Scotland 'deserves' more tennis funding on back of Andy Murray success - Blane Dodds
- Published
Andy and Jamie Murray were both world number ones in 2016
Scotland needs - and "deserves" - more funding in addition to new indoor facilities planned on the back of Andy Murray's success, says Blane Dodds.
The Scottish Tennis chief executive welcomed the LTA's decision to base one of two British academies in Stirling.
But Dodds believes that building a legacy since Murray became world number one in 2016 has "not quite happened".
"We are way short of where we should be for indoor and outdoor courts," he told BBC Scotland's Sportsound.
"If you compare us to England and the rest of Europe, we are about 1,000 courts short of where we should be per capita.
"If you look at indoor courts, providing that all-year-round tennis that is absolutely vital if we are going to be world class, then we have 109 indoor courts in Scotland, which is one per 48,000 people. In England, it's one per 24,000 people."
Dodds acknowledged as "fantastic" the £15m of funding that had been earmarked by the Lawn Tennis Association and sportscotland to create an additional 10 indoor tennis facilities.
What he described as the "exciting" multi-million investment in the new national performance academy due to open at Stirling University in August had also allowed Scottish Tennis to advertise for a new performance head coach.
However, Dodds, who has been a year in office, believes that more investment should have been forthcoming in Scotland to build on the publicity generated by the country having three world numbers ones in one year - Andy Murray, Jamie Murray in the doubles and Gordon Reid in wheelchair tennis.
"Even from a participation point of view, we can see what Andy and Jamie have done for us," he said. "Membership at tennis-club level has nearly doubled over the last few years and it's a massive growth.
"That's against the trend overall in Britain, so something is happening here in Scotland that perhaps deserves more funding."
'A massive step forward'
Blane Dodds says attitudes have changed since he played junior tennis
With eight of the 10 new indoor facilities in the pipeline, Dodds plans to return to the LTA and sportscotland for additional funding.
"I think the £15m has been a massive step forward, which we're grateful for," he said. "It is the biggest capital investment we've ever had.
"But our starting point is a pretty low base in terms of indoor courts and facilities, so there's a lot to catch up on and now's the time to do it."
Dodds thought "the Murray factor" had changed the perception prevalent during his own youth that you had no chance of becoming world class in tennis coming from Scotland.
He pointed to the progress of 18-year-old Aidan McHugh, who has reached number eight in the world in juniors, and 20-year-old Maia Lumsden, who won an ITF Women's Circuit event in November, as "positive signs".
Meanwhile, the Glasgow Trophy Tennis Tournament, the first-ever ATP Challenger Tour event in Scotland was held in May.