IT was fitting somehow that Storm Barbara should start to wreak her havoc across Scotland yesterday. As gale force winds and horizontal rain illustrated afresh the impossibility of playing outdoor tennis during our winter months north of the border, it was possible to recognise the perfect storm which finally made the case for meaningful investment in Scottish tennis irresistible.

Yesterday's landmark £15m funding announcement for the sport north of the border - £7.5m over the next "five to ten" years from the LTA's coffers will be matched pound by pound by funding body sportscotland - was the kind of day which many in Scottish tennis never thought they would see. And not just because this country can currently boast three men - Andy Murray, Jamie Murray and Gordon Reid - who are entitled to call themselves the best in the world in their chosen disciplines.

While even this is still just a starting point, not an end, the cash is envisaged to double Scotland's number of covered courts from 112 to 225 and significantly increase participation, with the onus now falling on councils, leisure trusts, schools, universities and other potential partners to provide the sport even greater bang for their buck. Covered courts, depending on the specification, can cost anything from £100,000 upwards, but many of Scotland's existing network are privately owned and difficult to access on a pay by play basis. One of the most notable recent builds came in the rather exclusive surroundings of the Gleneagles Hotel.

On such a positive day for the sport in Scotland, it seemed somehow churlish to point out how much of a journey it has been to get to this stage. But the paper trail behind this announcement took you all the way to Hansard, the final sum testimony to the outright refusal of certain key figures in the sport, most notably Judy and Jamie Murray, to accept the funding offer that was on the table.

Tennis Scotland's arguments for increased funding had largely fallen on deaf ears until a decision was taken to force the issue. From some withering comments aimed in the direction of the LTA by Leon Smith and Andy Murray from a city centre hotel in Ghent even at the moment of that epoch-defining 2015 Davis Cup triumph, to an adjournment debate in the House of Commons raised by SNP Stirling MP Steven Paterson and drawing an important contribution from Paisley MP Gavin Newlands, some friends in high places have helped get this one over the line. Why, with 8.5% of the UK's population, did Scotland receive just 1.3% of the LTA's £63m annual budget? Why was their one indoor court to 48,000 people north of the border, and one to 26,000 in the rest of the UK?

Yesterday was the day that all that boat rocking and trouble making finally came to fruition and Tennis Scotland chair Blane Dodds was entitled to shout from the rooftops about it. This is a time of great change for the organisation, with Tennis Scotland also head hunting for a chief executive and advertising for a national coach and workforce developer.

"Andy is very special, obviously, and no-one has a magic wand where we can create a World No 1," said Dodds. "But what do we need? We need more facilities, more people playing, on the back of what the guys have delivered. They are the best advert we could wish for. Membership of tennis clubs has gone up in the last few years considerably but we could still do more.

"We still have to turn people away from competitions, remarkably, because we don't have the capacity for courts. We need more court capacity, and need to turn some of our good coaches into great coaches - working with Judy and Leon Smith, who is on our board now as well.

"They [the Murrays] are delighted," he added. "Judy has been a fantastic support to me, helping me get things going and I can only thank her for her support. I can only hope that we can deliver a lasting legacy on what Andy, Jamie and Gordon Reid have delivered."

"It is a fantastic announcement and a very exciting one," said Alistair Marks, the LTA's participation director. "It is a departure for us in terms of this being the first announcement in a much broader, Great Britain wide plan which is aiming to really transform the infrastructure for the sport in Britain. We don't have enough indoor courts in Scotland, we certainly don't have enough indoor courts south of the border or in Wales.

"But 200 average days of rainfall a year does make it [indoor courts] imperative [in Scotland]," he added. "Doubling the amount of indoor courts we believe is certainly the right place to start. Over the last ten years in Scotland, participation has gone up by 42% but it is still relatively small. We hope by next year we could be looking at 57,000-58,000 people playing regularly which is weekly, monthly in our terms. Overall the sport has been in decline for the last ten years but the LTA shifting its focus a bit in the last few years, really focusing on participation, what is needed to make it work."

There is a recognition on behalf of the LTA that they could have done more, sooner. "While we can't turn the clock back, and change what has happened, what we can do is invest in the future," said Marks. "And make sure we are investing in the right things forward. This announcement is a real statement of intent about how we want to do that."