Tennis Scotland hit back at Judy Murray over Sir Andy’s legacy claim

Her remarks came in the wake of the collapse of her £20m project to build a tennis centre near the Murray family home in Dunblane earlier this year. She said she was angry that Tennis Scotland and other stakeholders in the project began to vanish as time went on.

She said: “I don’t have any confidence in the leadership of Tennis Scotland and that’s a major reason for me not to get involved in anything else here.

“Even when it was the 10-year anniversary of Andy winning Wimbledon, they didn’t do anything, nor when he retired. But it’s never been about celebrating his achievements it was about using them to increase the profile of tennis in Scotland and the UK and reach communities that had previously been excluded. But what are they actually doing? They’ve now got around 20 full-time staff, but when they had a golden opportunity they dropped the ball spectacularly.”

Sir Andy, 37, retired after losing in the men’s doubles at the quarter-final stage of the Paris Olympics in August and is now a coach for his former rival Novak Djokovic.

In a statement given to The Herald, a spokesperson for Tennis Scotland said: “By any measure, this is a period of unprecedented growth for our sport.

“More people are playing than ever before – with participation growth and club membership numbers at a record high, having increased by over 20,000 in the last five years to nearly 80,000. We are now the third largest sport in Scotland by club membership, with a small staff team compared to many other sports. 

“To cope with that growth, we have worked hard to secure additional investment at a time when sports funding is under increasing pressure, allowing tennis to invest significantly in a number of facilities and projects to help build capacity with the support of our partners LTA, sportscotland, universities and local authorities. 

“We have opened two new indoor centres in Edinburgh and Elgin this year with a third new indoor facility starting construction in Dumfries & Galloway in January. 

“In addition to this, there have been 160 public tennis courts renewed and refurbished at a cost of around £2.5m throughout Scotland over the last year to allow easy access to tennis in local communities, working alongside local authorities and leisure trust operators. 

“Since 2014, there has been more than £30m invested in nearly 200 projects across Scotland, including floodlighting, all-weather surfaces, clubhouses, indoor courts, padel and park courts. There have been 40 new padel courts opened in Scotland over the last two years, most of which are indoor.  

“We’re also hosting more international competitions than ever, with 32 weeks of events throughout the year, including at ATP and ITF level, and have just announced the first-ever broadcast deal with BBC Scotland for our domestic tour. The number of players competing regularly increased by 32% last year with numbers expected to have grown again in 2024.

“Record investment has also just been made in Scottish performance tennis with a new five-year funding agreement with the LTA, while at grassroots level, more than 2000 Scottish schoolchildren are coming into tennis every year as a result of our roadshows.

“2023 saw the highest number of Scots competing at Wimbledon, and Jonny O’Mara, who worked with Andy Murray for the last 18 months of his career, is now part of our performance coaching team, providing the highest level of advice and guidance to our players. There are also now more than 500 accredited coaches in Scotland with around 300 applicants every year across the four levels of qualifications we deliver in partnership with the LTA.”

The spokesperson added: “There is always more to do and the team at Tennis Scotland will continue working tirelessly to grow our sport.”