Next month's XL Capital Bermuda Open promises to be the toughest ever, with a host of top names battling it out on the Coral Beach Courts.

If having Michael Chang, Taylor Dent and Andrew Ilie playing was not enough, Tournament Director, Alec Anderson, yesterday confirmed even more top stars.

The number one seed for the event will be Czech Jan Vacek, ranked 124 in the ATP Champions Race as of the beginning of the month.

"He is a good player. He has had some big wins in his career, especially indoors," said Anderson.

Others thrilling the crowds include American Vince Spadea, Australian Wayne Arthurs, German Alexander Popp, Czech star Michal Tabara, Britain's Martin Lee and arguably last year's most popular player, American Michael Russell.

"It is great to have him (Russell) back," said Anderson. "He is a like a modern day Michael Chang with his style. He is not a very tall chap but he runs down all the balls and makes spectacular plays on the run.

"He had a really long semi-final match here which he eventually lost last year but he went on to play in the French Open where he was the only person to get to match point with the eventual winner, Gustavo Kuerten."

Anderson said the high rankings and quality of the players made it possibly the best field the tournament had had. And he promised more to come.

"We will certainly announce some wildcards in the coming week or so, probably American Davis Cup type players," he said.

Anderson said as well as being a top event one other factor played into the XL's hands.

"I think probably the main reason is there is only one other tournament in the world they can play," he said. "That is Monte Carlo. If you are not in the top and 64 and unless you want to try and qualify there is nowhere else to play.

"Ours is the biggest tournament going outside of that."

And Anderson revealed that in 2003 even Monte Carlo might not come into the equation.

"Next year we certainly hope to have a different date so we are not up against Monte Carlo," he said. "If that happens we will be stronger still."