Judy Murray: Scots tennis facilities must improve

Judy Murray collected the award on behalf of her son Andy. Picture: Greg Macvean

In an exclusive interview with The Scotsman, the veteran coach said there had not been the roll-out of courts that she had hoped for in the wake of Andy’s famous triumph.

She said the country was still nowhere near a target of every town in the country boasting tennis courts.

A four-year deal to boost the sport in Scotland – worth £5.8 million – was announced in July, days after the 26-year-old defeated Novak Djokovic in the men’s singles final. At the time, Scottish sports minister Shona Robison said the funding would ensure “the right facilities are there to help people get more active, as well as helping to create the tennis stars of the future”.

But Ms Murray, the captain of Great Britain’s Fed Cup team, warned that the funding, from SportScotland and Tennis Scotland, would not go far.

She said: “There’s not been as much momentum as I would have hoped for. To get new people into the game you really need to have a lot of public facilities. There are still many towns, big and small, across Scotland where there aren’t any courts at all, never mind clubs.

“There’s been some good things done in Glasgow and Edinburgh on the parks side recently, but we need that to filter out into areas outwith the major towns.

“The extra funding announced in the summer for facilities development was great, when you consider that you probably need around £2m to build four indoor courts it won’t go as far as people think.

“I’d like to see a real commitment to ensuring that every town has some public tennis courts and a commitment from Tennis Scotland to invest in a bigger and stronger coaching workforce to really capitalise on the demand.”