Pat Rafter is ready to resume his bid to win more of the world's major tennis tournaments after a week of refreshment at the Bermuda Open.

The world number six and Island resident said his run to the final of the doubles at Coral Beach with fellow Australian Paul Kilderry had been just what the doctor ordered.

The 26-year-old US Open champion has not enjoyed a good year so far, but he said his week in front of an enthusiastic adopted home crowd had helped to rejuvenate him.

Before each of his four doubles matches, as well as the exhibition singles he played against Richey Reneberg on Saturday, Rafter received a joke-ridden introduction which always had him laughing during the warm-up.

The experience was a marked contrast to the pressures of expectation he has faced on the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour since his first Grand Slam title, the 1997 US Open, catapulted him into the ranks of the tennis elite.

"It's been good, I've been able to continue my training and it's been fun, with the introductions and everything, it's been light-hearted and I think that's what I needed,'' said Rafter.

"Everyone's taken the tournament a bit more laid back, but once you get on the court, then you get out there and you do your best.

"It's been a good combination of relaxation and training. There is pressure here, but it's a different kind of pressure.'' Last year, Rafter won six ATP Tour singles titles, winning every final he reached, but 1999 has been a big disappointment so far.

In the first of the year's Grand Slam events, the Australian Open in Melbourne, Rafter lost in the last 32 to Swede Thomas Enqvist, who went on to make the final.

But he has failed to make even a quarter-final in the lesser tournaments and his last attempt, two weeks ago at the Salem Open in Hong Kong where he was the number two seed, ended in a first-round defeat to unseeded German Bernd Karbacher.

Last week, Rafter said he wanted his recovery to start now, but first he will spend some time relaxing on the Island before returning to the ATP Tour spotlight.

Rafter said: "It'll be nice to put my feet up for a while. I'm on the Island for five or six days, then I leave for a week and then I come back for a week.'' Pat Rafter: Hoping his week at the Bermuda Open will help turn around a so-far disappointing season on the ATP Tour.