Ladies’ singles: Judy calls for same-sex PE lessons

IF girls are to succeed in sport they should be separated from boys in PE lessons, according to Judy Murray.

The former captain of the British Fed Cup team has called for more ‘girl-only’ activities to halt a slide in tennis uptake among young women.

And she highlighted the difficulties faced by sports leaders in capturing the attention of girls from the Snapchat generation, whose role models are more likely to be ‘models and reality TV stars’ than the Williams sisters.

The mother of world No 1 Andy Murray spoke ahead of the Scottish launch of her new female-focused UK tennis coaching initiative, She Rallies, which took place at Renfrew’s David Lloyd club yesterday.

At a time when the profile of tennis in Britain has never been higher, the number of women playing the sport has declined 14 per cent annually, according to a report by the Lawn Tennis Association. Mrs Murray said: ‘When it comes to girls, we need to have more girl-only activity because girls are often intimidated and put off by boys as they get older. Boys can be a real barrier to the enjoyment of girls taking part in physical activity because of the way they feel in front of boys at certain times in their lives.’

While 71 per cent of boys are active in sport, only 51 per cent of girls say the same, according to SportScotland. As a leading tennis trainer, Mrs Murray believes more women coaches would also encourage female uptake.

She said: ‘The drop-off age for girls started at 14 or 15 before. Now it’s starting at 11 and 12. The body awareness stuff is taking over.

‘With the vast majority of girls, the things they like watching or the people they talk about are from music or reality TV.’