THAT interest in tennis in Scotland is at an all-time high will come as no surprise thanks to the exploits of Andy Murray and brother Jamie.
If a barometer is needed to show just how big that popularity is then the massive uptake from primary schools and their children for next week's Edinburgh Festival of Tennis is it.
More than 900 children from Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife will
converge on Craiglockhart Centre throughout the week for the Festival, running alongside the Scottish Open, the country's most high-profile event featuring world-ranked players from more than 20 countries.
"We had 750 children at last year's Festival so we're really delighted to get over 900 this time," said Ellinore Lightbody, National Coach at Tennis Scotland, which plans to operate a series of similar festivals across Scotland this summer.
"The Festival is to make more and more people aware of tennis, the skills and show how much enjoyment you can get out of it. For a lot of these youngsters it will be their first experience of tennis and by making it a great experience we hope they will get a bug for the game. We will be handing out information about all the clubs in the vicinity of their own schools so they can take it up and continue to play. When they are in a club programme they come into the talent ID structure and we will be looking for the ones that have aspirations to go further."
Three local players already talent-spotted and in Edinburgh's tennis performance squad are Andrew Birrell, Alexandra Hunter and Annabell Young who, together with Prestwick's Ross Wilson, launched the 2008 Scottish Open with a tennis match on the quayside below Royal Yacht Britannia at Ocean Terminal yesterday.
Seven-year-old Andrew from Edinburgh has been playing for so long that he can't recall how it all started but he is considers himself an experienced competitor.
"I started at the age of three. I'm not sure how I got involved but I've played ever since," he said. "I play five times a week and I love it. I always complain about going to football when I really want to go to tennis." It may be another decade before Andrew enters the Scottish Open but in the meantime he hopes to be a ball boy in next week's competition. The Scots who will be involved are Prestwick's Calum Gee, a wild card into the men's $15,000 main draw starting on Tuesday. Edinburgh's James McKie and Stewart Crerar, along with Glasgow's James Drummond, have been awarded wild cards in the qualifying event, starting on Sunday.
"This tournament is a really good opportunity for juniors to make the transition into pro tennis on the first stage of the pro tour," added Lightbody.
"Next weekend we are inviting the best under-ten-year-olds from all over Scotland, for a clay court camp with Judy Murray (mother of Jamie and Andy] in her role as Tennis Scotland's talent performance manager and myself. And we have a new Mini Tennis competition for under-eight-year-olds already in the system."
The Scottish Open starts on Sunday with matches commencing each day at 10am. Admission is free and the action continues until Sunday, May 11.
The full article contains 554 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
