For James Collieson, this week is about more than how far he progresses in the tournament.

The young Bermudian has his sights set further down the road.

Having a high profile competition literally on his doorstep is not something that happens very often -- and Collieson aims to make the most of it.

Initially, he wants to make sure tournament director Alec Anderson's faith by giving him a wild card entry into the main draw is not misplaced, but hopefully with that achieved he then plans to take advantage of the wealth of talent that has flown in.

Collieson will meet American Cecil Mamiit at Coral Beach today in the first round proper, starting not before 6.30 p.m.

"Obviously I don't expect to be winning this, so once I'm out the intention is to meet some guys, get some connections, practice with them more and get their opinions on the steps I need to take,'' he said.

"Obviously this is a higher level of Challenger and this is out of my league right now, but with specific instruction and coaching I believe I can get 30 percent better.

"Thirty percent better might get me to the stage where I am a legitimate qualifier or a legitimate main draw opponent in future tournaments which are slightly weaker.

"I don't have aspirations of making my living doing this, but no Bermudian has done it since Stephen Alger so why not try for one or two years?'' Being the first Islander to be included in the main draw, Collieson will have all eyes focused on him when he steps out on court tonight and, while wishing it was not the case, he believes there will be those expecting him to come away with egg on his face.

Addressing the weight of expectation, he said: "There's the pressure to not have Alec look foolish for doing this but I think at the same time all the work I have done, the Davis Cups and all that, this is just a natural progression.

"I have to block out things like playing for the score and all that type of stuff. If I go out and get beaten 6-0, 6-0 and give it everything I have, I couldn't care less what people think.

"I know there are lots of sceptics in Bermuda, people who think Bermudians aren't capable of anything but I'm going out there to prove them wrong.

"If I think about them I'm not going to prove them wrong, but if I block them out, the result will be proving them wrong. But I can't really go out with that mindset of `let me show them', I've just got to worry about myself.'' Collieson acknowledged that it would be an uphill battle whoever he was drawn against, but was quite happy to avoid the biggest hitters.

"I don't know much about Mamiit, but I think he doesn't hit it as hard as people like Andy Roddick, so hopefully, I'll be able to get some balls back,'' he said.