Scotland will be represented for the first time in a European Tennis Association junior ranking tournament following the acceptance of four players into the main draw of the 16-and-under Cadet Masters in LaBaule, France from June 16 to 22. Mhairi Brown (16), who has an ITF world ranking of 264 in singles and 114 in doubles, will team up with Karen Paterson, Jonathan Lints and Barry McLaren for the week-long event which is the first of several domestic and overseas tours this summer for the Scottish junior squad.

Alan Mackin (16) and Elena Baltacha (14) aim to improve on their world junior rankings of 149 and 217 respectively by taking part in the ITF grass court tournaments at Thames Ditton and Roehampton prior to the all-British pre-qualifying event for Wimbledon while Brown has opted for ITF clay-court events in Holland and Denmark. Brothers Jamie and Andrew Murray will represent Britain at the European 12-and-under championships in Corsica in three weeks' time and Jamie Baker (11) will head to Italy for a 12-and-under event at the end of June. David Brewer, David Culshaw, Frances Hendry and Nicola Slater will contest the qualifying event for an ETA 14-and-under ranking tournament at Le Stade Francais in Paris from July 3 to 6 with Brewer, Hendry and Jamie Murray part of the British team for Les Petits Princes 13-and-under event in Annecy from July 13 to 18. The same week a further 18 squad members

are at the Solihull international tournament.

Eight players will benefit from a two-week tour to Germany from July 20 to August 2 while Brewer and Hendry will travel to ETA 14-and-under events at Waiblingen Baden Baden and Ulm from July 24 to August 10 before returning for the National Championships in Nottingham from August 17 to 22. The following week a further four Scots will head to Noirmutier for a 13-and-under event in preparation for the Four Nations' Championships in September. The fact that Scotland now has a number of players aged 11 to 16 who are at the top of their age groups in Britain has highlighted the need to develop an extensive overseas programme.