THE Liverpool International opens tomorrow for the fourth time, with its now familiar mix of young and old, rising rookies rubbing shoulders with some of the most revered stars on the planet, current ATP players performing alongside veteran entertainers.
But as well as bringing a chunk of flair and colour to a city centre park for five days this week, organiser Anders Borg hopes his brainchild can also make a difference to the way tennis is perceived on Merseyside.
More than 2,000 Liverpool schoolchildren have been invited to Calderstones Park, where Borg hopes they are bitten by the tennis bug.
Star attraction Martina Navratilova has said many times before "British tennis needs to re-evaluate its current system. It is not working."
And the Norwegian entrepreneur hopes his tournament can help effect that change.
"British tennis is improving behind Henman and Rusedski," he said "but there is a long way to go before they have another player who can break into the top 50.
"A lot of work is being done at grass roots level with children as young a seven years old being encouraged to play three times a week, and we have invited more than 2,000 children from different schools in Liverpool in order to introduce them to the game of tennis.
"Who knows? The next Federer may be amongst them!"
