CORRECTION Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association president David Lambert still has another year left in his term and will not stand down at the BLTA annual general meeting tonight as was incorrectly reported in yesterday's Royal Gazette .

If there's been a more hectic time for Island tennis, David Lambert can't remember it.

His voice, rendered hoarse by the unprecedented hours he and other officials have been putting in, is a pretty good clue that something extraordinary is going on.

"This is the busiest year ever for tennis in Bermuda,'' the outgoing Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association president says matter-of-factly.

Busiest year? Try busiest week. Get a load of the schedule: Last week, the BLTA announced the Federation Cup team that will represent the Island, beginning on May 10 in the Dominican Republic.

On Friday, the Bermuda under-14 team arrived back from the ITF Caribbean championships in Martinique.

Tomorrow night, the BLTA hold their annual general meeting, marking the end of Lambert's term and the ascension of Colin Smith into the president's chair.

Throughout this week players begin arriving for the $125,000 XL Bermuda Open, which begins with qualifying rounds this Saturday and Sunday.

Preparations continue for the Davis Cup American Zone Group II and III championships, starting in three weeks at the Southampton Princess.

"I've been going all day and all night,'' whispered Lambert on Sunday.

With all this on their plate, no wonder the BLTA opted to postpone the All Bermuda Club's Open -- the first tournament on the local calendar -- until the fall. (The Grotto Bay Junior Open has also been postponed indefinitely due to lack of sufficient entries.) The All Bermuda Open had been scheduled to start this past weekend but linesmen and at least two players are committed to the start of the XL next Saturday -- not to mention other officials and spectators.

Donald Evans and Mike Way -- two members of Bermuda's Davis Cup team -- have been granted spots in the qualifying round for the XL and organisers could open up another one, probably for a doubles team.

"All we can do is ask and hope they give it to us,'' said Lambert.

Typically, local players have little chance of advancing out of the qualifier and into the tournament proper.

Action begins in earnest next Monday morning at Coral Beach, continuing all week and culminating with the final on April 13.

Mats Wilander, Grant Connell, Vincent Spadea, Byron Black, Mariano Zabaleta, Marcos Ondruska, Brett Steven, Javier Frana, Scott Draper, Patrick McEnroe, Jason Stoltenberg and Sandon Stolle are among the players confirmed.

The top seeds -- to be announced with the rest of the draw on Friday night -- should come out of that bunch but the parity among them would seem to render seedings almost useless.

In doubles, however, Connell and Black -- one of the top teams in the world -- will renew their partnership here and will be heavily favoured.

Latecomers to the field include South African Marcos Ondruska, Belgium's Johan Van Herck, Dennis Van Scheppingen from the Netherlands and Armenia's Sargis Sargsian.

These four, like most of the others, are all ranked in the lower triple-digits by the ATP.

Tournament spokesperson Maribeth Anderson said yesterday that, with the exception of the four qualifying spots, the 32-man field was full. "There's always a chance some guys won't come,'' she said, "although they would have to have a pretty good reason.'' Meanwhile, there were no real surprises when the revamped Federation Cup squad was firmed up last week. Debbie Darrell, Kelly Holland, Kim Simmons and Danielle Paynter were named by the BLTA selection committee, with Elizabeth Stewart getting the nod as an alternate.

Holland and Simmons went to the Dominican Republic last year when Bermuda made their Fed Cup debut. Darrell overcame her disappointment at not being included by ripping through the local schedule and is the current ladies number one.

Paynter, just 16, is part of the new breed of promising youngsters on the rise.

OPEN PROFILES Following are the first in a series of profiles of players taking part in the $125,000 XL Bermuda Open from April 7-13 at Coral Beach: SCOTT DRAPER Born: June 5, 1974 Residence: Brisbane, Australia Plays: Left-handed Ht: 5-10 Wt: 170 pounds Turned pro: 1994 1996 prize money: $429,622 Highest ranking: 69 (March 4, 1996) Grand Slam record: 9-6 Young (22) Aussie is coming off an impressive week: He beat Andre Agassi to open the Lipton Championships in Key Biscayne, Florida ... Feels at home on clay (reached the fourth round of the French Open the past two years, losing to Pete Sampras a year ago) ... won 1992 Wimbledon title as a junior and finished number five in world junior doubles rankings.

JAVIER FRANA Born: December 25, 1966 Residence: Buenos Aires, Argentina Plays: Left-handed Ht: 6-1 Wt: 170 pounds Turned pro: 1986 1996 prize money: $227,777 Highest ranking: 30 (1995) Grand Slam record: 20-25 A veteran with more than $1.6 million in career earnings, Frana just be might be due after reaching the finals here two years ago and losing in the semis last year ... Was 14-7 on clay last year and won French Open mixed doubles title ... Lost in first round of Atlanta Olympics but won silver and gold in 1995 Pan Am Games. Has a 17-17 record in Davis Cup ... Lost to Mats Wilander in Pinehurst semi-finals last year.

MARIANO ZABALETA Born: February 28, 1978 Residence: Buenos Aires, Argentina Plays: Right-handed Ht: 5-8 Wt: 150 pounds Turned pro: 1996 1996 prize money: $94,224 Highest ranking: 103 (November 25, 1996) Grand Slam record: None A real up and comer, losing in semi-finals to MaliVai Washington as a qualifier here last year, his first season on the tour ... Last year became the youngest player to finish the year in top 150, playing all his matches on clay ... Finished 1995 as the number one junior player in the world, capturing French Open junior crown ... Limited doubles experience.