the bottom rung of the ATP Tour ladder.

The 23-year-old will take his first shot at professional tennis when he flies off to Europe this week to try his luck on the satellite futures tour.

He will start in Germany and move onto France and possibly Italy as well, taking part in weekly tournaments.

Some of the world's top players -- including Bermuda resident Pat Rafter -- started their professional careers on the satellite tour.

Collieson is a friend of the Australian, who reached the Wimbledon final just over a week ago, and practises with him when both are in Bermuda. He was inspired by Rafter's example.

"I have talked to him (Rafter) about it,'' said Collieson. "Rafter comes from a big family and he did not have the kind of backing that players from richer backgrounds get.

"His brother gave him his life savings so he could go on the tour and he only had moderate success. I don't think he won any of the tournaments.'' The gamble paid off for Rafter, who eventually progressed to Challenger events, like the Bermuda Open, and then exploded onto the full ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Tour, winning the US Open in 1997 and 1998.

Collieson was not yet thinking about emulating that type of success. For him the primary aim of the exercise was to get some ATP ranking points under his belt.

"My goal is to get through the qualifying rounds and get into main draws and come out of it with a few ATP ranking points and a world ranking,'' said Collieson.

"First you have to try and get through qualifying and into a few tournaments, then try and win one, then another and then maybe you can pick up a sponsor.

That's how it can work.'' Collieson won four successive singles rubbers to lead Bermuda's Davis Cup team to promotion to American Zone Group III, as they won five of their six ties in Honduras in March.

He is regularly exposed to a high level of competition in US collegiate tennis, playing for the University of North Carolina. And he felt the time was now right for him to test himself at the next level.

"I wish I could have done it a little earlier, but now I feel mature enough to handle it,'' said Collieson.

"I don't think my age will be much of a disadvantage. Some guys in tennis are burned out by the time they're 23.

"I feel the time is right for me and I'm just going to go for it and see what happens. I hope to stay in Europe for at least six weeks.

"I have another year of my studies remaining and I am due to go back to school in September, but I'm not 100 percent sure I will go back yet. I want to see how this goes first.'' Collieson has friends in Germany and hopes to be based in the Frankfurt area.

His first tournament will start in Zell a week on Friday.

And he was under no illusions as to how tough it would be to make an impact.

"There will be 64 players in the qualifying rounds -- twice as many as the main draw,'' said Collieson. "In the US, you can get 128 in qualifying for this type of tournament.

"Tennis seems like a big glamorous sport with lots of money, but only the top 250 are making a living. There are more guys, just as good, not making any money at all.

"I have a friend from Australia playing on the satellite tour, winning a few events and getting into a few Challengers and he's barely breaking even.'' Aiming high: Bermuda's number one Davis Cup player James Collieson will fly off to Europe this week in search of ATP Tour ranking points.