There was an impressive effort made in sending no less than four Bermuda teams overseas to compete in international tournaments last year.

And even though they all found the going tough, the experience gained must bode well for the future.

Surely the high point of the year was 18-year-old Gavin Manders' tremendous performance in reaching the final of the Bank of Bermuda Foundation ITF Junior Tournament on a home court.

In the second major international junior tournament to be held at W.E.R Joell Tennis Stadium, Manders steamrollered all opposition and looked capable of doing the same to his final opponent, American Weston Wendt, as the Bermudian stormed into a 4-1 lead.

But then the heavens opened and Manders, who had rearranged a family holiday to play in the final, was denied his first international title. Both finalists earned 20 junior world ranking points, the allocation given to a runner-up.

Days later, Manders flew out to start a scholarship at Florida Gulf Coast University.

The most impressive performance by a local girl in the ITF event last year came from Ashley Brooks, who reached the third round.

Meeting the cost of sending teams overseas was a struggle for the Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association (BLTA) last year. At one point it seemed that financial constraints would prevent the island sending either a Fed Cup team to Brazil or a Davis Cup team to Costa Rica.

In the end, an 11th-hour donation from both Government and an anonymous BLTA member prevented the Bermuda men's team from being absent from the Davis Cup for the first time in nine years.

During the event at the Heredia resort in Costa Rica, Bermuda lost to Barbados 2-1 on the first day, followed by 3-0 defeats to Costa Rica, Guatemala and St.Lucia.

On the final day, Bermuda salvaged some pride with a 2-1 victory over the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States to claim fifth spot in Americas Zone Four.

The team was hampered by misfortune as number two player Jenson Bascome was sidelined by flu for most of the week and Gavin Manders suffered a niggling knee injury.

The Fed Cup team missed out because many of its young members, such as Tara Lambert, Zarah DeSilva and the Fisher triplets (Zoe, Sasha and Kara), were unavailable due to academic commitments.

The BLTA did manage last year to send teams to the Junior Davis and Fed Cup competitions in El Salvador ? the second time Bermuda had been represented in the 16-and-under competition following the island's first foray two years ago. Both teams came back with a losing record but valuable experience.

In recent years, the island has managed to place in the top three at the Caribbean 14-and-under Development Championships, but this year Bermuda placed seventh out of eight nations in Curacao.

The highlight of the competition saw compatriots Caitlin Gordon and Cayla Cross playing each other in the consolation final after early exits from the main draw.

Fourteen-year-old Gordon emerged victorious from the battle of the young Bermudians, edging a tight first set 7-5, before taking the second set 6-2. Gordon finished the event as the seventh-ranked girl, with Cross ? a fine prospect at just 12 years of age ? one place below.

Fourteen-year-old Andrew Burnett-Herkes was Bermuda's only male competitor. He won one of his six matches to earn a tournament ranking of 14th.

The island's annual ATP Challenger event, the XL Capital Bermuda Open, produced its usual high standard of tennis during another memorable week in 2004.

The best-known star to grace the green clay of Coral Beach this year was Britain's Greg Rusedski. But on his comeback after a long lay-off and playing on his least favourite surface, the ferocious server suffered a first-round exit at the hands of German Bjorn Phau.

As has become the norm in the XL, the winner was a man in the true tradition of the South American "dirt-baller", Luis Horna of Peru.

Horna played sensational tennis throughout the week and the final was a classic. Italian-Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello put up a determined fight against the unremittingly accurate Horna, but the shaven-headed Peruvian eventually prevailed 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

On the local scene, James Collieson topped the men's rankings. He cemented that position with a revenge, straight-sets victory over Briton Andy Bray in the final of the Coral Beach Club Invitational in November. In the corresponding tournament a year earlier, Bray had emerged victorious.

For Collieson, it was the second time he had claimed Bray's scalp in a 2004 final, after he won the Heineken Open in May with a 6-3, 6-4 victory at the WER Joell Tennis Stadium.

Although Collieson has all but drawn the curtains on his efforts to play on the professional tour, he will be going to the first Grand Slam of 2005 this month. As a coach, he will assist long-time friend Stephen Huss, a finalist in the doubles at the XL Open this year, in his preparation.

Jenson Bascome enjoyed a tournament victory at the Argus Open, recovering from a first-set mauling to defeat nearly-man Bray. Bascome eventually triumphed 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.

In the same tournament, Ashley Brooks was a resounding winner of the ladies' title, crushing Tracy Berrell, who enjoyed a fine year, in the final.

Women's number one Brooks also won the Island Construction Open crown in June, where she marked a changing of the guard with a resounding victory over former number one Zarah DeSilva.

Also at Pomander Gate, Manders outfought Bascome in two tough sets to win the battle of Davis Cup team-mates.

Manders and Brooks weren't the only teenagers to enjoy victory's in senior tournaments last year. Morgan Lightbourne defeated another youngster in her first senior final, Caitlin Gordon, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, in an enthralling final of the Heineken Open.

On the administrative front, 2004 was David Lambert's sixth and final year at the helm of the BLTA, as he will step down at the body's AGM this month.

As a hard-working president who has succeeded in focussing attention on creating opportunities for young players to fulfil their potential, and someone who has established a reputation as arguably the best communicator in Bermuda sports, his successor will find him a hard act to follow.

But with a strong and enthusiastic team of volunteers still there to drive tennis onwards and upwards, the omens look good for the tennis in 2005.