"Hi," says the video promotion. "My name is John McEnroe." One line is still enough. Heads turn. Conversations stop. McEnroe's ability to draw attention is still instant and continues to generate an immediacy that few other athletes possess.

McEnroe, along with Bjorn Borg, Pat Cash and Henri Leconte, have already been signed up to play in Dublin's Point Theatre in February in the ATP Senior Tour of Champions. They will be joined by four others to be selected from Mats Wilander, Guy Forget, Peter Flemming, John Fitzgerald, Peter McNamara and John Lloyd.

Jimmy Connors, the player who initiated the event, which is now an officially-sanctioned tournament, saw to it after an embarrassing start that the tour was not to be a gravy train for overweight former professionals and part-time pantomime artists. "I'm coming to Dublin in February. I hope you're ready," adds McEnroe from the video. A threat. That's more the old McEnroe, who along with the more considered Borg will be the main attractions at the 3,500-seater venue.

The Seniors has come a long way, and McEnroe at 40 still retains the competitive streak that took him to three Wimbledon titles and four US Opens. Borg at 43 is perhaps best remembered as the metronome who systematically dominated his era with top spin, winning Wimbledon five times and the French Open six times in 11 Grand Slam titles. That is until McEnroe arrived.

Des Allen, the chief executive officer of Tennis Ireland, says of the upcoming tournament: "This is absolutely a good thing for Irish tennis. It is a very positive way to promote the game here and expose people to tennis at this level.

"Seeing a player like McEnroe at close quarters, you can see why he is still one of the biggest attractions. He has retained his tennis skills at a very high level."

It is the first time McEnroe will have played here in a serious mode since 1983, when he played for the US in the Davis Cup at the RDS. He did, however, travel to Dublin on several occasions to play in GOAL charity matches. The competition will be staged over four days in a round robin format from February 17th to 20th and televised each day by RTE. The top two players from each group of four will then play in the final on the Sunday. The whole event will take place over seven sessions and also involves some doubles matches.

The Dublin event is part of a global tour and the ranking points on offer will determine who goes forward to play in the year-end Masters in Florida.

While the term seniors has connotations of old men, players actually qualify to play when they are in their 34th year, unlike golf where the seniors qualification mark is 50.

Players such as Forget and Leconte, who is 36, are far from moribund, while McEnroe and Borg, as evidenced by their competition last weekend in the Royal Albert Hall, are still in exceptional condition.