Murray legacy row reaches House of Commons
An uncomfortable week for the Lawn Tennis Association is set to continue today after MP Toby Perkins tabled a question for the House of Commons about the lack of elite tennis in Scotland.
Perkins, the Labour MP for Chesterfield and a leading member of the all-party parliamentary group on tennis, is responding to the ongoing debate around a legacy for the Murray family.
His question comes two weeks after Judy Murray demanded “action and delivery”, and two days after Jamie Murray described the lack of support for Scottish tennis as “f---ing annoying”.
Perkins told The Daily Telegraph: “I share the widespread frustration at the failure to build a legacy on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that Andy Murray’s success has provided for British Tennis in general and Scotland in particular.
“The fact that there will be no elite-level events in Scotland this year and the recent coverage of the lack of facilities is deeply disappointing and I hope that the Scottish Office and Scottish government can really put some pressure on the LTA to work harder to deliver a lasting and fitting legacy to arguably Britain’s greatest-ever sporting star.”
The previous LTA regime, led by Canadian chief executive Michael Downey, was hamstrung by a poor relationship with the first family of British tennis. Now Downey’s successor, Scott Lloyd, who took over at the start of last year, is also finding this a difficult area to deal with.
In January, the LTA was slow to respond to Andy Murray’s emotional announcement that his career may end this year. It then released an illconsidered rebrand on Friday that featured six contemporary players in a 36-page document and accompanying video. None of them was named Murray.
Meanwhile, fans at the Miami Open are continuing to make unscheduled interventions in matches. British No 1 Kyle Edmund interrupted his fourth-round match against John Isner for a prolonged argument with the chair umpire during the second-set tie-break. Edmund argued that a spectator had shouted during a crucial rally, saying that the point should be replayed, but his demand was rejected and he suffered a 7-6, 7-6 defeat.
Then Nick Kyrgios, who had argued with a fan during his previous match, earned a point penalty for swearing at a heckler. Kyrgios’s second code violation (the first was for racket abuse) arrived in the penultimate game of his 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 loss to Borna Coric.
Later, world No1 Novak Djokovic, whose form has been erratic since the Australian Open, lost 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 to Roberto Bautista Agut – the Spaniard seeded 22nd here.