Grand slam win would give British game huge boost says Andy's mum

But there is a lot more to Judy Murray than just an immensely proud mum.

She is also a junior coach and a valuable resource for the Lawn Tennis Association to tap into.

Every summer when Wimbledon rolls around, the LTA comes in for increasing criticism for the lack of depth in British tennis, the gulf between the 23-year-old Scot and the rest of our professional players being a stick with which the critics beat the highly-funded governing body.

Changing that culture will not happen overnight but with the backing of main sponsors AEGON the LTA are making a concerted effort to improve the talent pool in Britain.

A more wide-ranging approach has been adopted, like a schools tournament for lower-rated players to play competitive tennis in a team environment that attracted more than 250 schools and 1,000 pupils nationwide.

Sheffield school Birkdale won the boys tournament while a team from Huddersfield's Greenhead College were runners-up in the girls event. Their reward was a masterclass with Judy Murray at Hallamshire Tennis Club. And afterwards, she spoke to Nick Westby.

Nick Westby: What would it mean to British tennis, and to Andy Murray, if he were to win Wimbledon this summer?

Judy Murray: "It would be a huge boost for British tennis.

"From Andy's point of view, that's what he wants and he'll keep trying until he gets there. It's a very, very difficult thing to do, very few players win grand slams, the strength in depth in the men's game is huge, there are so many good players, it's the strongest it's ever been.

"You've just got to go out there and play better than the guy on the other side of the net, you don't have to play your best every day, just enough to beat the other guy. All he can do is do his best."

NW: How does he react to the expectation at Wimbledon fortnight?

JM: "He knows what to expect, I'm not saying it gets any easier with passing years but he knows what it's going to be like.

"It would be a lot easier for Andy if there were a lot of players to share that expectation with."

NW: From what we see on television, it looks like you're always there cheering him on, do you go to most tournaments?

JM: "I don't go every week, a lot of people think I'm there all the time, but I'm absolutely not because it's so nerve-wracking.

"From Wimbledon last year I didn't go until the O2 in London, and then I was out in Australia supporting him in January.

"It was fantastic in Australia, he prepared really well for it, he played brilliantly the whole way through, but on the day Roger played outrageously and he's probably the greatest player of all time."

NW: Does it help the game in this country that juniors have a figurehead like Andy Murray to look up to?

JM: "The fact that when Andy started to make the top 10, he was still a teenager, that was great for kids in Britain to see – someone who was not that far away from them in age doing well – it always heightens the awareness.

"There's always a huge uptake of interest during Wimbledon and two weeks or so after – the key is to retain that interest beyond that. The main thing is having places to play."

NW: It seems at every Wimbledon the LTA takes a battering for the lack of depth in British tennis, has there been a concerted effort to combat that?

JM: "There's been a very big effort on the schools side, a big recognition of how important it is to get tennis into schools, it's very easy to put tennis into primary schools because the little kids can play on badminton courts with the mini nets and smaller rackets and sponge balls and every school at least has a badminton court.

"It's perfect to introduce it to kids at a young age – the key is making sure there is a link between the school and the tennis club locally to ensure there is that transition."

NW: As well as targeting pupils, what else is the LTA doing?

JM: "The AEGON schools programme has been very good in targeting teachers to take tennis courses, providing them with the training to run classes, plus a DVD they've produced that has five or six lessons on it.

"The DVD takes all the stress away from the teacher leading the class, because it's somebody actually doing the teaching for them, it's a fabulous resource and has made a big, big difference to us being able to get tennis into primary schools."

NW: What's the biggest issue facing the LTA?

JM: "Getting more people involved at grass roots. We have a population as big as France but France has 10 times more people playing.

"That doesn't happen overnight but this type of thing – links with parks, links with schools, educating more teachers, bringing through more coaches and more drivers of activities – will help.

"And from a bigger pool of players we should be able to identify more talent.

"Then it's about developing that talent. In order to do that we need to focus on mentoring more of our talented coaches, so they know what they have to do. It's one thing to identify talent, but it's another to see an eight-year-old and turn them into a world class 18-year-old.

"We need more people who understand how to do that working out in the field. That is a key area to look at, the development of and investment in British coaches."

NW: Will tennis always struggle though because of its reputation as a middle-class sport in this country?

JM: "Tennis has always struggled with that stigma. But the game is becoming more accessible than ever, there's still a long way to go, but introducing it into schools and ensuring they have links with the local clubs is going a long way to improving things.

"There's also a big push to regenerate local parks, but also to make sure that if players want to play recreationally there is a club and somebody driving the activity, and the whole thing is linked together.

"That's the key – there's no point having those courts in isolation, you need them to link to clubs and drivers of activities, not necessarily a coach but somebody who can organise.

"Tennis is an expensive sport because you're having to travel long distances for training and indoor courts are expensive, and that can be a challenge for most families but if the kids are targeted at a young age, there's good support in place through the AEGON futures programme to make that a lot easier on the parents."

NW: What targets should be set?

JM: "A lot of the targets are top 100, for me that's only a starting point. You don't get anything for top 100, that gets you first round of a grand slam.

"If we want to produce more champions, more contenders, we have to have a bigger and more competitive playing field which starts again at more players playing and more competitions at club level so kids learn to compete."