In its 35-year history, the Kailua Racquet Club Men's Night Doubles has shown a drawing power unmatched in Hawai'i tennis. It draws the sport's largest crowds and state's finest players.

More to the point, it draws them back. The twilight tournament consistently brings out 4,500 spectators for its two-week run. Players from the past constantly pop back up.

The tournament's qualifying round begins tonight, with the main draw starting next Sunday.

The next day, Jim Somerville arrives for his opening-round match. It will be his first Night Doubles in a decade. He moved to California 13 years ago and is now a real estate agent in Monterey, with two sons and a surfboard that still gets wet often.

Originally, the plan was for Jim to come home for his father's 70th birthday and go after a fifth Night Doubles championship with brother Henry. The twins' first title came in 1986, when they were in college. Their last tournament together was 1995, when they fell to Ryan Ideta and Chad Dudley in the final.

Only now Henry is hurt, so Jim's partner will be former Brigham Young-Hawai'i No. 1 Wei-Yu Su. They have never met, but Jim can tell him stories.

He swears the incentive for a rare victory over Kendall Char and the late Peter Isaak back in the '80s came from a mutt who stole his hot dog during the break in their final. "I came out so hungry and determined to win the set," Jim recalls, "because I wanted to eat."

He also has vivid memories of a pulsating win over the Strode brothers in the 1992 final, and a frustrating five-set loss to Lance Au and Jim Osborne five years earlier.

"I had an overhead to put the match away in the fourth set and missed it," Jim recalls 18 years later. "But it's a fun tournament, always fond memories. There's something about playing in the twilight and the local crowd getting into it ... it's just a lot of fun."

Chris Leong, whose father Paul was Kailua Racquet Club's general manager, remembers watching the Somerville, Strode and Beamer brothers playing riveting finals as a small boy. He knew back then he wanted to be part of it.

He played his first Night Doubles at age 16, with his father. Leong went on to play 14 straight, a stretch that ended when he moved to Portland two years ago to become head pro and director of junior tennis at West Hills Racquet and Fitness.

He's also back this year, to play with former student Michael Wojnarowicz, now the No. 1 player at Loyola Marymount. Leong's fondest memories are of the finals he reached with Andrew Csordas and Henry Somerville. They come with an asterisk.

"Everybody was always giving me a hard time because my dad was the manager so I'd play and get off the court and clean up," Leong says. "Every single night. It brought you back to earth."

Dave Andrews is also back, after a five-year absence due in part to a serious leg injury. Andrews, an Aloha pilot, was talked into playing his 10th Night Doubles by another pilot, former UH-Hilo player Flavio Nucci, from Brazil.

Andrews, like Leong, is still searching for his first title after multiple near-misses.

"I think about the times me and Billy (Bartlett) played in the very early '80s," Andrews says. "We had some great finals with Peter (Isaak) and Kendall (Char). Once we beat them in the daytime on the North Shore two weeks earlier, then lost to them at Kailua. They had our number there."

Isaak and Char had lots of numbers. They won five titles together and remain the tournament's most successful tandem, just ahead of the Somervilles.

Defending champions Ikaika Jobe and Bradley Lum-Tucker will go after their second title this year and are seeded first. It's a different game now. Serves are bigger and return of serve bigger still. Players are quicker and stronger out of necessity, since they have to move and think faster.

Jim Somerville, who characterizes Boris Becker as the "first guy to step it up a notch," says no one will see much difference in his game. He still considers surfing "cross-training" and rips every ball he sees.

"I just go after it," Somerville says. "Everybody says move the ball around a little bit, but that never registered with me."