Hilton Waikoloa Village hopes for a blast from the past when it welcomes the return of the USTA Futures for the fifth year.

Twins Henry and Jim Somerville will play in the doubles main draw of the $15,000 pro circuit event, which begins Tuesday at Waikoloa's renovated Kohala Tennis Garden. Both are 43 with Henry, the left-hander who used to coach Hawai'i Pacific, four minutes older than his right-handed sibling.

"This might inspire the old guys to play more tournaments," said tournament director Tim DiDonato who, not coincidentally, is about the Somervilles' age. "I thought it would be totally fun. We'll get some people to watch the Somerville boys. They might be able to win a couple rounds. It's not traditional to give a wild card to 43-year-old guys, but ... they are nice and rested. That's how we should look at it."

The Somervilles might be the best doubles team to come out of Hawai'i, and are part of the most famous tennis family in the Islands. They played on the professional tour together from 1985 to '89, after collegiate careers in California. Their best win came against a Russian Davis Cup doubles team with Andrei Chesnekov. Henry is now tennis director at Oahu Club. Jim is a realtor in Monterey, Calif., who still considers surfing cross-training for tennis.

He returned two years ago to play Kailua Racquet Club Men's Night Doubles, reaching the semifinals with Wei-Yu Su when Henry had to pull out with shoulder problems. The Somervilles won four Night Doubles titles from 1985 to '92. They last played together in the final of the 1995 Night Doubles — Hawai'i's most competitive tournament, but hardly pro circuit level.

When DiDonato came up with the wild card offer, Henry found it "very enticing." He called his brother to see if he was interested, and then called DiDonato back to see if he was serious.

"We haven't really played an event for a while and to get this type of opportunity ... it doesn't happen all the time," Henry said. "We want to try and seize the opportunity.

"We're just happy to get out and play. At the same time, our main focus now is to try and get out of the first round and gain some momentum. Especially in doubles, once you get through a match and get all the kinks out that might be there, you begin to smooth out and start reading each other's movements better. The whole idea is to get a chance to get into sync, get into a rhythm."

And hope high-level tennis is similar to riding a bike, as in you never really forget.

"We've played enough together to know each other and what we're thinking," Henry said. "If we get through a round, our learning curve will not be as sharp because we know each other."

The top-seeded player entered at Waikoloa is American Nicholas Monroe, No. 339 in the ATP Entry Ranking. Three-time Texas A&M All-American Lester Cook is next at No. 370. Hawai'i's Chris Lam (630) and Ikaika Jobe (791) are in the main draw this year, after their first full season on tour. Lam is ranked 49th among Americans and Jobe 61st.

Somerville's advice to them is to play until they pop all the strings on all their racquets.

"A lot of it is match experience," he said. "The more you play, the more you understand the pro level of play. The more they are able to identify their game to be able to work on their weaknesses and get better at their strengths.

"My advice is just to stay out there. That was our downfall. Jim and I always had to come back and make some money to go back out. That was a real hindrance as far as our development. My advice to any youngsters — Chris and Ikaika are grown men now — is stay out there and play as much as you can. Take care of yourself at the same time ... but get out there. In your young years when you have a lot of energy and strength, and you're at the bottom trying to fight your way into the top 100, you've really got to stay out there. All of a sudden, when the stars are aligned, you can make a breakthrough."

The Waikoloa event will be followed by the Oceanic Time Warner Cable Honolulu Futures, another $15,000 tournament, at the University of Hawai'i Nov. 12 to 18. Lam and Jobe should be in that main draw. Honolulu will have a series of community events, beginning with a Junior Team Tennis Pizza Nite Nov. 13. There will also be a School Day (Nov. 16) and Community and USTA Membership Day (Nov. 17).

Draws will be posted Monday of tournament week. Matches are tentatively scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. each day at both sites. The USTA Pro Circuit will have 96 events this year, for more than $3 million in prize money. Players from more than 50 countries will compete.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.