World number two and Bermuda resident Dave Palmer arrived back on the Island on Wednesday in order to prepare for the Docksiders World Class Exhibition which takes place tonight at the Bermuda Squash Raquets Association in Devonshire.

The Australian, who has been using Bermuda as a training base from which to travel to tournaments in America, will be playing his great friend and rival, world number three John White.

The last time the pair played each other competitively was in the final of the World Open last year where Palmer eventually triumphed in what many observers thought to be one of the most dramatic finals of all time.

Although he admits that he is "a few hard matches away" from being fully fit, after recovering from a debilitating appendix operation in Bermuda at the end of last year, the 27-year-old still made it through to the final of the US Open in New York on Tuesday night, where he lost in four tight games to the world number one Peter Nicol.

Despite the loss, Palmer is refusing to be downcast.

"If I am being realistic, I could not have asked for much more in getting through to the final," he said.

"The match was extremely close and I had a game point in both the third and fourth games which effectively means I was two points away from winning the whole tournament. Considering where I am physically, I have to be happy with that."

Given his hectic upcoming schedule, which will involve defending his World Open title in Pakistan late in the year and attempting to help Australia retain the World Team Championships in October (to which Bermuda is sending a team for the first time), Palmer is, by his own admission, seriously in need of competitive match practice.

That is precisely why, he says, exhibition events of the kind organised in Bermuda are crucial to his preparation.

"John and I have had some fantastic matches in the past and this one will be a great help in my efforts to get back to where I was eight months ago," he said. "I'm really looking forward to it and I hope to play well."