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Roger Federer - the king of Grass - was knocked off his perch in dramatic fashion in one of the best Wimbledon finals of all time last week.

This weekend it was the turn of Andy Bray - Bermuda's own king of the court - to be dethroned as a new generation of tennis players staked their claim for the number one spot.

Perennial number one Bray, who up until June this year had won 10 out of the last 12 'majors' in an era of dominance spanning four years, was beaten in the semi-finals of the Argus Open by Gavin Manders, who went on to beat Jenson Bascome in straight sets in the final.

Bascome had previously broken Bray's stranglehold on the majors, beating him in the Island Construction Final.

Now, Bray, like Federer in the world game, is seeing his number one title slipping from his grasp.

And while he is confident the Swiss master can regain his crown, he'll have to wait till the Fairmont Open later in the year to try and re-assert his dominance in Bermuda.

"I've got no qualms about Federer getting it back. For me, we'll have to see how it goes.

"Everyone else is playing well. I can't moan about not winning it. Jenson, Gavin and David have all been training for the Davis Cup. They have all been working hard and it's paid off.

"Gavin won on Saturday so you would have to say he is the best right now."

James Collieson, another of the island's top players, sees a lot of potential in the likes of Manders, Bascome and David Thomas, who begin their Davis Cup campaign for Bermuda today.

"Gavin looks like he is playing well, Jenson is always quite consistent. There's a few young guys coming up.

"How they progress depends on getting the right coaching at school. David Thomas in particular has as big a forehand as anyone in the world. He's got all the tools to be as good as he wants to be."

Collieson, though, believes that Bray is still the man to beat.

"Those guys have been training for the Davis Cup and I don't think Andy has been hitting as much as he would like. He's a good player but you still can't just turn up and expect to win.

"It would be worrying if the guys that were in training couldn't beat him."

Collieson still backs himself as one of the better players in Bermuda.

But he said with no prize money on offer there was no incentive for him to take time off his job giving lessons at Coral Beach.

He believes organizers need to revamp the tournaments to make them more competitive.

"I think these tournaments should have prize money. To cancel x amount of lessons to win a silver ashtray is tough. They've got sponsors. If they could increase the prize money it would make it more interesting. That's the way to spice up the competition.

"It's nice that there's a bit more competition at the top end right now, but there is no depth.

"If there was a $1,000 top prize it might encourage a few more players to give up their work commitments and be on their A-game for these tournaments.

"Even some of the older guys like Michael Way and Ricky Mallory could still shake it up a bit and cause a few upsets."[[In-content Ad]]

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