a bet with his coach.

When Dirk Dier arrived at Coral Beach Club yesterday for this year's tournament, his head was already shaved.

The meaning? Probably none, at least as far as Dier was concerned. But in a tournament as close and congested as this year's, you can't blame a guy for looking for any kind of edge he can get.

"I just wanted to do it. No particular reason,'' insisted Dier, who could be one of the eight seeded players when the main draw takes place on Sunday afternoon.

"I'm an extreme person for this kind of thing. I always wanted to do it once, just to see how it looks and how it feels.'' Dier, 26, didn't need much help from the barber last year, when, curly golden locks and all, he knocked off top seeded Jason Stoltenberg 6-4, 6-4 in the first round. Of course, he was promptly defeated in the second round himself by another strangely-coiffed player, purple-haired Marcelo Charpentier.

Van Herck and Stoltenberg aren't around this year (although Charpentier is).

Neither, for that matter, are at least six of the top eight seeds of a year ago. Instead there are a bunch of guys in the rankings' high double digits and low triple-digits, making handicapping the 32-man field mostly guess work.

"The players are so close (in today's tennis), anything can happen,'' said Dier, who comes in at number 136, up from the 180 he was earlier this season.

He acknowledges, however, that the field is not as strong as 1997, due largely to the fact that there are fewer ATP ratings points on the line, not to mention 25 thousand fewer dollar bills to play for. But Dier knows better than to get into that argument.

"You can say that maybe a tournament, if compared to two years ago is weaker or stronger -- but only from paper or rankings. Not from the players or from the tennis.'' "It's still a tournament with a lot of good players and if you to want to win something, you have to play really, really good, otherwise you lose in the first round and you're out of it.'' Barring late-comers arriving before tonight's 9.00 p.m. sign-in, Sargis Sargsian, a 6-1, 4-6, 6-0 loser to Van Herck in last year's final, will be top seed when play begins in earnest on Monday.

Sargsian, who turns 25 in June, comes in ranked 74th and tournament manager Maribeth Anderson said it was "80 percent'' certain he would be number one.

American Richey Reneberg is next at number 91 but Anderson said officials were still waiting to hear from a few other players, mostly wild cards, to confirm their appearance.

One player who did throw his hat into the ring yesterday was Russian Andrei Merinov.

Because this is one of the first clay court tournaments of the year, getting some early playing on the dirt is crucial to success.

That's why Dier came in early. He was a first-round casualty at Casablanca last week but got in two days of clay work in Germany and is counting on four days of practice on the Har-Tru green of Coral Beach before play begins.

He won one ATP Challenger event this season and was the finalist in another, beating players such as Marcello Craca, Emilio Alvarez and Nicolas Escude, all currently in the top 100.

"Actually, I'm pretty confident and I'm looking forward to playing,'' he said.

As for Coral Beach itself, it's also ready. Signage, bleachers, TV towers and virtually every other amenity is in place, prompting Coral Beach teaching pro Derek Singleton to remark that the tournament "is ready to go today (yesterday).'' A week straight of sun -- after an extraordinary winter of rain -- has not affected the courts' condition, said Singleton, praising the work of groundsman Joe Viera and his crew.

"We've been preparing for this (event) since January,'' said Singleton.

Three tournaments have been held this winter, but none since March 22, when centre court was shut down.

"Right now we're trying to balance it out in terms of what the weather is going to be like over the next few days,'' said Singleton, adding with a laugh, "It's just like the (Winter) Olympics.'' Singleton, of course, is the father of Olympic luger Patrick Singleton, and was the Bermuda team manager in snow-bound Nagano, Japan, this past January.

Photos by Tony Cordeiro CLOSE SHAVE -- Germany's Dirk Dier is sporting a new hairstyle as he gets in some time on court in preparation for next week's Bermuda XL Open at Coral Beach.

TALKING TENNIS -- Bermuda Open hopefuls Dirk Dier (right) and Michael Kohlmann, both of Germany, discuss their prospects for next week's tournament.