this year's XL Bermuda Open.

Now he'd like to show his thanks by taking home some of the $125,000 purse.

Shelton is making his third straight appearance on these shores and is one of the tournament's more popular players, thanks in no small part to his gritty semi-final loss two years ago to Mauricio Hadad.

But last year, he was knocked off by Javier Frana in the second round and two weeks ago failed to make it out of qualifying for the Lipton Championships.

His ranking has tumbled to 181 at last count but Shelton remains as determined -- not to mention personable -- as ever.

"There are lot more good players out there,'' he said of his recent struggles. "You have to step up and meet the challenge every match and I haven't done that.

"It used to be in qualifying, you would have a couple of easy matches. Not anymore. The level of opposition is higher than it was, say five years ago.'' Now 32, the Alabama native says he still enjoys coming to Bermuda, noting the fans and the atmosphere at Coral Beach. But with a first round match awaiting him this morning against none other than Frana, he'll be hard-pressed to stick around for more than a couple of days.

"I'm going to try some things a little different,'' he said. "Last year, I was kind of predictable in my game plan. This year, I'd like to mix it up better; still serve and volley but change things around a little.'' As a serve and volleyer, he's not supposed to play well on clay. But for whatever reason he does and says it's his favourite surface.

Of course, he hasn't played in a while, which is why he got in a two and a half hour practice session yesterday and hit with Vince Spadea to help the latter warm up for last night's tilt against Jaime Oncins.

"I feel really good,'' he said.

If things don't go well today, he'll always have doubles to fall back on come Wednesday.

He's teamed with Zimbabwe's Wayne Black -- fresh off his Davis Cup win on the weekend -- as the only doubles wild card.

Shelton only has to look back to January to know there's still life in his legs. It was then when he and part-time Bermuda resident Pat Rafter teamed up to knock off world number one Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge in the final of a tournament in Adelaide.

Only two seeds see action today, including number one Jason Stoltenberg, who is coming off a victory over Boris Becker in the final of a tournament in Houston on the weekend. He'll play another German, Dirk Dier, to open today's play at 11.00 a.m.

Tonight, number seven seed Sargis Sargsian of Armenia takes on Bahamian Mark Knowles.