THE Aussies are coming – and that doesn’t just mean for the ICC Cricket World Cup and the Ashes that follow.

A strong presence from Down Under have entered the fifth Ilkley Trophy - an LTA summer grass-court tournament from June 17-23 at Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club that acts as preparation for Wimbledon.

Second seed is set to be world No 69 Jordan Thompson, who was top seed at Ilkley in 2016 and 2018, losing in the quarter-finals both times, and has played in the tournament four of the five years that it has been held.

Three years ago, Thompson, who reached the third round of the French Open last week, was beaten by eventual runner-up Vincent Millot, while last year he succumbed to champion Sergei Stakhovsky.

Backing Thompson up is 2017 Ilkley runner-up Alex Bolt (Australia), who reached the third round of the Australian Open earlier this year, beating world No 30 Gilles Simon; James Duckworth, who lost to Andy Murray in the first round of the 2018 US Open; and 2018 Ilkley semi-finalist Jason Kubler.

Top seed at Ilkley is ATP Next Gen star Ugo Humbert from France.

The 20-year-old is currently at a world-best ranking of 61, having defeated world No 13 Borna Coric earlier this year in Marseille.

Other players in the top 100 to have entered are Romanian Maruis Copil at No 83 and Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin at 97.

Copil reached his first ATP World Tour final last year in the Sofia Open and has wins over Marin Cilic (twice) and Alexander Zverev.

Istomin, who has been as high as 33 in the world, beat Novak Djokovic in the 2017 Australian Open second round.

The women’s draw for the Ilkley Trophy features nine players ranked between 50 and 100 in the world.

The 20 women players accepted direct into the main draw include world No 53 Kristina Mladenovic (France), who is also No 4 in doubles.

Mladenovic, a former No 11 in 2017, is best known for her doubles career, winning the 2013 Wimbledon and 2014 Australian Open mixed doubles and most recently the 2018 Australian Open women's doubles title with Tímea Babos.

Mladenovic’s compatriot and fellow France Fed Cup team member Pauline Parmentier (No 66) returns to Ilkley, aiming to build on her 2018 haul of two WTA singles titles.

The 2016 Ilkley champion Evgeniya Rodina (Russia), currently ranked No 70 in the world, also returns alongside 2017 champion Magdalena Rybarikova (No 74, Slovakia), who notably went on from Ilkley to reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon beating then world No 3 Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) and Coco Vandeweghe (then No 25, USA) along the way.

The 2018 Ilkley Champion Tereza Smitkova (No 126, Czech Republic) will also be back to defend her title.

Viktorija Golubic (No 79, Switzerland) will be aiming for her second title of 2019, to add to her win at Indian Wells, United States, in February.

Currently enjoying her highest ever ranking, France’s Fiona Ferro (No 82) is enjoying her first year in the global top 100 while Poland’s number one Magda Linette (No 87) returns to Ilkley after finishing runner-up in 2015.

Rounding off top 100 players set to appear in Ilkley are American Madison Brengle (No 91) and Stefanie Voegele (No 97, Switzerland).