Tom Cain won back-to-back city tennis singles titles in 1976 and '77. He hasn't played in the tournament in 31 years. It's been 31 years since Tom Cain played in the Davenport City Tennis Championships.

Back then, it was known as the Thalhimers tournament. The draws were larger, the matches were tougher and the crowds were bigger at Byrd Park.

"It was a lot of fun," said Cain, who will return this week as the top seed in doubles with Carl Clark when the annual affair gets under way today.

"The stands would be packed. We'd have 300 to 400 people watching the final in those days. Tennis was kind of in its heydey. You had [Jimmy] Connors and [John] McEnore and all those guys playing [that made it more popular]."

The draws were deeper and more challenging, too.

"You had all the pros, like Tom Magner and Ward Hamilton. Then you had Mark Vines, Junie Chatman, Neal Carl, Tony Velo, the Brown brothers, the Harmon brothers. . . . There were so many good players. It was really a question of who was playing their best. You had to play well to win the tournament. You had tough rounds in the second, third, fourth rounds. I mean, you had to play!"

The venue also was more popular in those days.

"You had all the ice cream vendors on the sidewalk," Cain recalled. "We played sidewalk tennis, but that was more in the juniors. Billy Correll would be there [directing the tournament]. My mom [Sue Cain] would be there. Lou Einwick would be there. All the characters would be there."

So what caused Cain, who won back-to-back singles titles in 1976-77, to come back after all these years?

"Davenport has done a lot to try to promote the thing recently," he said. "Ginny Wortham had talked to Carl about playing,. Carl and I still play on Tuesday nights. We have a group we call the Pro Workout at CCV [Country Club of Virginia]. It's really more to drill with five or six guys, and we socialize afterward.

"Carl had not played the city recently, more because of his schedule. He's got three kids, and he's been playing some national [age-group] tournaments. This year, they're trying to get some of the excitement back. We were hitting balls, and he goes, 'You want to play doubles,' and I said, 'Well, sure.' He was saying I might have to play a little more [to prepare], but we'll have fun."

Cain, who will turn 50 in October, and Clark, 41, may be the oldest doubles team in the draw but probably the most formidable. Clark also is co-seeded No. 1 in singles with Sean Steinour, who has won eight of the past 12 titles.

"The older I get, the smarter I get," Cain said of securing his doubles partner.

First-round singles matches are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. today. In case of rain, matches will be moved to various indoor facilities, but players must report to Byrd Park first to find out rescheduled times. This will be the case all week.

Women's singles - 1 p.m.: Amber Vellenga vs. Cathleen Crouch; Mason Davis vs. Meg Kristofak. 3:30: Anne Garland vs. Joy Fuhr; Leah Martin vs. Callie Whitlock.

Women's doubles - 4 p.m.: Joy and Anna Fuhr vs. Katie Blow-Nicole Parker (UR); Jenna Gollub-Leah Martin vs. Mary Frances Dudley-Anne Larsen. 4:30: Cathleen Crouch-Meg Kristofak vs. Connor Brewer-Kim Brewer.

Men's singles - 1 p.m.: Michael Baxter vs. Matt Magner (UR); Kevin Calhoun vs. Everett Worthington; Blaine Davies vs. Nathan Wood (UR); Zach Carl vs. Travis Miller (UR); James Atchison vs. Reggie Beard; Chris Radke vs. Colin Moore; Simon Sjogren vs. James Smyth; Jody Cox vs. Ryan Radke; Hooman Hadavand vs. Wayne Davis; Tappan August vs. Konstantin Dombrovsky (UR). 3:30: Earl Alenton vs. Shyam Venkatasubramanian; Christian Friedrich vs. Tyler Carey; Kevin McMillen vs. Byron Holmes (UR); Monte Stafford vs. Brett Moorhead; James Aaron vs. Matt Waddell; Chris Miller vs. Arjun Venkatasubramanian; Tom Wallace vs. Edgar Vitkovski (UR); Michael Piland vs. Brady Straus.

Men's doubles - 4 p.m.: James Atchison-Jared Horrigan vs. Konstantin Dombrovsky-Jakub Petersson; Matt Campbell-Monte Stafford vs. Chris Blair-Greg Williams (UR); Michael Baxter-Nathan Wood vs. Chris Edwards-Philip Parrish (UR).

Note: All matches at Byrd Park unless otherwide indicated.

YESTERDAY'S RESULTS

Semifinal: Amity-Brenna McCarty d. Carol Beth-Maggie Buchanan 8-1

Final: McCarty d. Laurie-Addie Huizenga 8-1
MOTHER-SON DOUBLES

Semifinal: Laurie-Joshua Huizenga d. Kerri-William Rhodes 8-4

Final : Katherine-Joshua Carnohan d. Huizenga 9-7
FATHER-DAUGHTER DOUBLES

Quarterfinal: Toni-Toney McDonald d. John-Katharine Yudkin 8-1

Semifinal: Hunter-Christopher Blair d. McDonald 8-3; Neal-Emma Carl d. George-Parke Whitley 8-0

Final: Blair d. Carl 8-2
FATHER-SON DOUBLES

Round of 16: George-Geoff Campbell d. Charles-Austin Makepeace 8-3

Quarterfinal: Samuel-Cameron Smith d. Harris-Christopher Blair 9-8 (7-2); Scott-Tate Steinour d. Blaine-Mark Davies 8-5; Campbell d. Raymond-Brady Straus 8-4; George-Christopher Miller d. William-Will Carli 9-7

Semifinal: Smith d. Steinour 8-3; Miller d. Campbell 8-2

Final: Miller d. Smith 8-6