Bermuda, has received favourable international publicity over its Blackburne tennis racquet.

Inventor and long-time Bermuda resident, Robin Blackburne, said this week the firm had been overwhelmed with orders from their US and European distributors.

The double-strung racquet is undergoing a renaissance of sorts, and has been featured recently in a number of publications, including Mens Journal, Tennis Magazine, Inside Tennis, Tennis Week, Tennis Italiano, Le Figaro of Paris, and the Evening Standard, together with numerous other newspapers and magazines.

Last week it was also featured on CNN Headline News.

Mens Journal featured the Blackburne DS107 Tennis racquet in its Toys for Grown-up Boys column in the December edition. The model just released in the US in April was selected as one of the best and most exciting ten products of 1997 by the magazine.

It was banned until recently because it was deemed to give the user an unfair advantage. Eight local outlets are now providing opportunities for tennis players to demo the clubs.

Mr. Blackburne is also the inventor of the ViniCool device used to delay white wines from warming to room temperature while out of the refrigerator. A 1984 Playboy Magazine edition selected that among the ten best products of that year.