It’s a question that crops up like clockwork with the onset of the grass court season and one which, to date, it has been not easy to respond to with a definitive answer, but when the inevitable barrage of ‘what is being done to produce the next Andy Murray?’ queries are being volleyed from all directions over the next few weeks, a close look at what is happening in Scottish tennis reveals a relatively healthy state of affairs.

With Jamie Baker, despite his unfortunate illness from which he has now thankfully recovered, continuing to make progress up the ATP rankings, Jamie Murray excelling on the doubles tour, and junior grand slam winner Graeme Dyce having completed the first year of his scholarship at the University of Kentucky, the senior landscape is as strong as it ever has been. But what of those who are demonstrating tremendous potential but for whom stepping out on Centre Court at Wimbledon is something that can only be dreamt about and still several years down the road?

Nobody in the sport in this country is in a better position to assess the current crop of juniors than Tennis Scotland’s National Coach Ellinore Lightbody. And the good news is that Ellinore is really excited about the quality of our youngsters and the prospects for the game in the years to come. “There is no doubt whatsoever that we have several players with the ability and character to really make their mark in the future and without getting complacent in any shape or form, I can confidently state that, at the top end of the junior game, Scotland is right up there.”

Of course the transition from promising junior to being established within the senior game is one of monumental proportions and one that requires substantially more than simply raw talent, as Judy Murray explains. ““My role is to identify and develop players in the 8 to 12 age band. We are performing pretty well at GB level with national champions in 12 and under girls and 10 and under boys and girls at the recent LTA clay court events.

“From the end of this month there will be three new Tennis Scotland staff specifically looking to create additional training and competitive opportunities for 6 to 9 year olds. This should significantly increase the numbers of kids playing tennis and consequently give us a bigger talent pool.

“The number of performance players in Scotland is currently very small but we have proved we can do a good job with the few we have, up to the age of 12-13. Beyond that age, when the international level players need a competitive training environment and access to a variety of court surfaces and committed sparring partners, we still need to look outside the country.

“While ultimately it is our aim to establish an international training base in Scotland, we need to significantly increase the numbers of players first and, just as importantly, develop more peformance coaches.”

Behind the scenes, the winds of change are also prevalent within the corridors of Tennis Scotland. A new board of directors, leaner and more in keeping with the commercial requirements of the 21st century, has greatly speeded up the decision making process while additional resources have been in the operations team who are pivotal in both developing the game at all levels and identifying talented youngsters. Heading that revolution is Chief Executive David Marshall. “It’s a challenging but very exciting time for the sport and while a huge level of hard work has already taken place to get where we are today, there is so much still to do.

“It’s all about raising the bar and getting more people to take up the game. Having role models such as Andy Murray helps to achieve just that and initiatives such as our series of tennis festivals, supported by Dow Chemicals and The Stewart Milne Group, give boys and girls the opportunity to receive free coaching and help the links between our clubs and our schools.

“The more people we have participating in the game of tennis in Scotland, the greater the chances of discovering the next potential star of the future. However, if we are actually to achieve the numbers playing that we would ultimately wish for, we would then have a real issue in terms of the lack of facilities. Of the nine districts in Scotland, three – Highlands, Borders and Dumfries & Galloway – have no indoor facilities and that, quite frankly, is unacceptable, given the vagaries of our climate.”

DM

For info :- Dave Macdermid – 07710 580148 (m); dave.macdermid@bigpartnership.co.uk