Andy Murray’s tennis legacy squandered, says his mother in scathing criticism
Judy Murray has slammed tennis authorities in Scotland and the Scottish government for failing to capitalise on her son Andy Murray’s legacy in the sport.
The tennis coach asserted that Tennis Scotland “dropped the ball spectacularly” when they had a “golden opportunity” to build on Murray’s success.
Andy Murray, who turned professional in 2005, called time on his outstanding career in August after playing his final matches at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The 37-year-old is considered by many to be the greatest British tennis player ever for his achievements during an era featuring Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic — arguably the three best players of all time.
Murray won three Grand Slam titles and reached a further eight major finals, while he spent 41 weeks as the world No 1 and finished 2016 on top of the ATP Rankings.
The Brit is the only male player to win two Olympic gold medals in singles in the Open Era, having triumphed at the 2012 and 2016 Games. He secured 46 singles titles overall and also won an ATP Finals title and 14 Masters 1000 crowns.
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Judy Murray led a £20m project to build an Andy Murray legacy tennis centre near the Murrays’ hometown of Dunblane in Scotland, but plans were scrapped in August over planning issues and rising costs.
In an interview with The Herald, Judy Murray expressed her anger at the project being shelved and argued her son’s legacy has been wasted.
“I was encouraged to give it scale by Sport Scotland and the Lawn Tennis Association to become a centre of national significance,” she said.
“I would have to say I didn’t need that. I just wanted somewhere to work to develop other coaches and players.
“And I wanted it to be about community; to be open to everybody. Everything just took so long and got bigger and so the costs went up; we hit Covid and Brexit and had challenges with planning delays.
“I wondered how it can be so difficult to build something that is inherently good. We had set it up as a charity, so there was no commercial value to us in it whatsoever.
“I worked my butt off to try to get it to where we got it to. But when the construction costs began to rise steeply, we really needed all the stakeholders who had committed to step up to help us to fill that gap. And that didn’t happen. We actually had the outline planning permission and we were ready to go for the detailed planning permission.
“I got to the stage where I thought ‘I’ve done 12 years on this already; I’ve spent a fortune; I’m absolutely knackered and I’m not getting the support from those who are responsible for delivering both tennis and sport in Scotland.
“There was just apathy and a lack of cooperation and far too many obstacles put in our way. Almost like they were kicking the can down the road trying to make it as hard as possible for us.
“I’d spent most of my adult life from when I was a volunteer at our local club trying to grow tennis in Scotland. It will always be a huge source of disappointment to me that this didn’t happen. But really, to build something like that should be down to the Scottish Government and the governing body of the sport.
“The facilities on their own won’t get the job done. You really need coaches who have the vision, the ambition, the passion, the commitment to develop players to a good level.
“There needs to be a good coaching education programme and a workforce-building programme: that was a big part of what I was trying do.”
Murray continued: “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.
“This was not to find another Andy. This was all about community sport. That’s absolutely where we are embedded. Everything that I did and the kids did was all through community sport in Dunblane. It was never about trying to turn them into champions.
“How they became champions, I’m still not quite sure. But they’re a great example of anything’s possible. And I think they’re both great role models for Scottish kids.
“It was an opportunity for all of us to share the knowledge and experience we have all gained from our 30 odd years in tennis from our local club to Grand Slam player boxes. I’ve done my bit. It’s now up to a younger generation to step up.”
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