LEGENDARY names from the world of tennis are heading for Liverpool when the fifth international tennis tournament is held at Calderstones Park this summer.

They include two past Wimbledon champions and a recent Davis Cup winner.

The Daily Post can reveal that former champions Pat Cash and Goran Ivanisevic, along with much-loved performers Ilie Nastase and Henri Laconte are confirmed for this year's event.

They, along with four other players from the men's top 50 ATP rankings, will be officially announced at a launch at a Liverpool city centre hotel today.

A familiar face will also be at the launch today - Wimledon referee Alan Mills, originally from Formby, who will step out of retirement to take part in the 2006 event.

It will be the first appearance at the tournament for 2001 Wimbledon champion Ivanisevic, who was originally due to take part in the inaugural event but was forced to pull out.

Fellow Wimbledon winner, Australian Pat Cash, who won in SW19 in 1987, will be making his second appearance in Liverpool after making his debut last year while Nastase has become a regular as a member of the Legends event, which runs alongside the eight-man round-robin tournament, Frenchman Laconte, a famed court showman, also appeared at the tournament last year.

Organiser Anders Borg, of Northern Vision, said: "We are now the biggest tennis exhibition event in Europe, and we are proud to bring the best to Calderstones Park."

Mr Borg had the idea for a new grass tournament, to add to the short grass season culminating in the Grand Slam event at Wimbledon, back in 2002. The company Northern Vision was founded with the aim of promoting tennis in Merseyside and to organise sporting events around the UK.

The tournament is staged in a 5,000-seater arena in the centre of Calderstones Park, alongside a specially-constructed tented village with bar, dining and shopping facilities.

The event has gone from strength to strength since it was threatened with cancellation in only its second year in 2003, when a last-ditch rescue package was put together to secure the presence of the tournament.

Council leader Warren Bradley said: "It really has got better and better. After the first year I wasn't sure whether we should go on, but Anders has made it work.

"The partnership with the Culture Company has raised the bar on event organisation and Anders has delivered the players." The future is assured until 2008, after organisers Northern Vision and Liverpool City Council announced they are to develop the event into one of Britain's top Wimbledon warm-ups.

This year the event will run from June 13 to 18.

alanweston@dailypost.co.uk