Mexico in 1969 and has been growing in popularity ever since.
At the new local venue, Padel Up features four indoor courts as well as a coffee/smoothie bar.