'SHOW me your medals' is a common enough cry from young sports stars who believe their coach is asking them to achieve something they themselves couldn't do.
Andy Murray didn't have to ask when it came to establishing the credentials of his first coach – mum Judy, who won 64 Scottish titles and 27 international caps.
On occasions when his mother was winning Scottish team titles with Dunfermline LTC, An
dy and his older brother, Jamie, got themselves in on the action, too.
Pat Reid, director of Tennis Scotland and stalwart Dunfermline tennis club member, recalls: "Judy played in seven of our Scottish Cup-winning teams during the 1990s when it was common-place for Andy and Jamie to not only come along and watch but dive on to any empty court in between rounds of matches.
"The boys never missed an opportunity to play and as often as not Judy would give up her break to hit a ball to them. It was the same at Dunfermline's annual junior tournament when Andy and Jamie turned up for the first time aged eight and nine respectively and just wanted to play all the time."
And Reid points out that the relationship has been mutually beneficial. "Judy completed the elementary tennis coaching course whilst she was at university," she said. "It was when the boys came along that she began to attain higher qualifications."
So if Judy, in the nicest possible sense, drove her offspring on to tennis success they were responsible, too, for persuading her to upgrade her CV so as to offer more advanced guidance. This culminated in her becoming the first Scot to achieve the LTA Performance Coach award which is the UK's highest award.
Peter Nicolson, former Tennis Scotland president, refereed many of the tournaments in which Andy Murray first participated, including when he won the Waverley Open under-tens – aged six and three-quarters. And according to Nicolson, Judy offered much, much more than tactical advice to her boys and others in her training squad.
"Judy always majored in encouragement. She could have invented the phrase 'c'mon' as she looked on from the sidelines," said Nicolson. "In the 30 or so years I have known Judy I have never known her to be anything other than totally positive in her dealings with all her charges."
Encouraging... and not a little protective. Gordon Scott, a former East of Scotland LTA committee member, was reporting tennis for the Edinburgh Evening News when Andy burst to prominence by beating a boy nearly four years his senior for that Waverley Open under-tens title in a field that also included Shaun Maloney, later a Celtic, Aston Villa and Scotland footballer, but by no means a tennis prodigy.
Scott recalled: "I sensed a story but although Judy was happy to provide me with any details I required about Andy's tennis, she put her foot down at the suggestion I interview a six-year-old – and looking back she was probably quite right!"
No harm was done to relations because Scott was later to partner Jamie Murray in the handicap doubles at the East Lothian Championships held annually in North Berwick. As for Andy, he played alongside his father, Willie, in the same event, and Scott sensed the tactical hand of Judy Murray again at work.
"I think it was quite deliberate that Judy wanted the boys to experience as much of what holiday tennis was all about while they could, and it didn't get much more grassroots than the North Berwick handicap doubles! That was because Judy had an inherent knowledge of exactly how good Andy and Jamie had the potential to become.
"Just as when I requested that first interview, she downplayed everything they did because I suspect she knew better than anybody there would be plenty of hype flying around later on.
"The public perception of Judy might be overpowering, the domineering mum. The reality is that the opposite is true for she has always tried to protect her boys from any over-the-top reaction, and you can add to those impressive attributes the fact there has been no better Scottish tennis coach in the last 20 years." Assistant referee of the East Lothian Championships was Alex Harkins, who said organisers lived in dread of a Murray v Murray match because it was liable to knock the scheduling sideways.
"Andy versus Jamie was a tooth and nail battle with every point fiercely contested," he said. "If the Murrays were drawn against each other you could write off the next two hours at least."
If Judy knew to keep a motherly eye on proceedings, she also knew when to step back. John Paterson, a respected Scottish coach, shares with Judy Murray the knowledge of what it is like to have a Wimbledon player in the family, his daughter Karen having played on the SW19 lawns in both 2006 and 2007.
"Any parent will tell you that it can be easier to coach other people's children," said Paterson. "Your own are always capable of rebelling in a way others don't. You can be wrong whereas someone else offers the correct advice even if it is exactly the same. That sort of thing!
"Judy knew exactly when it was time for Andy to move on to be coached by Leon Smith, which is harder than it might appear given the emotional attachment. One characteristic Andy very definitely inherited from Judy, though, is determination. I've been fortunate to be part of the same Scottish veterans' team as Judy at home internationals.
"Just as when she was competing regularly, that streak which says 'no way is this court being vacated until my match is won' remains."
Undoubtedly, though, one of the most endearing features of this first lady of the Scottish racket scene is a willingness to share her experiences with the wider tennis community.
Ask Portobello man Kenny Devine, who along with wife Kathy turned to Judy for advice when it was apparent their daughter, Emma, now 14, had a special talent that was to take her to the academy in Belgium run by former world No 1 Justine Henin.
"Because Judy had seen Andy go off to the Sanchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona she knew the advantages of a tennis upbringing in an environment where there is real depth of competition," said Emma's father.
"She explained that instead of having to face the same opposition – win or lose – on a regular basis it was possible to go somewhere you could benefit from variety in mixing with several nationalities. But Judy was also aware of the anxieties attached to your offspring leaving home at a young age. Above all Judy ensured we had an open line to her for advice which, given her busy schedule, was much appreciated."
As Peter Nicolson says, it is not just Andy Murray that has become a sporting celebrity.
"There's now a buzz whenever Judy walks into a junior tournament. The kids love it when she comes along because they see a link between them and the really big time.
"Judy's presence at a junior tournament tells them it is possible to scale any height, because Andy has played in the same events they are competing in."
