left to chance when the Davis Cup comes to town.

The arrival of the American Zone Group III and IV tournament in April has Bermuda tennis officials working overtime as preparations for one of the Island's largest sports undertakings shift into phase two.

"Everything's starting to take shape now,'' said Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association president David Lambert this week -- two months after the ITF's Davis Cup official, Thomas Hallberg, arrived to confirm Bermuda would host one of the four Zone qualifiers.

And just to make sure local organisers know what's naughty and nice, the International Tennis Federation have sent along a checklist to aid in the hosting of the 11 tennis-playing nations from South America and the Caribbean.

"We've already accomplished everything we're supposed to do,'' said Lambert.

Now comes the next stage: Formation of a five-person Davis Cup committee and a sub-committee to begin planning for such things as transportation, social functions, security, opening ceremonies, media, scheduling, linesmen and ushers.

Lambert expects this to be in place by early January, coinciding with the start of workshops for some 60 youngsters being recruited to act as ball girls and ball boys during the two-week tournament.

BLTA vice president Alan Simmons has already been appointed Davis Cup director.

And next week, the first part of Bermuda's Davis Cup entry gets underway. Nine men's players -- of which four will be selected to compete -- will meet up with top juniors and women next Saturday afternoon at the Tennis Stadium for the launch of official national team training.

The team -- taking part in only Bermuda's second crack at Davis Cup competition -- will be selected in March. The Island will face Costa Rica and the OECS -- a group of small Eastern Caribbean Islands -- in Group IV, hoping to be promoted to Group III in 1998. Group III consists of Antigua/Barbuda, Panama, Trinidad/Tobago, Barbados, Guatemala, Bolivia, Jamaica and Dominican Republic, with the top two advancing to Group II.

The round-robin tournament will take place on four international hard-court surfaces at the Southampton Princess.

Despite the mammoth logistics involved, Lambert insists "no one feels it's going to be overwhelming for us.'' He said the BLTA have had no shortage of volunteers. "It's a good feeling to see so many people in all areas willing to help out,'' he said.

The tournament follows by two weeks the annual XL Bermuda Open, an ATP professional event. Concerns have been expressed to The Royal Gazette that the Department of Tourism -- a major player in the Davis Cup bid -- were slow off the line in marketing the two events as a month of great tennis for visitors.

But Lambert said Tourism have been involved in every step and that he was "not concerned at all'' that the government would not pull their load.