£1m investment to ‘give every Scottish child access to tennis’

A fresh £1m investment in tennis in Scottish schools aims to give every child the opportunity to try the sport for free as national bodies continue to work towards creating “a tennis centre of national significance”.

A £20m project, led by Sir Andy Murray’s mother, Judy, to build a community multi-sport facility at Park of Keir was scrapped last year over planning issues and rising costs following local opposition to building on green belt land.

Meanwhile, the Lawn Tennis Association, Tennis Scotland, sportscotland and the Scottish Government aim to capitalise on what they say is “growing participation in Scotland” and “recognise the inspirational achievements” of the now retired Murray along with brother Jamie, Jacob Fearnley, Cameron Norrie, Maia Lumsden and Gordon Reid.

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The new funding, roughly equivalent to Tennis Scotland’s entire annual budget, aims to increase the presence of LTA Youth Schools – the association’s junior programme – in Scottish schools, with the current rate just over half.

Schools will be offered a package of support to pay for teacher training, equipment, and access to coaching.

“Meanwhile, all parties remain committed to working on securing the future for a tennis centre of national significance for Scotland and are continuing to discuss options for this,” they say.

Tennis Scotland chief executive Blane Dodds says the latest investment aims to give “every child in Scotland the opportunity to pick up a racket and try tennis”.

“Our participation figures show that there is a massive appetite for tennis in Scotland and this funding will help recognise the inspirational successes of many Scottish players on the global stage in recent years,” he said.

Around 280,000 children currently play tennis in Scotland every year – 40% of the population – with about half being girls, but 45% of children who have not played tennis before say they would like to.

It is estimated that, UK wide, 3.9m children (aged 4-15) play tennis, an increase of 6% from 2024, while 1.6m are playing each month – an increase of 8% during the past 12 months.

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