Tennis stars of the future on display at Waverley Open

THE annual Highland Spring Waverley junior tennis open gets underway in Edinburgh on Friday until April 4 with a bumper field already guaranteed to better last year's record entry.

Some 306 competitors will be ready to go to the base-line aged from under-8 to under-18 where top seeds are Heather Elder (North Berwick) and James Drummond (West).

The event was recently named as Scotland's leading tournament of 2007 and this is reflected by a sizeable entry from south of the Border while organisers have had to approach nearby clubs Craigmillar Park and Kirkbrae for additional courts to cope with demand.

Event organiser Peter Nicolson says: "The success of a growing number of Scots at professional level is having a knock-on effect right through to the junior ranks.

"While we are delighted with both the quantity and quality of entry it is a fact that several players have indicated they are unavailable this year having been selected to play abroad. It is a feather in the cap of the Waverley tournament that we have been a stepping stone in terms of their progress."