In 2000, for example, three Hawai'i teams won USTA championships. A year later, a 4.0 women's team from Honolulu also took the title.

Last year, Kaua'i's Hattie Somerville teamed with Betsy Purpura to win a second Mother-Daughter National Grasscourt Championship at Newport Casino Lawn Tennis Club in Newport, R.I.

This year there are several teams headed to nationals (see chart below).

The Hawai'i Pacific Section, which includes American Samoa and Guam, listed 7,301 players as of August, one of the smallest totals among the USTA's 17 sections.

By comparison, the Southern Section comprises nine states and nearly 170,000 players.

At the nationals, "people told us they had to win lots more matches than we did to get there," said Gary Nekoba, whose 5.0 men's team barely lost to champion Texas at the USTA championships in 2000 in Palm Springs, Calif.

Hawai'i players take full advantage of the matches they do get to play in, however.

"In Hawai'i we have to get the best of the best," said Cathleen E. Nicoloff, who coaches and plays for the Wailea 4.5 women's team from Maui, which will compete in the National Championships this month in Tucson, Ariz.

"At the 4.5 level we get players at the top level, not the middle level," she said.

Sometimes getting the best players takes some ingenuity.

At the sectionals in Maui in August, for instance, "two of our best players were from O'ahu and one was from Los Angeles," Nicoloff said. Out-of-state players can qualify for a championship here by competing in at least two matches at the local level. Most Hawai'i teams, though, are made up of players from their own districts, Lozano said.

Spreading aloha

"We always bring a bunch of protea for the tournament desk and we bring pineapples for each of the team captains we compete against," said Nicoloff, who helped her Hawai'i 5.0 team place fifth at the 1996 nationals at New Orleans. "And we bring cookies to give to each of our competitors."

Playing in the nationals "gives us a chance to spread the aloha and tell them (opponents) who we are," Nicoloff said. "We wear fun clothes and want everyone to know we're there."

It's not hard to find tennis enthusiasts in Hawai'i, where the percentage of people who play the sport is among the highest in the nation, Lozano said.

Among those who help drum up interest in tennis here is USTA teaching pro Rusty Dyer.

It was at Dyer's urging that Kiyomi Smothermon, captain of the 3.0 Lady Rocketeers, joined the USTA. Her team is set to play in the nationals in Arizona.

"I didn't even know there was team tennis for adults — I thought is was only for children," Smothermon said.

It's no surprise that the USTA membership has grown steadily, Lozano said.

"What other sport offers the recreational adult the opportunity to play at the local level all the way up to the national championships?" she asked. "There are 10 national championships, including those for seniors and adult leagues, totaling 3,000 players across the country."

Founded in 1881, the USTA owns the U.S. Open, selects members for the U.S. Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic teams, and sponsors programs for players of all ages and abilities.

Also, USA League Tennis is the largest recreational tennis league in the world, with more than 530,000 participants, according to the organization's Web site.

The site allows players to check their scores and records, as well as those of their opponents.

Coordination not easy

The number of opponents dwindles, however, as a player reaches the higher levels.

Nekoba's team, for instance, was decimated after the 2000 nationals, when USTA "verifiers" bumped up five players to the 5.5 level — even though Hawai'i doesn't have such a league.

When their ratings expired in 2004, four of the five returned to 5.0 play.

But there's still not much competition for 5.0 players in Hawai'i, Nekoba said.

"At least on the Neighbor Islands we can scrape enough players together to make a league," Nekoba said. "... I would think O'ahu would have enough 5.0 players because of the population difference — I don't know why they don't field more teams.

"On the east side, basically Hilo, as far as 5.0 players go, there's seven who can play at that level and that's it. I usually have to get all of them together at the same time to make a team and that's difficult because of commitments."

Lozano said it's not surprising that there aren't more 5.0 players.

"The largest level for participation is 3.5; as you go higher in level you will note that those levels/divisions become smaller," she said. "This is natural in most recreational sports."

Nekoba also plays 4.5 tennis, and said there's a paucity of players on that level, too.

"In general, on the east side (of Maui), people get comfortable at 4.0 and stay there," he said. "The faces don't really change in that group and they don't play up.

"We used to have a bunch of lawyers and doctors who played but they all moved to golf ... and drifted away from tennis. Hopefully they'll all come back."