In case you hadn't heard, the next Boris Becker will be staying at the new Holiday Inn in Urbana for the next few weeks.

Or was that the next Michael Stich?

"That's what they're saying, that kind of potential," Illinois men's tennis coach Craig Tiley said of teen tennis whiz Daniel Elsner. "The Germans are going to invest everything into him because he's their next up-and-coming star."

Elsner is just the kind of player you'll see at Tiley's second USTA Challenger of Urbana-Champaign, which starts Saturday with qualifying at Atkins Tennis Center.

Ranked as the world's No. 1 junior by the International Tennis Federation, he's among 60 might-bes scheduled to participate in the largest professional men's tennis tournament in Illinois.

Their autographs may not be worth the paper their scribbled on now. But 20 years from now ...

"There are going to be players that come out of it and make major breakthroughs, that are going to be tennis stars," Tiley said. "They're not your household names, but most people couldn't name five tennis names, anyway."

That was Justin Gimelstob at this time last year. The UCLA sophomore came to town with a world ranking above 300 and a name no one knew. He left with the first USTA Challenger of Urbana-Champaign trophy and a $7,500 check.

A year later, he's up to No. 82 in the world, going three rounds in the U.S. Open and a regular on SportsCenter.

"Could he be tennis' Tiger Woods?" Sports Illustrated has asked.

"A few weeks before the U.S. Open, he was interviewed by Tennis Magazine, and they asked him, 'Where'd you feel like you could really make it?' " Tiley said. "He said it was after his first breakthrough, winning the Urbana-Champaign Challenger. That goes in Tennis Magazine and six million copies go around the world.

"You couldn't pay enough for that type of exposure."

Gimelstob's success story has made Tiley's guest list easier to fill out. He just got back from New York, where he went to tell some of the pros about his event.

But many of them already had heard about it, from talking to Gimelstob and the other pros who made it to the first one.

"PR in international tennis circles really helped tremendously," Tiley said.

Tiley hopes to attract 60 of the world's top 239 players. Already booked: South Africa's Kevin Ullyett, 143rd in this week's ATP rankings; Doug Flach, who bounced Andre Agassi from Wimbledon last summer; Bahamian Olympian Mark Knowles, the world's 16th-best doubles player; and former NCAA champion Steve Bryan, whom Gimelstob beat for last year's title.

This year's winner will pocket about $4,000.

"They don't play the Challengers for the money, they play the Challengers for the breakthroughs," Tiley said.

If Gimelstob really hits the big time, maybe he'll give a little something back to the tournament that started it all.

Tiley could use the help. The USTA, happy with the job he did last year, agreed to be the title sponsor of the event this year after Tiley ran into problems finding a local one.

The purse is $25,000, but it takes $50,000 to run. The USTA has agreed to help out with a 1998 event, but it's up to Tiley to find a business to be the main sponsor.

"I'm very confident we can get it done," he said.

A crowd would help sell it. Two stadium courts can seat 750, which last year's event didn't come close to attracting.

The singles and doubles finals drew about 350. Average attendance for all seven days was around 250.

"I thought we would get more people out," Tiley said. "Our goal eventually is to have this place packed each day."