JUDY Murray believes Scotland can produce further world leading sporting talents in the future - because she was starting from scratch too when she embarked on the coaching career which helped take her two sons to the summit of their chosen professions.

Through her Tennis on the Road and Miss Hits programmes, Murray is actively involved in recruiting the workforce to take the sport forward, a process which only becomes more critical in the wake of this week's announcement of a £15m award from LTA and sportscotland over the next "five to ten" years to double the current network of 112 indoor courts to 225. While Christmas isn't always the most straightforward time in the Murray household due to her sons' hectic competition schedule - both Andy and Jamie are in Miami right now and Judy won't have the opportunity to catch up with Andy until an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi on December 27 - one Christmas gift which would be extremely welcome would be if Scottish ministers gave the green light to her proposal for a joint tennis and golf academy at the Park of Keir site near Dunblane.

Said present from Santa should it arrive would provide her with the base she badly needs to coach the next generation of tennis coaches, a network of eager self-starters just like she was when she accepted the role of Scotland's national tennis coach. With Jamie winning two Grand Slams and reaching World No 1 during 2016, and Andy winning a second Wimbledon and Olympic crown before overhauling Novak Djokovic in the singles ranks, it would also put the cap on what has been pretty much a perfect year. She also became a granny for the first time after the birth of Andy's daughter Sophia in February.

"If we can produce world No 1 tennis players from Scotland from a backdrop of nothing there is no reason why we can't do it again," said Judy, who is set for a role in Only an Excuse on Hogmanay. "Or produce it in other sports. I don't want to do it again - I would never go through that again - I am too old for a start - but what I can do is advise coaches and coach coaches. But it isn't even about doing it [creating World No 1] again, it is about growing the sport in this country.

"People look at me and say 'don't be daft, that [two World No 1s from Scotland] will never happen again," she added. "But I was just a mum trying to help her kids to play. I had played tennis but in my days there were no coaches. There were no indoor courts. When I became the national coach, I had no experience. Tennis was a minority sport in Scotland and no-one wanted that job. Stirling University had only just opened when they re-advertised that post and that was four indoor courts for the whole of Scotland.

"So I was taking on a national coach job when we didn't own the centre, we had no staff, a tiny little budget and not a great salary. It sounds good, and people say okay but your mum was a coach but you know it wasn't just like that. I know that it is an unusual story but I still think so much of what I did when they were young was just common sense. I do think it is a great example of anything is possible."

As welcome as the LTA and sportscotland funding announcement was, now it is up to partner bodies to make the funding go further. Using the cash to develop six multi sport hubs along the lines of the Park of Keir development across the country and Scottish tennis might have half a chance.

"That will be the key, to work with businesses, universities, possibly even some private schools," said Judy. "The key is to make that £15m go a lot further than that because an indoor court in a David Lloyd type structure is around £500,000 a court and you can get relatively few people on a court compared to 5 a side football. That is why the Park of Keir site is a perfect model."

In truth, from their first tournament together in Rouen as nine and ten year olds - Jamie beat Gael Monfils in the final after Andy had 'softened him up in the semi-final, what has really taken these boys to greatness is 20 years of hard graft, with some key pieces of the right advice thrown in at the right time. This Christmas only illustrates the point, with only fleeting pieces of genuine chilled out family time, even if Judy offers mitigation for her younger son's claim that his stocking fillers from Santa always include a tangerine and a £2 coin.

"He gets other things as well but he does always get a tangerine and a £2 coin!" said Judy. "I am going to go to Abu Dhabi on the 27th but it is definitely one of the biggest sacrifices for both of them, the lack of family and friends time. If you want to see them because they are out of the country for so many months a year you have to go to them but when you go to them they are usually in the middle of a tournament so it isn't normal family time.

"So when you get odd days when they come home and you can just chill out, those are like gold dust. Like the morning before Andy's dad wedding when they went around the town to get shoes. We ended up doing balloon modelling from YouTube, trying to make sausage dogs. It ends up being a contest. I'm looking forward to a lot of payback time when they stop playing."

The other element of Judy's perfect year was being at Hampden when Hibs ended 114 years without a Scottish Cup win. "My dad [Roy Erskine] is infirm so he wouldn't get up at half time but when David Gray scored the winner he jumped out of his seat," said Judy. "It was like a miracle."