ANDY Murray’s return to action following a long-term hip problem this summer has been emotional for everyone. Not least his mum Judy, who was sitting courtside at Queen’s Club as her second son played competitively for the first time in just under a year last week, losing narrowly to Australia’s Nick Kyrgios. There were even more positive signs at Eastbourne on Monday, where he made light work of a world class opponent in Stan Wawrinka, albeit a man who has had almost as much recent strife with injuries as he has had, getting back to winning ways and booking a Battle of Britain against Kyle Edmund, a young man who has usurped his place at the top of the British rankings.

The 23-year-old from Johannesburg by way of Beverly, Yorkshire, will go into that match hoping to join just Tim Henman, his own coach Mark Hilton, and other homegrown unknowns Matthew Smith, David Sherwood and Thomas Greenland as the only Brits to have taken the Scot’s scalp. One thing is for sure, we will know a lot more about his readiness for Wimbledon once this one is out the way.

“In some ways I was relaxed because there were no expectations,” said Judy, who had sat courtside alongside her daughter-in-law Kim, and various other members of the Murray coaching team. “But I was also nervous in case his body didn’t hold up, especially on a new grass court when you can slip. So it was a strange one. There were a lot of different things at work.

“It’s called the “righting reflex” and it’s a parental thing. No matter what your kids are doing, you want it all to go right for them. And you know that, in all sorts of situations, you can’t help them. Like when he goes out on the court. You can’t help at all, other than clap and give one of them! [clenches her fist] I was so glad he had a good experience. It was great to see him out there because I know how much he missed it.”

While Judy played a charity tennis match recently with the words ‘He’s fine’ emblazoned upon it, she is of course circumspect about Andy’s chances when it comes to competing at, let alone competing for, Wimbledon. Right now, she admits, it is still about ‘dipping the toe in the water’ and getting ‘matches in the bank’. Whatever happens, her No 1 son Jamie will be there in the men’s doubles, having failed at the final hurdle when it came to retaining his Queen’s Club title.

“Maybe I should get another one saying ‘Is he going to play Wimbledon?’,” she jokes. “No, it’s great to see him back. At Queen’s last week I was really blown away by how well he played. When you are just a born competitor like that, you don’t lose it. At the moment it’s about building match fitness and you can only do that by playing matches. So it’s really about dipping the toe in the water and seeing how he reacts. He did really amazing at Queen’s and he was great yesterday, as well. It’s all matches in the bank, which is what he needs just now.”

Judy was speaking at a UK coaching forum at Oriam in Edinburgh, a facility incidentally which doesn’t include any tennis courts but was built on top of some. In time that may change, as the frustratingly slow development of a network of indoor courts continues, but part of Judy’s keynote speech was a reminder to parents or would-be coaches that you don’t always need state of the art equipment. At one point her two future Grand Slam champions were rallying over cereal boxes on a kitchen table, a sentiment which chimed with her son’s endorsement of the daily mile for primary school kids in partnership with the NHS. “The kitchen table tennis was an example of inventing games for my kids to do when the weather was rubbish,” said Judy, whose work championing tennis now continues via her own foundation, on three-year-projects in Greenock, Inverurie and the East End of Glasgow. “I’ve seen the film of Rory McIlroy chipping balls into the washing machine while his mum is making tea. I saw that and thought: “That’s exactly the sort of thing I used to do. Kids love playing with their parents – and parents love playing with their kids. But because so many mums and dads both work now, they have more money but less time. So they pay other people to do things with their kids. It’s not the same. You need to try to make that time, it doesn’t necessarily have to be loads and loads of time.”

**The inaugural UK Coaching Conference is taking place at Oriam in Edinburgh from Tuesday 26 – Wednesday 27 June, focusing on the next generation. For more information on #GreatCoaching, visit www.ukcoaching.org