Calls for The LTA to provide more support to Scottish Tennis
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Scottish Sport have called on the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) to provide more backing to support the growth of tennis in Scotland.
Over the past few months, the APPG for Scottish Sport have been hosting evidence sessions to ascertain the support offered to tennis in Scotland to help establish a Murray Legacy. This included evidence sessions with Tennis Scotland, The LTA, sportscotland and Judy Murray.
The Murrays have been regular critics of the lack of support offered by the LTA to support Scottish tennis and have frequently called on a Murray Legacy to be established to help produce the tennis stars of tomorrow.
The APPG on Scottish Sport have published the following report summarising their recent work into the funding tennis.
Gavin Newlands MP, Chair of the APPG on Scottish Sport, said:
"Scottish Tennis has a lot to be proud of with Andy Murray still sitting at the top of the rankings as the world's number one player. Couple that with his brother Jamie's recent stint as the world number 1 doubles player and Gordon Reid's Grand Slam success and his own world number 1 ranking - alongside Judy Murray and Leon Smith's influence on the sport - it's clear that Scottish tennis is going through a period of unrivalled success. Despite this however, the sport doesn’t appear to be receiving enough support to help build on the success of Scottish tennis.
“The work of the APPG on Scottish Sport has once again highlighted the lack of indoor tennis courts in Scotland. In fact, whereas 30% of all tennis courts in Europe are indoor, shamefully there is only 110 indoor tennis courts in Scotland.
“The recent funding announcement from the LTA and sportscotland to double the number of indoor tennis courts in Scotland is to be welcomed but this should only be a start and there’s more that the LTA should do to increase the opportunities for everyone to be able to play tennis.
“We cannot miss this golden opportunity to build on the success of Scottish tennis. Given the LTA's ample revenue's and Scotland's contribution to the game in the UK, it is a crying shame that the LTA has not invested anywhere near enough to establish a legacy from this unrivalled sporting success. It should do so now, before it is too late."
