Their turn at the net

Drawn by fitness, social appeal of tennis, women are boosting numbers at area clubs

Jennifer Cooper serves while partner Jennifer Pincince stands ready during a popular weekday- morning doubles league for women held at the Longfellow Sports Club on Oak Street in Natick. (BILL GREENE/GLOBE STAFF)

Her children were in school, her husband was at work, and Sheila Weinstock wanted something to keep her busy.

And if said activity could stoke her competitive fire, so much the better. So, she signed up for lessons at the Natick Racquet Club.

She's now 68 and a New England Hall of Famer in the US Tennis Association, so carbon copies of Weinstock are rare. But no matter the apex, there seems to be a surge in area women starting to focus on tennis in the same fashion Weinstock did four decades ago.

"There's people coming back to tennis who played maybe when they were younger, or in high school, who started raising a family, and their kids are older or maybe grown, and they're concerned about doing something for themselves, something they can continue for a long time," said Weinstock.

Since 2003, the USTA has seen nearly a 40 percent jump in sign-ups for New England adult leagues, according to Heather Anastos, director of competitive tennis for Westborough-based USTA New England. In this summer's USTA season, 21,737 players participated, a 6 percent increase from last year.

Weinstock is the matriarch of the local tennis scene - a queen with a killer drop shot. She holds the No. 4 USTA ranking among women players 65 and older. She has been nationally ranked for a quarter-century and manager of the Natick Racquet Club since 1990, where she directs women's tennis teams. She was elected into the USTA New England Hall of Fame in 2002.

"Evidently, I like what I'm doing," said Weinstock, who will travel to Turkey on Wednesday for the International Tennis Federation's senior championships. "I've been involved in tennis a long time. It keeps me busy and active."

It's easier to play now than ever. Before the mid-1990s, Weinstock and other pros acted as "verifiers" at tennis clubs, officials that watched aspiring players at tryout sessions and placed them into groups based on skill levels. Now, players, club members or not, can rate themselves on the USTA's website, then find a group based on their ranking (1.5 is a complete newbie, 7.0 is a Roger Federer clone).

"That was one of the things that really got adults going," said Weinstock. "You could call the USTA office, or call someone who was on a team and join that way."

Growing up, Weinstock had little opportunity for competition. There were no youth leagues, and little high school or college athletics for women. In the decades since Title IX passed, women have gained many sports outlets, and in record numbers they're plugging into tennis once they reach adulthood.

With myriad opportunities, women who are settling down into family life are filling the parking lots of local clubs.

The Newton Parks and Recreation Department's adult program has more than 300 women over the age of 30 playing, up from 150 in 2002. The Longfellow Club in Wayland saw a 20 percent increase from last year in new players in their adult beginner and advanced-beginner classes, which are approximately 80 percent female.

In 2004, the Westboro Tennis & Swim Club had one "working women's" doubles group that played on Saturdays. They now have four, and have more than doubled their number of USTA adult league teams over the same period. And in Franklin, the Adirondack Club has increased steadily since its opening eight years ago, from 150 women playing tennis to almost 400 now. The facility also has added four courts, bringing its total to eight.

"There's amazing depth of women's tennis in the area," said Kristin Martin, a Lincoln resident who traveled this weekend to Indian Wells, Calif., for the 5.0-level women's league national championships. She played high school and college tennis, and just continued playing.

"It's a healthy sport, it doesn't take all day, and you get great exercise," said Martin, a schoolteacher who received special permission from the Chelmsford superintendent's office to miss classes while playing in the USTA national finals.

Ellen Aream's two sons, Nicholas, 12, and Christian, 9, were constantly on the tennis courts at the Longfellow Sports Club in Natick, so she decided to investigate.

"Last year, I was like, I'm here all the time," said the Wellesley resident. A stay-at-home mom who was looking for a form of exercise "that's not going to kill the joints" and dissatisfied with golf ("takes so long"), Aream said she's having a blast playing in an intermediate doubles group.

"I can pick it up at 47 again, when I hadn't played since I was 19," she said. "If it was soccer, I couldn't be doing it. Now, since I play, and my kids play all the time, my husband just joined.

"He's got the bug now. He loves it," said Aream.

More so than other sports, said Anastos, near-familial bonds are forged on the court. She said she's seen friends - tennis sisters, she calls them - help each other through family crises and tragedies of all types.

"There's something about the tennis player," Anastos said. "I look at what it is: It's an unofficiated sport. You can't cheat all the time, you have to be fair. You have to come to the court with your best foot forward. That sets a certain standard."

Matt Porter can be reached at heymattporter@gmail.com.