David Lambert is hoping to see the fruits of eight year?s labour on the junior international tennis circuit before he steps down at the end of 2004.

Lambert was elected unopposed as Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association (BLTA) president this week, but admits this will be his final year at the helm.

The veteran tennis administrator will be concentrating on some ?personal projects? next year which will take him off the Island on a regular basis, and he doesn?t feel he will then be able to do the position justice.

But for this year, he is hoping the reinvigorated junior tennis programmes will yield further success with junior Davis and Federation Cup teams heading to Haiti, representatives going to Trinidad for the Caribbean Under-14 championships and the second annual Bank of Bermuda Foundation/ITF Junior Tournament in August.

?Due to personal projects that will take me off the Island I have decided that this will be my final year,? said Lambert, who returned to the helm of the BLTA after Terry Smith resigned at the back end of 2002 after a difference of opinion with club representatives over changes he was proposing to the BLTA?s by-laws.

?I don?t think I will be able to offer the commitment needed to match the progressive pace of tennis here. In the years I have worked for the BLTA, we have achieved much due to a hard-working executive, excellent coaches and the desire from everyone within the organisation to take tennis forward.?

He wouldn?t go into detail about the nature of his personal projects, but it is thought they involved work with tennis facilities in the US.

On the domestic front, the junior calendar starts tomorrow with the Langton/Grotto Bay tournament with under tens through to Under-18s competing for vital ranking points. ?There is a huge incentive for all our youngsters this year,? said Lambert. ?The top-ranked juniors will be invited to squad training and we will be selecting a team to go forward into the Davis Cup and Fed Cup events.

?Tennis is building in Bermuda, we have good junior programmes and things are very much on the up.?