Multi-talented sportsman Ricky Mallory plans to give up the chance of defending his Heineken Open tennis title to concentrate on helping his soccer team PHC win the Premier Division championship.

Mallory was yesterday en route home from Honduras, where he and team-mates James Collieson, Jenson Bascome and Dean Mello earned Davis Cup promotion for Bermuda.

"To be honest, the football is more important to me right now,'' said Mallory. "PHC have got a good chance of winning the league and that means a lot to me.'' The Zebras top the table by four points from North Village with two games to play, against Somerset Trojans on Sunday and against Wolves on April 9 -- the same day as the Heineken Open final.

Last year, Mallory achieved an unprecedented clean sweep of all the major domestic singles titles.

Mallory was due to get back home yesterday, but was instead marooned in Philadelphia after his flight back home was cancelled, apparently due to technical problems with an aircraft.

The 34-year-old reflected fondly on a superb Davis Cup campaign, in which the team won five ties out of six to finish second in the seven-team tournament and claim promotion to American Zone Group III.

"This campaign compares with when we won promotion in Bermuda a few years ago in front of a home crowd,'' said Mallory.

"There was a good harmony among the players, some great tactical decisions by the captain Steve Bean and it was a great team effort. The atmosphere was great and the fans were noisy and that gets you pumped up more, trying to win.

Some of the locals were even rooting for us when Honduras weren't playing.

"We took some some pins and T-shirts for the local kids, as we always do, and signed autographs. Some of the kids were in tears when we left our hotel.'' The veteran was plagued by inflamed neck muscles throughout the week. He was used as a singles specialist in the gruelling schedule and hinted that he might be looking for less of a front-line role in next year's Davis Cup.

"Everybody's been asking me how much longer I'll be playing Davis Cup and that's a decision I will have to think about,'' said Mallory.

"I don't think I'll be playing singles for too many more years, but I'll be playing doubles for a while longer I think.'' Bean was keen for Mallory to keep playing, but acknowledged that other players would need to share his workload.

"I think Ricky will stay around and play some doubles, but it would be tough to ask him to keep playing singles and he would certainly need rest days,'' said Bean.

This year Donald Evans and Michael Way were unavailable through work commitments, but Bean stressed that facing tougher opposition in Group III meant Bermuda had to be able to field their strongest team next year.

"If we are to have any kind of chance of staying in that division, we will need our best players,'' said the captain.

"As soon as we find out when and where next year's Davis Cup will be, we will let everyone know so they can work around job situations. Hopefully, Donald and Michael will be available.'' Bean had been delighted to see young blood invigorating the team in the shape of Collieson, 22, and Bascome, 20.

"James and Jenson will be leading our team for the next few years. When I looked at the other teams in Honduras, most of their players were under 22.'' Ricky Mallory: will skip this month's Heineken Open in order to concentrate on soccer.