apply for work at Elbow Beach Hotel.

Late on Saturday afternoon, following three hectic one-hour practices, Martin parked his energised, six-foot-six, 190-pound frame into a cozy chair near the hotel's lobby and happily directed his ATP tour colleagues toward an elevator they were having great difficulty finding.

Martin, who's been pushing all the right buttons to get as close to the tour's penthouse as possible, will be the star attraction as the $303,000 XL Bermuda Open reaches the launching pad today.

If the Open were a space flight, Martin, ranked 11th in the world, would be the commander of the mission.

Tennis fans got their first glimpse of Martin -- as the tallest player in the Open field he's hard not to miss -- during the opening rounds of qualifying at the weekend, watching pal Grant Connell in the late stages of a first-round match and practising next door to centre court on court four.

His mid-day workouts with fellow Americans David Witt and Vince Spadea attracted more attention than either of the qualifying matches involving Bermuda's Michael Way and Donald Evans.

Martin happily obliged autograph seekers and offered a wide smile for anyone who wanted to have their picture taken with him.

"Bermuda's pretty relaxed and I like that,'' said Martin, freshly showered and wearing a Wake Forest basketball t-shirt. "It seems like everybody's pretty happy to be living here...just like everybody's pretty happy to be on vacation here.'' The 24-year-old wunderkind of the pro tour, Martin had practised for more than four hours in his first 12 hours on the Island. Yesterday he cut short the workouts to only two hours and tonight (6.30) he'll play in his first match against qualifier Kenny Thorne.

Winner of the Memphis indoor tournament in February (he beat Pete Sampras in the semi-finals 4-6, 7-6, 6-4) and semi-finalist two weeks later in Scottsdale, Arizona, Martin is the Open's top seed in a field which includes Bryan Shelton, Brett Steven, Mats Wilander, Patrick McEnroe and Jason Stoltenberg.

For Martin, the weekend gave him an opportunity to re-acquaint himself with clay as he begins his fourth journey to the French Open next month. He's also fighting the effects of a bout with bronchitis which has troubled him since a defeat in the early rounds of the Lipton Championships three weeks ago.

"I feel pretty good,'' said Martin. "I feel very good physically, I'm just coughing a little bit.'' The fact that he's healthy again will be a bitter pill for his opponents in Bermuda. A crowd watched attentively as Martin hit cannonballs at Witt on Saturday afternoon and then on Sunday against Spadea.

"It was good for me to be out there,'' he said. "Playing on clay courts automatically demand that you work on your groundstrokes and I've already noticed an improvement.'' Constantly keeping a close eye on Martin is his coach Robert Van't Hof, who meets regularly with his star pupil following each training session.

Already a prime topic of conversation as he hangs around Coral Beach or at the hotel, Martin will also be a focal point of the doubles tournament since he and Connell have decided to team up for the first time.

"I'm excited, it's a good opportunity for me in two ways,'' said Martin.

"First he's a very good doubles player and he can help me a lot and second it's possible we could win the tournament. Most of all it's great to play with a friend.'' Echoed Connell, winner of three doubles tournaments this year: "It's going to be a lot of fun. I don't switch very often. The first tournament of the year I played with Byron Black and the rest have been with (Patrick) Galbraith. It's fun to mix it up once in a while and Todd's such a good player, it gives you a different perspective on doubles.'' Singles is still the major part of Martin's game and he looks at each tournament as a road to higher learning.

"I want to learn everything about my game. I'd say that most of all I'd like to find the balance between being patient and being aggressive. I want to really focus and concentrate on my movement here because I think if you can move well on clay you can move better on other surfaces.'' He's tasted success at Grand Slam events reaching the final of last year's Australian Open and the semi-finals of Wimbledon and the US Open.

"It's important to me that I win (a Grand Slam) eventually and I'd love to do it in a month or so but I wouldn't be upset if it didn't come to me right away. I don't see a whole lot of urgency.

"But I'm going to be busting my body all over the place to really try to accomplish that.'' The last thing anyone wants to see is Martin doing any harm to his body on the Island's roads.

"I just got the moped a few hours ago and I haven't killed myself yet and don't plan on it. This is quite a place.'' IN THE SPOTLIGHT -- Todd Martin drew a crowd during a workout yesterday with fellow American Vince Spadea. Martin, winner of one tournament this year, will hope to change that number to two starting tonight.