Scotland will only have itself to blame if it never gets another tennis champion amid ‘indifference’ towards attempts to build a lasting legacy based on Andy Murray’s success
If you want to spot someone who has no idea what they are talking about, just listen for their liberal use of the word ‘holistic’. “Taking a holistic approach” is absolutely meaningless. The same seems to apply to ‘legacy’.
Before big sporting or cultural events, the justification for spending millions is based around the lasting impact it will have. So the Glasgow Commonwealth Games will transform well-being in our biggest city and the London Olympics will turn the UK into a sporting powerhouse.
Fast forward a few years and health outcomes in Glasgow are worse than ever and the only visible development at the Olympics’ Stratford site is a mega shopping centre. The 2012 athletes village was sold to a developer for half the price it cost to build and 75,000 people in east London remain on council house waiting lists.
We’re very good at talking about legacy but very bad at delivering it. Judy Murray knows that. For years, she has been spearheading and funding a £20 million plan for a tennis centre near her home town of Dunblane to ensure a lasting advantage from her sons’ success.
Protracted objections
This week, the foundation behind the plan announced “with deep regret and sorrow” it would not go ahead because of planning issues and rising costs. Protracted objections to planning permission combined with the slow pace of discussions with relevant bodies to drag things out and all the time construction and energy costs were rising, so now the plan is dead.
Let’s put this in perspective. We’re a nation obsessed with football but conspicuously awful at it (see Euros 2024 and every other tournament).
In contrast, Andy Murray is arguably our greatest ever sportsman. Three Grand Slams and three Olympic medals achieved against the toughest competition tennis has ever seen. His brother Jamie is a seven-time Grand Slam doubles champion. By any reckoning, the name Murray shines as a beacon of sporting success for future generations.
Greenbelt issue
How do we celebrate that? With a tearful farewell montage at Wimbledon and what the Murray Play Foundation called “indifference and opposition”.
Planning restrictions exist for a reason. Without them, developers would blight this land with cheap and ugly construction designed only for their profit. However we need to move forwards, not backwards and always have an eye on the bigger picture.
Objections to the plan pivoted on the inclusion of a hotel and luxury housing and the impact that would have on the greenbelt. The Murrays had no interest or part in that but in the real world, this is how you pay for facilities that cannot finance themselves.
‘Forge of future stars’
The greenbelt is important but so is every moment that could inspire and encourage young Scots to physical health and sporting success.
Andy Murray didn’t have that opportunity. Aged 15 he had to move to Barcelona to train at the Sánchez-Casal Academy. It was opened by Spain’s former doubles number one player and his tennis partner and has been called ‘the forge of future stars’. Barcelona saw the chance to build on success and seized it.
Scotland also had that opportunity but we’ve let it slip through our fingers. The legacy of Sanchez-Casal is current Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz. If Scotland never gets another tennis champion, we will only have ourselves to blame.
