Two of Bermuda?s top tennis players have been offered wild card invitations to the qualifying competition for next month?s XL Capital Bermuda Open at Coral Beach Club.

Top ranked Andy Bray and former number one and Davis Cup veteran James Collieson will both get the chance to play leading professionals from overseas but there?s no place in the field for arguably the Island?s most promising player, Gavin Manders.

The teenager has been forced to turn down an invitation from Open organisers because of collegiate commitments in the US.

British resident Bray is currently ranked number one in the official Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association rankings and will be representing the Island in this year?s Island Games in the Shetlands.

As a junior he represented the South East of England and won the National County Championships at Under-18 level while representing Middlesex.

Since arriving in Bermuda he?s won the Heineken Open singles and doubles titles and last year clinched three doubles championships.

While Bray will be competing in his first Bermuda Open, Collieson is no stranger to the event, having played on four previous occasions and earning a spot in the main draw following a withdrawal in 2002.

The former number one player both here and at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, USA, he held an ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) ranking from 2001 to 2003, but has not played on the pro circuit in recent months.

Qualifying for the Open takes place on the weekend of April 9 and 10 with the main event beginning on Monday, April 11.

Swede Thomas Enqvist ? once ranked fourth in the world ? is probably the best known name in the field, although the top seed is Kevin Kim, a qualifier last year who has since risen to 63 in the world.