Rodney Eyles spent his 30th birthday yesterday much as he would any other day.

A workout. A round of golf. A couple of hours at the Bermuda Squash Racquets Club. Maybe a swim in the ocean afterwards.

Yes, Bermuda is very kind to the world's second-ranked squash player.

"I really love it here,'' Eyles said yesterday. "In fact it's an understatement to say that I love it.'' Nearly six months after joining the legion of professional athletes moving to these shores, Eyles has adapted quite easily to his new home. Like another Australian of note, Pat Rafter, he relishes the hassle-free environment, friendly climate and a location that allows easy travel to wherever the tournaments are.

"There's never a dull moment for me here,'' he said.

And there won't be anytime soon.

Eyles leaves on Saturday for the US Open Squash Championships -- he's the defending champion -- in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to start a haul of six big events spread throughout the globe, all before Christmas.

In between, he will return to the Island, unwind and spend time with his fiancee, Michelle-Tracey Patte, who used to travel on the road with him but now has also anchored here.

He's also becoming more actively involved with the Island's junior programme.

While structured clinics have not yet been set up, Eyles regularly spends time on the court with young players and offers tips whenever possible.

Eyles says this brings back memories of his own youth, when being joined on the court by top Australian players was "a Sunday morning ritual.'' He enjoys this immensely, noting how coaching is something he would like to do after his professional playing career ends.

"The junior programme here has really come on and it's only going to be better,'' he said.

For the time being, though, he's got a more immediate goal: Knocking Jansher Khan off his perch as world number one. Except for a brief spell earlier this summer when he slipped to third behind Scotland's Peter Nicol, Eyles has been second behind Kahn for two years now.

"I don't put a lot of pressure on myself,'' Eyles said. "Everytime I step on the court, I'm going to give 100 percent and if on that day that's not good enough, than so be it. It doesn't bother me a bit being second fiddle to Jansher.'' Eyles is content with his game right now -- despite being eliminated in the round of 16 by Peter Marshall at the Cathay Pacific tournament in Hong Kong two week ago, the first time in five years he failed to reach the quarter-finals in an event.

"I don't want to read too much into that,'' he said with a smile. The loss was tempered somewhat by the fact he won the Australian Open in the previous tournament.

And, at 30, he's far from hitting the downside of his career. Fitness-wise, Eyles says, he's in as good a shape as ever and mentally, he remains as focused as ever. The latter, he says, is often the most-overlooked and usually the most important part of a match.

"At the end of the day, you're on the court on your own.,'' he said. "It's not a team sport.'' Eyles calls professional squash "very, very intense,'' pitched battles lasting as long as two hours. After ten years as a pro, he's still finds invigorating the mental discipline, concentration and strategy of the game.

All the more reason to enjoy the laid-back atmosphere of Bermuda; when on the Island, he seldom plays competitive matches. "I tend to do a lot of work on my own as it is,'' he said.

Instead, he's more prone to maintain his fitness through a multitude of other activities, something he got used to as a sports fanatic in Australia.

It was on his way back from the Australian Open that he watched Rafter beat Greg Rusedski in the final of the US Open. Eyles has the same sponsor -- Prince -- and caught up with tennis' newest sensation while he spent a few days on the Island before leaving last Friday for Davis Cup preparations.