Junior tennis is about to take off - in a big way!

Next month some of world's top ranked prospects will converge on the Government Tennis Stadium for the inaugural Bank Of Bermuda Foundation International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Ranking Junior Tournament.

The event will run from June 14 to 21.

In total the competition will comprise of 128 elite junior players from the UK, Canada, Africa, the Caribbean and Bermuda.

Some of the Island's leading young players will be granted automatic wildcard entries into the main draw, play in which commences on June 16.

The tournament will feature two separate age divisions for both boys and girls - 18 and under and 14 and under.

A pre-tournament qualifying date for all local junior residents has been set for June 7 and 8, while qualifying rounds for the main tournament will take place on June 14 and 15.

The inaugural event will provide Bermuda's top young players a rare opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the elite junior players from around the globe and a chance to improve on their own world ranking.

"This will be the most prestigious and by far the largest junior tournament in Bermuda. There's no other junior tournament that carries this kind of international presence," said an ecstatic Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association president David Lambert yesterday.

"For the first time in the history of junior tennis in Bermuda we have been able to secure on the COETEC junior summer circuit a world ranking tournament. We are now a fixture on it."

Lambert hopes the tournament will encourage more youngsters to become competitive.

"There are hundreds of juniors who play tennis on a recreational level. And we now hope that after having our juniors exposed to this event the overall numbers will increase," he added.

"We hope that the kids will come out and watch this tournament and get excited about it through witnessing other juniors from around the world competing in Bermuda for world ranking points."

The BLTA president said the tournament would also boost tourism.

"It will bring a lot of people to Bermuda," Lambert said. "We have 128 junior players in the draw and we hope that as many as 30 of these juniors will be from Bermuda.

"There's three levels to this tournament and that's great because it gives every local junior player an opportunity to be a part of it."

Next month's championships will be presided over by official ITF staff.

Jeanne Atherden, spokesperson for the Bank Of Bermuda Foundation, said: "We are very pleased to be supporting this international tournament. Supporting events such as these can only encourage and challenge our young athletes to perform at their highest level. Investing in our athletes at a young age will build future sporting excellence for Bermuda."