The future of the XL Bermuda Open has been cast into doubt after title sponsors XL Capital Ltd. pulled the plug on their sponsorship, leaving organisers with a gaping financial hole to fill.

For the past 15 years, the insurance giant has sponsored the Island's biggest tennis event, which has attracted stars such as Andy Roddick, James Blake and David Nalbandian.

This comes as another blow to tournament organisers and charitable organisation, the Bermuda Tennis Foundation, less than two years after Government dropped its sponsorship of the event worth $50,000 per year.

But they are now reviewing the situation and looking to find new sponsors to cover the $900,000 average cost of running the event. In the past, XL had laid out between $300,000 and $350,000 to fund the event, but when asked, the insurer refused to comment on exactly how much its contribution was worth.

Maribeth Anderson, who is the tournament director along with her husband Alec, said that they wanted to continue the event next year, but needed to look at the figures to see whether it was possible.

"At the moment, we would like to continue," she said. "We are just reviewing the financial feasibility and going through our budget."

She confirmed that the event had been scheduled for April 2009, however, they would have a better idea in a few weeks' time whether it would go ahead.

The Ministry of Tourism and Transport withdrew its sponsorship of the event much to the dismay of the organisers in December 2006, but Ms Anderson did not rule out approaching them again for funding.

Among the backers for the event are official and box sponsors, as well as money raised from ticket sales, but that still leaves them to make up a third of the sponsorship as a result of XL's withdrawal.

"We should know in the next few weeks if we can hold the event," said Ms Anderson. "If we think we can cover the amount that XL contributed in the past then we could go on.

"It would be great to get the support from the rest of the community to help continue the event.

"The event was modelled on Wimbledon and it would be a real shame if it had to end."

The event has proved popular with tennis fans in recent years and has drawn a number of up-and-coming professionals, some of whom are now ranked as the world's top players.

In addition it has brought Bermuda's sporting community together and given the country's junior players high-level coaching talent they would not otherwise have been able to access.

Players such as US Open winner and Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick, along with fellow Wimbledon finalist MaliVai Washington, have competed at the event, as have American James Blake and Britain's Greg Rusedski and Australia's Mark Philippoussis.

XL said that while it had been the proud sponsor of the XL Open since it started in 1993, it had reluctantly decided to withdraw its sponsorship of the event to cut back on expenses.

"Despite this successful track record, XL has reluctantly decided to withdraw its title sponsorship of the XL Open," an XL spokesperson said. "Global economic conditions in general and current insurance market trends in particular have encouraged us to review sponsorships such as this with the aim of reducing expenses wherever possible.

"We also believed a review of commercial sponsorships was appropriate in light of our recent global redundancies and our desire to continue providing financial support to Bermuda's charitable organisations.

"While we know that the decision to withdraw our title sponsorship of the XL Open is likely to disappoint many in the community, including XL clients and employees, we will endeavour to work with the event organisers to do what we can to see that this great sporting tradition is continued."

XL confirmed it will continue to sponsor the World Rugby Classic this year and was a broadcast sponsor of the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in 2007.