Classic on the weekend -- has not played a competitive singles match on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour all year.

He has no official ranking and yet has collected more than $350,000 in prize money during the last 12 months.

Galbraith, not surprisingly, has no intention of playing in a singles match at Coral Beach next week.

The 26-year-old native of Tacoma, Washington is one of a growing number of tennis players who earn a living exclusively from ATP Tour doubles matches.

Of the 16 players, for instance, who competed in last week's world doubles championship in South Africa, less than half have a singles ranking inside the top 250 and many have given up individual tennis to concentrate on the rich pickings of the doubles tour.

"More and more players are becoming specialists in doubles,'' said Galbraith, who will play with Canadian Grant Connell during the Classic.

"It takes special skills like speed around the court, serving, cutting off angles and sharp reflexes.

Galbraith linked up with Connell at the start of the year and the left-handed duo sky-rocketed to No. 1 on the ATP Tour team rankings by winning three titles (Auckland, Tokyo Indoor and Antwerp) and were runner-up in four others including Wimbledon, where they lost to Australians Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge.

Galbraith agrees that his skills are better suited to doubles than singles.

"My singles is nowhere as strong as my doubles. I would like to play more singles, but I can't even get into tournament pre-qualifying,'' he said.

"I've made a decision to make a living out of doubles and I'm earning a lot of money and I'm playing in the number one team in the world.

"I consider it a part of tennis. I'm certainly not embarrassed about making money in this way,'' Galbraith added.

The pair are likely to be top seeds for next week's tournament, the biggest tennis extravaganza to hit the Island in years.

Many of the doubles participants next week do not have instantly recognisable names, but that does not mean the calibre of tennis will be diminished in any way.

Expected to play in doubles are Paul Annacone, Doug Flach, Patrick McEnroe, Jared Palmer, David Wheaton and Bryan Shelton of the US, Tomas Carbonell of Spain, Xavier Daufresne of Belgium, Horacio de la Pena of Argentina, Mikael Pernfors of Sweden, David Rikl of the Czech Republic, Maurice Ruah of Venezuala and Bermudians Billy Way and Donald Evans.

Among those qualifying this weekend for a potential spot in the doubles tournament are Pablo Albano of Argentina, Mike Bauer, Doug Eisenman and Mark Keil of the US, Mark Knowles of Bahamas, Libor Pimek of the Czech Republic and Tobias Svantesson of Sweden.

"The prize money in singles has risen so much lately that few of the big tennis personalities have any interest in playing doubles. We specialists have sort of taken over,'' says Connell.

There are even some players who are trying to promote the doubles game to a level comparable to that of the singles.

Among them are the Jensen brothers, Luke and Murphy, whose garish clothing and exciting play is slowly providing the doubles tour with its own personalities.

The Jensens were expected to be an exciting addition to the XL Classic until Luke underwent emergency appendectomy surgery last week. Classic Director Alec Anderson remains uncertain whether Murphy will come to Bermuda on his own.

"Luke and Murphy are trying to do for doubles what Andre Agassi did for singles,'' said Connell.

The American brothers, the fourth-ranked doubles team on the tour, were expected to bring their colourful headbands, neon sunglasses, black high-top boots and designer baseball shirts to the Coral Beach courts.

"Doubles has to become more of an entertainment business. It's a sport with quick action and lots of excitement and we now have to look at how we can reach out to the masses,'' Connell added.

Former NCAA champion Chris Woodruff has been confirmed for this weekend's qualifying tournament, Classic organisers said yesterday. The draw for the qualifying will be announced on Friday night. PHOTO LOOK WHO'S HERE -- Mikael Pernfors of Sweden arrived in Bermuda yesterday to begin preparing for next week's XL Tennis Classic at Coral Beach. The right-hander improved his ranking by more than 200 spots to finish in the Top 50 on the ATP tour this year.*l