Judy Murray Exclusive interview: ‘I will always be disappointed that Scotland did not use the opportunity it had when Andy and Jamie were at the top of world tennis’

Judy Murray laughs wide, but really, she could be forgiven because she says: ‘to Hell with it it’.

Everywhere around her, girls from a large number of different primary schools listen attentively while talking through her new initiative, learning to lead.

It is an innovative, yet simple concept, with P6 and P7 girls who run lunchtime or after-school tennis clubs for girls aged 4-9 years old.

Designed to inspire leadership and empowerment, the move was confirmed from Judy’s desire to keep girls exercising.

With 1.3 million teenage girls that now fall completely out of the movement (according to research conducted by women in sport), it is a timely maneuver.

It is remarkable that she is still fighting against the good fight. Judy is nothing, if not persistent and there is something in her that refuses to bend to fail.

This is reminiscent of her sons Andy and Jamie, who fought for victory after victory against the opportunities around the world.

Undoubtedly it has been an emotional year for the entire Murray family. Especially the downfall of Judy’s Park or Keir project was a huge blow. The construction was eventually drawn because of spiral costs and ‘long -term discussions’ with authorities.

What does she think about it now?

“I’ll not do it again,” she says softly. “That was 11 years of my life, which was planning. And money. I put a significant financial input in it and at the end of the day we had to pull the plug.

‘Really, it should never have been up to me to build a center of national significance for Scotland.

‘When I started that project, I just wanted to work somewhere. I wish I had just built a shed and had worked in it myself.

‘It grew a bit of weapons and legs, because it was a partnership with the LTA and the Scottish government through sports protection.

“They wanted a center of national significance. So it naturally grew in scale to meet their requirements. ‘

The £ 20 million facility, inspired by Andy and Jamie, was intended to offer affordable access to leisure for thousands of people of all ages and skills – the sports of tennis, pickleball and padel by creating an accessible, community -oriented center.

It had to be run by Judy’s Charitable Trust, the Murray Play Foundation. Significant cost increases, a long -term and uncertain planning process and long -term discussions with administrative bodies were ultimately too much – with a financing gap of more than £ 5 million to be filled in to continue the project to continue and no guarantee for the next tranche of planning proposals would ever be approved.

Scraping it was praised as a victory for campaign feeders who had gathered against building on the land near Dunblane, but the inability to create a lasting inheritance for Judy’s sons collected widespread criticism within tennis.

On social media, Andy simply replied: “No surprise,” while his former coach Mark Petchey “missed a chance” complained.

When John Swinney was asked by Mail Sport if he thought it was a shame for Scotland, there was no tangible legacy for Andy Murray – someone he had praised as a ‘Scotland’s biggest ever sportsman’ – the prime minister claimed that the chance to do this was still bad.

He said it must be informed by Andy Murray and the Murray Play Foundation ‘and insisted that he would like to have an’ open conversation ‘about future plans.

Whether those discussions will ever come true is unclear, with Judy ruling from another project from that ILK.

Andy’s retirement now lets the clock tap louder and louder. Tennis membership in Scotland may have risen, but continues to ask about the path for players on an elite level.

“I recently worked in Greece,” says Judy. ‘They have had two top ten players in Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari.

“Greece was never a hotbed of tennis. It is incredible what they have now because their government and administrative body found out and said, “Let’s strike while the iron is hot.”

‘There will probably be no Scots in the Wimbledon juniors this year. And that also disappoints me, because we should play their young children at a good level of Jamie and Andy.

‘To make it all work, you need a lot of it at a young age. You can’t just have one or two and hope that it works. You need volume, otherwise they have to leave the country to find the right training programs and coaches. I still find that very difficult to swallow. ‘

Judy remains worried about Scotland’s inability to benefit at the moment.

The LTA says that submissions and wildcards for this year’s Wimbledon have not yet been decided, so it is too early to tell how many Scots are involved, while Tennis Scotland denies that a lack of talent is due to the junior ranks.

Although Judy admits that some progress has been made when offering indoor facilities, she insists that even more needs to be done in under -assembled communities.

‘You still have huge holes and large cities that have nothing – such as Perth, Dundee, Inverness, and so on.

‘Even with the best of intentions, if you have identified a number of potentially large talented children in Inverness – who will learn them? If you do not have indoor facilities, people cannot earn a cost from coaching tennis because you cannot coach all year round, the weather is a pity because of the winter months. It will continue to disappoint me, the lack of progress. ‘

Positive is that the rise of Scot Jacob Fearnley is something that needs to be celebrated. The 23-year-old, says Judy, has taken ‘huge, huge steps’ in the last ten months and is an ‘exciting’ talent.

Currently World No 49 he burst on Wimbledon last year and took his first big victory over Alejandro Moro Canas before lost in four sets to Novak Djokovic in the second round.

“He went to an American university,” says Judy. “And that gave him the chance to grow up and grow. It gave him a great education, but it also gave him great training and competitive opportunities in a team environment, which is brilliant.

‘It is very, very difficult to get from school and immediately go to the tour and to be successful. So actually it was a perfect training area for him.

‘Before that he was at the Merchiston School, who has three courses in Edinburgh and a tennis academy that does great things on three inner houses. These were his two training grounds and between them they did a great job.

“He has a rocket from a forehand and he just improves week in, week out. He takes the experiences of the victories and the losses, and he learns from them. It is exciting to see.

‘The other who did well in the juniors last year was Charlie Robertson. He made the top 10 in the ITF (International Tennis Federation) End of Year Rankings, which was good, and is now also at an American university. ‘

And what is the following for Judy? It is difficult to see her admit, despite all the obstacles she has confronted.

“I can still build a shed,” she laughs. “But it will be one shed, and it will be my shed.”