DAVID Lambert has been a notable absentee from local tournaments in recent years - but he returned to the winner's circle in immaculate style last week.

Lambert took the 45-and-over men's singles title at the Heineken Open, as he played only his third tournament in the past five years.

And, as if to stress that he's back in business, he was also a winner in the senior men's doubles, as he and Eldon Daniels saw off Martin Zolnai and Johnny Moore 6-2, 6-2.

The road to singles victory involved winning five matches, in which he lost just 15 games. In the final at the Tennis Stadium he defeated Southampton Princess tennis pro Earl Leader, 6-3, 6-4.

Lambert's absence has been largely down to his volunteer workload during his lengthy stint as president of Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association, until he stood down to make way for Terry Smith in January.

But now the 46-year-old director of tennis at the Elbow Beach Hotel is back and raring to go, ready to devote more time to actually playing competitively the game he loves.

And fired up by fresh enthusiam, he is already planning to take on fellow veterans in tournaments in the US, and to take a team of Bermudians to compete with him. Lambert, a former island number two, attributed his successful comeback to his personal trainer Charles Simons, of the Sea View Health and Fitness Centre on North Shore Road.

"I have been training three days a week and it's quite a rigorous programme Charles has been putting me through," said Lambert.

"I started the Heineken weighing 180 pounds. When I was playing regularly 20 years ago, I was 172 pounds. So Charles has got me within eight pounds of my old tournament weight."

He said a major goal this year was to play in International Tennis Federation-sanctioned 45-and-over tournaments in New England.

"There are events for all the age groups, even for 90-and-overs, I think. I would like to raise a team from Bermuda. I think we have a lot of talented veterans. At the women's 40s level, we've got people like Donna Bradshaw, Lavern Stowe and Barbara Lambert and for the men, we have the likes of Earl Leader, Vernal Davis, Wilf Gonsalves and Eldon Daniels."

Lambert is relishing every moment of his return to competitive tennis.

"Singles is great because it's you against your opponent, there's no-one else to blame, no-one else to compliment, it's a test of just you.

"For me, my greatest high comes from being able to compete at a high level of tennis. It's not just about being prepared physically, you have to be able to meet the mental challenge as well, to keep your concentration and maintain your level throughout the match."

Being BLTA president gobbled up much of Lambert's time over the past five years and last year he faced the added challenge of spearheading the effort to make the inaugural Lori McNeil / Elbow Beach Celebrity Classic happen. But he looked back fondly on his time as president.

"I was very fortunate in that during my time as president, we were very successful. We won two Davis Cup promotions, in 1997 and 2000, the juniors managed their best finish of third in the Caribbean Championships, and the Fed Cup team managed their best finish of eighth out of 14 countries.

"Being president was a time-consuming job, but in terms of the support I got from the BLTA executive, parents, volunteers and sponsors, I was blessed. Now I have more time to focus on myself and on participating in tournaments."

Lambert intends to play in all the tournaments in the 45s age group this year and when his work schedule allows it, he will pit himself in the main draw.

Michael Way was crowned men's singles winner of the Heineken, the first domestic major tournament of the year, after he crushed John Johnston in the final. The 36-year-old former Davis Cup player ran out winner 6-1, 6-1.

In the women's singles final, Deborah Cheng successfully defended her title, defeating last year's number one Donna Bradshaw, 7-5, 7-5, after trailing 3-5 in both sets.

On the same day, the 35-year-old Cheng also played in the women's doubles and mixed doubles finals with Erika Handrickson and Johnny Moore respectively. But she lost both as Barbara Lambert and Lavern Stowe won the women's doubles 7-5, 7-5 and Lambert and Eldon Daniels won the mixed title 6-3, 6-4.

Johnston was also a runner-up in the men's doubles final with Nick Frost, as the pair went down 6-2, 6-4 to Roger Marshall and Stuart Smith.

Bradshaw took the senior women's singles title, 6-1, 3-0 (retired) against Stowe.

Youngster Kris Frick reached the men's B final, but was soundly beaten 6-0, 6-2 by Davion Thomas, who celebrated his first title. Zina Edwards also won her first B title by defeating Pat Pamplin in a gripping contest, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.