Andy Murray's mum Judy out to change 'expensive and difficult' tennis with exciting events

A few days before Wimbledon, the likes of Judy Murray, Amanda Anisimova, Heather Watson, and Leylah Fernandez found themselves at the National Tennis Centre for the WTA's Come Play presented by Morgan Stanley event.

With help from the Elena Baltacha Foundation, Murray got dozens of girls from local schools to play several fun mini-games across three tennis courts. The tasks involved everything from beanbags to hula hoops to actual tennis balls and rackets. Anisimova, who would go on to reach the Wimbledon final, was rallying with some of the children.

It looked nothing like what you'd expect from a tennis clinic. The kids weren't lining up alongside one court for half an hour just to get a few minutes hitting the ball before going to the back of the queue. And the London event, staged in partnership with The Elena Baltacha Foundation and Murray Play Foundation, isn't the only one the WTA puts on for women and girls across the globe.

The WTA initiative started seven years ago, using tennis to positively impact communities in the cities and countries the tour travels to across the season. It's important, Murray tells Express Sport, because "you have to use that profile to showcase your sport, to get more people playing and more people watching."

Morgan Stanley became the presenting partner in 2023, bringing even more resources and support. The clinics are focused not just on engaging the young girls, but on training a workforce of mentors - teachers, coaches, parents - to keep delivering fun and engaging tennis clinics long after they've left.

Murray, mother of Grand Slam champions Andy and Jamie, explained: "There always has been that label attached to tennis, that it's difficult to access, it's difficult to do and and it's expensive. I think when you see something like this, a lot of what I do is trying to make it, of course fun, but also make it accessible.

"Look how many people we can get on three courts. That doesn't have to be expensive. So teaching coaches, teachers, and volunteers how to deliver to big numbers and relatively small spaces is a big thing for me, and particularly in rural areas and state schools where you might not find tennis courts, how to maximise whatever space they have.

"How to use the space using the mini-nets and the little throwdown lines, you can create your own court anywhere, but it needs a big army of people who are really dedicated to do that, to really make it cover the country and to make it stick.

"You can't go in and do a one-and-done. If you do a one-and-done, what happens when you've gone? That's why I invest much more in the workforce, in the adults, because they will make things happen for the kids when we're not there."

Another focus is on building a female workforce to keep young women interested and engaged in the sport. "Tennis is a difficult sport, and if you make it too difficult from the outset, you're probably not going to keep people, new starters in the game," Murray added.

"Making it fun and making it doable is not just about the content, it's about the people that deliver it. They've got to be engaging and welcoming and encouraging, and so forth. And I think with girls, it is really important to have a much bigger, stronger female workforce because we understand the world according to girls."

It's a sentiment that Ann Austin, the Executive Director of the WTA Foundation, agrees with. "We've been all over the world together sharing tennis in a very fun and easy way because a lot of the communities that we go to don't have access to tennis courts," she told Express Sport.

"It's not about just doing a clinic the week before Wimbledon. It's about training a workforce to make it sustainable. So that's why we try to do it as a resource to teach and then a resource to give financially, that's why we do the donations.

"With Elena Baltacha, it was her legacy; she started that before she passed away. Her legacy is still growing and it's getting stronger, because these girls today are part of the programme that the Elena Baltacha Foundation is doing in London.

"So for us, we support organisations that are doing that here and from a teaching standpoint, a skills standpoint, for the people carrying it out and then a financial standpoint, because you need both to make it really sustainable. And that's when it's really important to us. Anyone can come in and do a clinic for a day. But for us, it's how do you build it for a lifetime?"

London isn't the only stop on the WTA Come Play calendar. In the last year, Ann, Judy and retired doubles Grand Slam champion Vania King, a WTA Foundation board member, have brought clinics to Riyadh, Melbourne, Hong Kong, New York and San Diego.

There was backlash when the WTA Tour took its premier, season-ending event, the WTA Finals, to Riyadh. But bosses were keen to use it as a force for good, inspiring women in Saudi Arabia to pick up a racket. And the WTA Foundation helped them do just that.

Austin explained: "We've done this in Riyadh with breast cancer survivors, for women, hat maybe haven't been active before or are recovering from something. It's amazing.

"It is amazing to see how this can be a great way for women just to come together under a common life path that they're all in, and easily be active, and socially be connected and have fun."

The clinic, held earlier this year, saw 30 breast cancer survivors and family members use tennis and physical activity as a form of healing and rehabilitation. It was done with the intention of launching a sustainable tennis programme for survivors in Riyadh.

There's also another benefit to the initiative. WTA Foundation board member King, who won two doubles Majors before retiring, believes her philanthropic work and involvement in the tennis clinics made the transition into her post-playing career much easier.

"I began working with the WTA Foundation even before I officially retired and it definitely has made my transition easier," she explained.

"Not only has it provided me post-retirement professional opportunities, it connected me to the sport in a humanitarian lens that I feel very grateful to be a part of. Tennis was always very lonely to me and to be able to be a part of a broader team for a bigger cause - still utilising some of the expertise I built as a player - is a perfect match."

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